The Source of Civilization-- well
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Water is the source of life.
Whether it is the agricultural society or the industrial age.
Whether it is an ancient city-state or a modern city
Civilization always lives after the water.
Cities are mostly built in river valleys, plains or coasts because of human dependence on water.
Well is an important way to obtain water.
It can also be said that wells are the source of civilization.
In ancient times, there were examples of "digging wells to drink" and "digging wells to irrigate fields".
According to archaeological findings, before the middle of the Neolithic Age, human beings did not know how to dig wells for water, so they could only use natural water sources for consumption.
So before we understand the history of human water intake,
First of all, we need to understand where the water for human use comes from.
Where does the "water" in the well come from
Li Bai said in a poem: "can't you see that the water of the Yellow River comes from the sky, and the waves rush to the East China Sea and never look back."
In a sense, this poem of more than a thousand years ago is indeed right about the source and destination of part of the water.
On Earth, water in the oceans will evaporate into the atmosphere by the formation of water vapor.
Through atmospheric circulation over the land to form clouds
And then fall to the ground after rain and snow.
After the rain and snow fell to the ground, they went in three different ways:
Part of it flows from high to low along the ground, forming streams and rivers that eventually flow into the sea.
Part of it is evaporated by the ground and returned to the sky through the transpiration of trees, flowers and crops.
Some of them seep into the ground into groundwater and accumulate into huge underground water sources.
Well water comes from groundwater.
Hydrological cycle diagram / source: United States Geological Survey
A Millennium Review of "Mr. Jing"
The well continues the spiritual blood of the country and the nation.
The thousand-year history of water wells in China
It is also the history of the development of civilization.
At first, wells appeared in the marshes with high water levels in the Yangtze River Basin in the middle of the Neolithic Age.
A shallow well about two meters deep
Mainly to meet the daily life of prehistoric residents and the use of water for pottery.
The oldest known well is the Hemudu Ancient Cultural site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province.
The wellhead is square, the side is 2 meters long, and the wellhead is a wooden frame with mortise and tenon joint, with row piles as the shaft wall on each side.
The depth of the well is about 1.35 meters, and there is a fence with a diameter of about 6 meters and 28 wooden pillars on the periphery. Experts infer that there may be a simple well pavilion on the well.
Using carbon-14 pairs of wood and tree ring dating, it is confirmed that the well has a history of 5700 years.
It is at least a thousand years earlier than the Longshan cultural wells in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River basin.
Water well map / source of Hemudu site: Wikipedia
The period of Longshan Culture (2800-2300 BC)
Rungou in Handan, Hebei Province and Li Gujing in Luoyang, Henan Province
The depth has increased to 670m.
After entering the patrilineal clan commune (2550-2140 BC)
The depth of the well is increasing, and the structure of the well is more perfect.
The well makes human beings get rid of the restrictions of rivers and broadens the living space of human beings.
In the pre-Qin period, the wells were generally large and deep, and the water capacity increased significantly.
It also plays the role of irrigation.
In the early Western Zhou Dynasty (1066-771 BC), there were stone wells (the site of the early Western Zhou Dynasty in Jiaojiazhuang, Donghai County, Jiangsu Province) and tile wells with ceramic wells.
Tao ran Pavilion, Cai Gongzhuang, Xuanwu Gate Gap and Balizhuang in Beijing
Discovered many pottery wells left over from the Spring and Autumn period, the warring States period and the Western Han Dynasty.
Among them, the distribution of wells from Cai Gongzhuang to Xuanwumen gap is the densest, even in the range of 6 square meters, there are 4 wells.
The walls of these wells are made of ceramic rings
There are 16 ceramic circles left in one well, some of which are carved with patterns.
The pottery circle plays a role in strengthening the shaft wall and filtering groundwater.
Han Dynasty pottery well, Chaoyang district, Beijing. On August 16, 2006, on the road widening site of Guangqumenwai Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing, construction workers found an ancient well while digging the ground. The wellhead is 1.1 meters from the surface, 3.3 meters from the bottom of the hole, and 0.55 meters high. According to the opening horizon of the well, the accumulation level and inclusion in the well, as well as the shape structure and decoration of the well circle, it is determined to be a drinking water well in the Western Han Dynasty. Photo Source: Beijing Daily
During the Spring and Autumn and warring States period, the well sinking technology was further improved.
In Zigong, Sichuan, there are salt wells with a depth of several hundred meters.
By the early years of the Han Dynasty (the early year of the Han Dynasty), the industry of exploiting groundwater brine and boiling salt in Zigong, Sichuan had been very prosperous.
After the Han Dynasty, the wells were mostly made of bricks, and the walls of the wells were stronger.
The filtration of well water is more stringent, and there are more lids and well bars, which is more sanitary and safe.
At this time, water lifting tools have also become advanced, and they are more commonly used in irrigation.
I have to admire the karez here.
This great invention of farming civilization.
Aerial view of Xinjiang karez / source: panoramic network
Karez is a kind of groundwater diversion project connected by wells and canals.
In China, it is mainly distributed in the Turpan and Hami basins in the eastern Tianshan Mountains of Xinjiang.
Among them, Turpan is the most.
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