The journey In Search For Its Water Springs.
This was the reason behind
the settlement of the old and modern man and civilizations BC and AD in Al-Jawa.
The country that dug this canal, the Abs Canal
is a strong and stable country.
Until this very day, this method is being used.
Intimately connected.
They are so intertwined that it is impossible to seperate them.
This is how the scene looks; romantic and out of this world,
but here comes Eid Al-Yahya
to impose a bitter realistic picture of what happened here.
It is a fresh water spring stifled by the tamarisk trees
and sand carried by strong winds until it disappeared and left no trace.
Every water channel has a main well
or a water spring.
Below this sand dune that we are on its top,
and this perennial tamarisk tree growing on it
is the main water spring of Ain Abs
and the main well from which water is withdrawn.
This sand dune is modern
and ages only one hundred or one hundred fifty years.
Due to the sand encroachment, sand was caught in the tamarisk, forming a new dune.
Look at the bottom of this dune;
tamarisk has grown
just like the canal that we have discovered.
The main canal and well are dug in a high place
and then, the level of the ground descends down to the land to be
planted. The canal is dug in a horizontal way,
and the longer the channel, the greater the digging or depth of the holes and aqueducts.
We will head to the location of the well.
We are currently west of Ghaf Al-Jawa,
where the sand dune is still called
Nafud Ain Abs, meaning Ain Abs dune.
It is as if the water spring was not satisfied with the absence of its water,
for the sand and black logs added to its suffering.
In the west of Ghaf Al-Jawa, where people and civilizations settled,
trade convoys passed, battles shook the land, and peace prevailed,
on this land and in one of the hills of Ain Abs,
a memory came up to remind Khota Al-Arab team of the past.
The search for the Ain Abs canal
took us a long time,
but with the help of Sheikh Saleh Al-Fraih, may God reward him well, we found
it, and now we are on the Ain Abs dune. As you know, Sheikh Saleh, Al-Jawa
which includes the whole region
like Rawd Al-Jawa, Ghaf Al-Jawa, Uyun Al-Jawa, and even Uthal, Al-Jara, and Qusaiba
is an important passage for ancient civilizations.
The oldest civilizations settled in it, where Thamudi writings are numerous.
It has inscriptions of many animals such as camels and wild animals, including
lions and wild goats, meaning the alpine ibex.
It has Thamudi writings
and now there is a wonderful architecture, which is the long Ain Abs water spring, inside of which one can walk straight up
in addition to the slits.
Sheikh Saleh, tell us, what did they know about this water spring
that is the main one.
This water spring irrigated Ghaf Al-Jawa for approximately two hundred years ago or even more. - Saleh Al-Fraih is a researcher from Ain Abs.
It also irrigated the farms of Al-Ghaf Al-Jawa and Uyun Al-Jawa.
This water spring.
There is a second one.
The people depended on God and on the water of this water spring
until recently, two hundred years ago,
and it played an important role
because it produced water.
This water spring is not like a well, from which camels drink. Water flows for twenty four hours without stopping.
People in Uyun Al-Jawa
used to go down to the water spring
to get fresh water.
They divided the water between them.
This water spring has a history,
has many stories.
In order to dig water channels, they used to go up to a high place
and dig a well known as the main well. They stopped when water flowed.
Then the surveyor and the engineer came and put
a stick on the opening of the first well and tied a rope in it.
Then, they walk ten or five meters to check the slope of the land
and determine the location of the aqueduct or the second well,
then the third, fourth, and fifth
until they reach the place where they want water to reach.
It is usually a muddy base.
- A flat place - Yes, flat.
Then, they dig another horizontal channel from under the ground,
but at the spillway it is not as deep
but rather wide like a trough.
Every time they approached the main well here,
they dove underground.
In other words, they dug horizontally in a way to meet with the vertical digging
for oxygen, ventilation, and for cleaning the inside.
This is a difficult process that is calculated geometrically.
By the way, Sheikh Saleh
until this moment, the method is still being used.
We can go on for a long time when talking about the sands of Al-Jawa,
the first home of the water channels,
and the technique of drilling and designing them.
It is a precise engineering process. It takes place in parallel stages.
On the surface of the land that is sloping towards the orchards to be watered,
a surveyor determines the location of the main
water spring, and then begins digging the well
to reach the water springs in the ground.
From the main well to the agricultural lands,
holes called aqueducts are dug
and serve as rooms for inspection and ventilation for the engineers,
who dig a horizontal canal
starting from the orchards towards the main water spring.
