|
The Incan aqueducts refer to any of a series of aqueducts built by the Inca people. The Inca built such structures to increase arable land and provide drinking water and baths to the population. Due to water scarcity in the Andean region, advanced water management allowed the Inca to thrive and expand along much of the Pacific coast of South America. Such structures, some of which survive today, show the advanced hydraulic and civil engineering capabilities of the Inca. The water came mostly from nearby rivers, but was also brought down from fresh water springs on mountains. The ancients discovered that if they diverted certain amounts of water from rivers, then they didn't have to worry about scarce rain and drought and they could also stimulate plants to grow faster by getting enough water in time. Workers dug tunnels through mountains and cut channels into cliffs to complete the project. In seasons when too much mountain snow melted, the flood waters were carried to huge masonry reservoirs for storage, channeling water to their cities and religious centers.〔(Inca and Aztec Aqueducts )〕〔(aqueduct :: Inca and Aztec Aqueducts - Britannica Student Encyclopaedia )〕 ==Early accounts== The first recorded accounts of Incan water transportation structures came from Spanish conquistadores in the 16th Cenjosetury. One such explorer was Pedro Cieza de León. In his published chronicles detailing his travels through Peru, he noted seeing a large wall as he headed east from Cuzco, which scholars argue the he was referring to the aqueduct at the Piquillacta archeological sire. Cieza writes: :"Along this road there is a very large, broad wall, along the top of which, according to the natives, ran pipes of water, laboriously brought from some river and piped in with the forethought and care they used in building their irrigation ditches." Noted American archeologist Ephraim George Squier noted several aqueducts during his exploration of Peru in the late 1800s, including those that watered gardens on the terraces of the Yucay Valley, north of Cuzco. He also recorded an account of the ruins of a sixty-foot high aqueduct in the foothills of the Andes near Lima. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Incan aqueducts」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|