This low narrow tunnel was built by ancient people called the Hittites using simple tools in what is now Turkey The First Tunnels How How do people get from one place to another Sometimes there are obstacles that block the way such as a mountain or a body of water Thousands of years ago ancient engineers came up with a way to cross these obstacles They built a passageway under the ground This passageway is called a tunnel 44
We don't know who built the first tunnel but we do know they have been used for at least 4,000 years About that time people known as Babylonians built a tunnel under the Euphrates River This tunnel connected the royal palace and a temple The Euphrates River was an important feature of the ancient landscape but it was also an obstacle to be crossed by the Babylonian people who lived along its shores 5
The Babylonians and their neighbors the Persians lived in the desert Living in the desert makes it hard to find water The Babylonians and Persians built tunnels to solve this problem These tunnels were called qanat or kareez They carried water underground bringing it from faraway rivers and lakes to the desert where people lived One of these tunnels carried fresh water from the Euphrates River to the royal palace through a 2,953 foot 900 meter long tunnel that was lined with bricks Brain Builder Babylon was a city in ancient Mesopotamia in what is now Iraq Persia is now known as Iran Experts think there are hundreds maybe thousands of big tunnels in Iran Turkey Syria Jordan Iraq Babylon Iran 6 Kuwait Persian Gulf
Gonabad The city of Gonabad Iran still uses a network of qanat tunnels that is more than 2,700 years old The qanats provide water to more than 40,000 people and also irrigates farmland This qanat is similar to those found in Gonabad Iran Like the Gonabad qanats this tunnel was used to transport water for drinking and agriculture 7
