Perhaps one of the greatest technological feats of the early Persian
civilization was the Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System. This highly
complex system has been referred to as "a masterpiece of creative
genius" and declared a world heritage site by UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). This historical
site is probably best described as a hydraulic super factory! Its
infrastructure is made up of watermills, dams, tunnels, canals, pools,
and waterfalls and at one time powered up to 40 watermills in the
surrounding area. What makes Shushtar so advanced and unique was that
several cultures have helped advance it through out the ages from the
early Persians, Romans, all the way back to Darius The Great, an
Achaemenian king of Iran. This remains to be seen as one of the greatest
exchanges of hydraulic engineering and its application throughout
antiquity.
Although the Romans are considered the greatest aqueduct builders of the ancient world, qanāt systems were in use in ancient Persia, India, Egypt, and other Middle Eastern countries hundreds of years earlier. Those systems utilized tunnels tapped into hillsides that brought water for irrigation to the plains below.
Aqueducts were a vital aspect of society in ancient Rome, channeling fresh water from remote sources to city centers. Although aqueducts had been in existence before Roman times, it was the Romans who turned them into incredible architectural marvels, with impressive arched bridges and complex internal structures that could span across the territories of Rome. Many of these aqueducts have survived for thousands of years, a testament to the wonders of Roman engineering. Let’s take a look through some of ancient Rome’s most famous aqueducts that are still in existence today.
Pont Du Gard, Nimes
The Aqua Virgo, Rome
The Aqua Virgo has an important place in Roman history, as one of the first aqueducts to bring water into the city of Rome. It was originally built in 19 BCE by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Emperor Augustus, and underwent various restoration projects throughout the centuries to keep it standing strong. Although it fell out of use following the fall of the Roman Empire, it was renovated during the Renaissance to transport 80,000 cubic meters of fresh water into the Trevi Fountain in the center of present-day Rome, and it continues to perform this role well today!
This historic map of the Buffalo harbour shows where the Erie Canal once flowed.
For several years, teams of UB archaeologists from the Buffalo
Archaeological Survey have conducted digs in downtown Buffalo along
what was the Erie Canal. The artifacts they’ve found, when considered
together, help describe how Buffalonians lived and worked from the
early 1800s onward.
They’re conducting a “public outreach dig” under the
Skyway and invite you to come down on Aug. 18 and 22, from 9 a.m. to 4
p.m., to visit the dig site, observe its operation and speak with the
archaeologists and historians working there.
The site is bounded by Main Street and Hanover Street, east of the
Skyway Pier. Hanover Street runs between Marine Drive and Prime Street.
The project manager, historian Nathan Montague, is a research
support technician in the UB Department of Anthropology, which houses
the survey. He is directing the dig as part of the Erie Canal Harbor
Development Corp.’s Canalside Visitor Experience program.
Its mission is not only to excavate the area, but to educate the
public about the canal and canal life, generate interest in the canal
excavation and restoration work, and help people understand the work of
archaeologists in general.
“We’re in the early stages of excavating this dig site,” he says, “
but previous digs we’ve conducted nearby have uncovered pipe stems and
other personal items, dinner plates, commercial objects, a lot of brick
and mortar, coal dust and ash, and something that could be a
cannonball or part of a ship’s ballast. We will probably find similar
items and even may find a few surprises.”
During much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Buffalo was a major
international industrial and grain transport city, largely because of
its waterfront and the Erie Canal, which cut a swath through what are
now downtown streets.
“The canal was right downtown, so there was a great deal of
commercial activity along this stretch of the waterfront for the better
part of two centuries,” Montague says.
The canal’s main body, plus its many slips and adjuncts, covered a
lot of territory. It ran southwest parallel to the harbor and ended at
the Commercial (Street) Slip, where it met Lake Erie and the Buffalo
River. Most of the harbor section of the canal was filled in by the
1920s, which is why we don’t “remember” where it was.
“So this spot now looks like an abandoned field,” Montague says,
“but four- and five-story brick buildings once covered the entire block
of land on which we are digging.
“The lower floors of those buildings typically housed businesses
like warehouses, wholesale groceries, taverns, insurance companies and
hardware stores, while upper floors were used for lodging or storage.
Most of the buildings likely were erected in the 1830s and the last
ones weren’t torn down until the early 1970s,” he explains.
“Artifacts from the site will tell us the stories of the people who
lived and worked here when the Canalside neighborhood was the center of
Buffalo’s—and the nation’s—economy,” he says.
He says the dig offers the public has a unique opportunity to get a
sense of the layout of this area and how it has changed dramatically
over the past century, and to see how urban archaeology is conducted
and what it has to teach us.
The Archaeological Survey is a not-for-profit research, contracting
and applied archaeology institution within the UB Department of
Anthropology. It has been engaged in cultural resource management
projects for more than 30 years. The institution manages artifact
collections and information about historic and prehistoric
archaeological sites and buildings in Western New York.
The 1920's were a static period for the inner harbor, in between two
periods of change. By this time, the "old" Erie Canal was
no longer in use, having been supplanted in 1918 by the Barge Canal. The
waterfront was nearly completely built up by the D. L. & W
Railroad, which replaced the old mercantile Central and Long Wharf
areas. The D. L. & W. had opened its new passenger terminal.
Coming in the 1930's was the construction of the Memorial
Auditorium. The old Erie Canal bed and Commercial Slip would be filled
in. And the "canal district," the impoverished immigrant neighbourhood by
the harbour with so much colourful history will begin to be
demolished completely.
In 1959, the Buffalo plant of General Mills used all the wheat grown on
1.25 million acres of land, or 90,000 bushels per day. In 1961, a new
mill was constructed, not for expansion, but to create efficiencies. The
new milling method reduced the number of workers required for
operation. In addition to its standard flour and cereal products, the
Buffalo plant began to produce Wondra, a new flour. But the company had
diversified and was deep in debt, so in 1964, significant cuts were made
to the Buffalo operations. A milling unit was shut, reducing the
capacity by 62%. Three hundred of 1,300 employees lost their jobs. Also
in 1964, the iconic Dakota elevator was closed, reducing the company's
storage capacity by one million bushels, negatively affecting flour
milling. Despite this, Buffalo's plant was General Mill's largest.
This is an ink, wash and charcoal map of a section of the Erie Canal in
Buffalo. It shows part of Lake Erie, Buffalo Harbor, Ship Canal, a canal
basin, Thompson’s Cut, a guard lock and seven bridges. The red lines
indicate courses and distances. The blue lines indicate canal
right-of-way. The map also shows seventeen streets in the city of
Buffalo.
Date Original 1834
So in 1830 they started building the canals ans in 1834 there were ready?
Questions:
How many canals have been built lately with our advanced technology that people can use?
What other events happen in those years?
How many people were at that time employed in building these canals?