Complex irrigation system from the Sasanian era, island city Shushtar, Iran
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Location of Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System in Iran
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Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System (West and Central Asia)
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The Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System (Persian: سازههای آبی شوشتر) is a complex irrigation system of the island city Shushtar from the Sasanian era. It consists of 13 dams, bridges, canals and structures which work together as a hydraulic system.
This engineering masterpiece is unique both in Iran and in the world. The Sassanids, whose economy was mainly dependent on agriculture, developed extensive irrigation systems in this region.[8]
Infrastructure included water mills, dams, tunnels, and canals. Gargar Bridge-Dam was built on the watermills and waterfalls. Bolayti canal is situated on the eastern side of the water mills and water falls and functions to supply water from behind the GarGar bridge to the east side of water mills and channel the water to prevent damage to the water mills. Dahaneye shahr tunnel (city orifice) is one of the three main tunnels which channeled the water from behind the Gargar Bridge-Dam into the water mill and then run several water mills. Seh kooreh canal channels the water from behind the GarGar bridge into the western side. In the water mills and water falls, we can see a perfect model of haltering to run mills.[7]
The Band-e Kaisar ("Caesar's dam"), an approximately 500-metre (1,600 ft) long Romanweir across the Karun, was the key structure of the complex which, along with the Mizan Dam (Band-e Mizan), retained and diverted river water into the irrigation canals in the area.[9] Built by a Roman workforce in the 3rd century AD on Sassanid order,[10] it was the most eastern Roman bridge and Roman dam[11] and the first structure in Iran to combine a bridge with a dam.[12]
Parts of the irrigation system are said to originally date to the time of Darius the Great, an Achaemenid ruler. It partly consists of a pair of primary diversion canals in the Karun river, one of which is still in use today. It delivers water to the Shushtar city via a route of supplying tunnels.[citation needed] The area includes Salasel Castle, which is the axis for operation of the hydraulic system. It also consists of a tower for water level measurement, along with bridges, dams, mills, and basins.[7]
Then it enters the plain south of the city, where its impact includes enabling the possibility of farming over the area called Mianâb and planting orchards.[7] In fact the whole area between the two diversion canals (Shutayt and Gargar) on Karun river is called Mianâb, an island having the Shushtar city at its northern end.[13]
The site has been referred to as "a masterpiece of creative genius" by UNESCO.[14]
Sites
Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System is a complex of dams, bridges, canals and structures which consists of 13 sites which work together as a hydraulic system.[15][16]
Hartung, Fritz; Kuros, Gh. R. (1987), "Historische Talsperren im Iran", in Garbrecht, Günther (ed.), Historische Talsperren, vol. 1, Stuttgart: Verlag Konrad Wittwer, pp. 221–274, ISBN3-87919-145-X
Hodge, A. Trevor (1992), Roman Aqueducts & Water Supply, London: Duckworth, p. 85, ISBN0-7156-2194-7
Hodge, A. Trevor (2000), "Reservoirs and Dams", in Wikander, Örjan (ed.), Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, vol. 2, Leiden: Brill, pp. 331–339, ISBN90-04-11123-9
Huff, Dietrich (2010), "Bridges. Pre-Islamic Bridges", in Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.), Encyclopædia Iranica Online
Kleiss, Wolfram (1983), "Brückenkonstruktionen in Iran", Architectura, 13: 105–112 (106)
Kramers, J. H. (2010), "Shushtar", in Bearman, P. (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.), Brill Online
O'Connor, Colin (1993), Roman Bridges, Cambridge University Press, p. 130 (No. E42), ISBN0-521-39326-4
Smith, Norman (1971), A History of Dams, London: Peter Davies, pp. 56–61, ISBN0-432-15090-0
Vogel, Alexius (1987), "Die historische Entwicklung der Gewichtsmauer", in Garbrecht, Günther (ed.), Historische Talsperren, vol. 1, Stuttgart: Verlag Konrad Wittwer, pp. 47–56 (50), ISBN3-87919-145-X
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