Abstract:The use of water cisterns has been traced back to the Neolithic Age; this paper thus presents a brief historical development of water cisterns worldwide over the last 5500 years. This paper is not an exhaustive presentation of all that is known today about water cisterns, but rather provides some characteristic examples of cistern technology in a chronological manner extending from prehistoric times to the present. The examples of water cistern technologies and management practices given in this paper may have some importance for water resource sustainability for the present and future. Cisterns have been used to store both rainfall runoff water and aqueduct water originating in springs and streams for the purpose of meeting water needs through seasonal variations. Cisterns have ranged in construction from simple clay pots to large underground structures.
Abstract:Although there is evidence of surface-based storm drainage systems in early Babylonian and Mesopotamian Empires in Iraq (ca. 4000-2500 BC), it is not until after ca. 3000 BC that we find evidence of the well organized and operated sewer and drainage systems of the Minoans and Harappans in Crete and the Indus valley, respectively. The Minoans and Indus valley civilizations originally, and the Hellenes and Romans thereafter, are considered pioneers in developing basic sewerage and drainage technologies, with OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 3937 emphasis on sanitation in the urban environment. The Hellenes and Romans further developed these techniques and greatly increased the scale of these systems. Although other ancient civilizations also contributed, notably some of the Chinese dynasties, very little progress was made during the Dark ages from ca. 300 AD through to the middle of the 18th century. It was only from 1850 onwards that that modern sewerage was "reborn", but many of the principles grasped by the ancients are still in use today. This paper traces the development of the sewer from those earliest of civilizations through to the present day and beyond. A 6000 year technological history is a powerful validation of the vital contribution of sewers to human history.
Sanitation and hygiene technologies have existed in ancient Hellas since the Bronze Age (ca. 3200–1100 bc), when extensive sewerage and drainage and other elaborate sanitary structures were known in Minoan palaces and towns. Classical and Hellenistic periods should be considered as the most progressive eras in the design of sanitary engineering. At that time anatomically shaped toilet seats are found in several sites since many private houses and public buildings have them. As cities grew in size the pressure of larger populations resulted in the construction of communal toilets with seats that were more densely packed together. Drainage and sewerage systems and sanitary installations reflect high cultural and technological levels and they are associated with contemporary observations and ideas about hygiene and medicine. Before the Hellenic advances, medicine was entirely confined to religious beliefs and metaphysical rituals. In the early Roman period, the knowledge of the ancient world on hygienic matter was incorporated in legislative rules. Despite the weakening of this legislation through the ages, the sanitation practices kept being applied even via a technical tradition of the masons. Later various rulers of the Hellenic world (Europeans or Ottomans), introduced their practices (traditional/scientific) sanitation in the greater Helladic regions.
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