Egyptian wells
Achilles Sophia achillesz@usa.net
Mon, 21 Sep 1998 21:29:39 -0400 (00906445779, 01293992110125@cfagroup.com)
>On Mon, Sep 21, 1998 at 06:23:06PM -0400, Achilles Sophia wrote:
>> On the basis of having studied archaeology for several years I believe that
>> wells have been used continuously in egypt from stone age times forward,
>> however I realize that many will not want to just accept my word on that so
>> I also did a brief net search for early references to wells in egypt. There
>> is a history of plumbing in egypt available online at
>> http://www.theplumber.com/egypt.html
>
>So these would have been wells that used groundwater, not that (say)
>collected rainwater?
ACHILLES
Oh yes, certainly. Artifacts for the collection of rainwater were known as
well, but they were primarily used by the Nabateans, not the egyptians, and
they are not in any sense "wells." Rainwater collectors are simply too
seasonal to be relied upon. The Nabateans were very unusual, relying
primarily on condensed water, and their elaborate collection systems covered
vast areas of land, many times the size of their settlements, feeding into
storage vessels. This pattern was not used in egypt, where drinking water
was primarily from wells from very ancient times.
>Jeff
>PS Considered that these plumbers might have an anti-supernatural bias?
>:)
ACHILLES
Heheh. I suppose anyone who has to deal with reality, from plumbers to
mechanics to engineers etc. has an anti-supernatural bias eh? So, really,
only priests and full-time preachers are unbiased. But wait a second - these
people are out of work if supernaturalism is discredited, so they can't be
trusted either. :') So where does that leave us? Trust no one, hold fast to
logic and evidence. I am fine with that.
Achilles
"...we are not simply contending in order that my view or that
of yours may prevail, but I presume we ought both of us to be
fighting for the truth..."
from Philebus, the Dialogues of Plato