Al Ain Oasis
Working palm grove threaded by ancient gravity-fed tunnels still irrigating farms after three thousand years.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Al Ain Oasis follows the underground channel system running beneath the palms, hand-dug some three thousand years ago from a distant shaft called the mother well toward the oasis, using nothing but gravity and a feel for slope. You'll hear how diggers judged that slope with no powered tools, and how they cut vertical shafts every twenty meters, lined with baked clay rings, so workers below could be reached and the tunnels cleared of silt. Listen for the two named channels, Al Aini and Dawoodi, that still carry the water today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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