This channel descends according to precise measurements
that allow the flow of fresh water to exit the canal above the ground
and irrigate the orchards.
The state that dug Ain Abs canal is a strong and stable state.
I personally believe the people of this area did it,
perhaps the Nabataeans, perhaps the Thamudi before the Nabataeans
maybe the Arameans although the Arameans are nomadic
tribes, but there are settled people among them. The same thing applies to the Nabataeans
among whom some are settled while others are nomadic tribes.
Before these civilizations.
Yes, before the civilizations that we know, I mean before the Islamic civilization
because this needs money, and economy, and a lot of gold.
- How long is the canal? - Almost five kilometers.
Five kilometers.
Imagine a person digging a five kilometer tunnel underground.
Man can walk and raise his hands in it.
Many archaeologists agreed a while ago
that this techniques is of an Iranian origin.
This technology is of Arab origin because it is in the middle of Najd
in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula because the Arabian Peninsula was the first to become desertified thousands of years ago.
This channel, Sheikh Saleh, is a necessity.
Those who have a flowing river do not need an underground channel
that is tens of kilometers. This is tiring.
They say it is an Iranian technique, and the first to say so was Abdullah Filbi
when he visited Ain Farzan in Al-Kharj, south of Riyadh.
It is found in Iran, but necessity is the mother of invention.
The middle of the Arabian Peninsula desertified before Iran, Afghanistan,
and South of America.
Abu Faisal, it definitely exists. On some mountains,
there are signs for the spring. Some are old Thamudi inscriptions, while others are Nabataean.
Yes, very old since thousands of years ago.
This valley
is the remains of a fresh lake, around which settlements were established.
From its bottom, rock formations sculpted naturally
appear as pieces from another planet.
Today, it is a dry area
whose borders disappear with the horizon,
but it was not like that thousands of years ago
according to recent studies that documented the climax of life in and around it
ten thousand years ago.
We came across a natural germophological example
that shows us what the name Al-Jawa means. Al-Jawa is the plural of Jaw,
which is the earth or the lower part of earth.
Uyun Al-Jawa, Ghaf Al-Jawa, Rawd Al-Jawa,
and even Uthal, Al-Qara, and Qusaiba. All make up Al-Jawa.
The area of ​​Al-Jawa, which is in Al-Qassim in Najd,
is considered as one of the first areas that people have settled in since ancient times in the Arabian Peninsula.
It has not yet been studied,
weather its biblical, structural, or architectural monuments.
However, there is a reason why it has been the home of human settlement since forever.
Joining us, is Doctor Ahmed Al-Dughairy, head of the Department of Geography at Qassim University.
Tell us Doctor, what is this geomorphological pattern behind us.
Thank you Doctor, God bless you. - Ahmed Al-Dughairy, head of the Department of Geography at Qassim University.-
This wide low part extending from Al-Roummati to Al-Termes in the north
undoubtedly, according to studies, affirms that this
is a legacy of a lake that existed thousands of years ago.
How long ago?
According to modern studies, ten thousand years ago.
Was the water fresh or salty?
- Fresh - Wonderful! Did animals live here
- such as the savannah of Africa? - Yes, the environmental and climatic conditions during that time were very humid.
This lake was colonized by living organisms living on its banks and amphibians as well.
An enormous botanical group has grown
based on modern techniques that dated this plant.
The entire ancient terrain landscape suggests beyond any doubt
that this lake was full of
water supplied by the rains and precipitation in the Arabian Peninsula, in addition
to these valleys that flow into it as well.
The old springs were at their most flowing
to fill this lake to help it in the ancient climatic conditions that prevailed in this area.
Ten thousand years ago. - Yes. -
We are talking about a recent period. - Yes, relatively recent. -
A pictorial scene based on research data.
Al-Jawa is mainly made of low parts,
but we came to Jal Al-Osudah.
What does that mean Doctor? Mounded with water and mud?
Perhaps, it goes back to the complexity of the terrain.
The city and governorate of Uyun Al-Jawa and Rawd Al-Jawa
are all settled within these areas called Jiyan, the plural of Jaw.
Of course, the terrain landscape suggests beyond any doubt that there are
extended and elongated low parts that reach valleys. One of the most important valleys
whose waters flow to these low parts
is Wadi Al-Fuylaq or what is known as Al-Sibani in the past.
Its water flowed to Uyun Al-Jawa and formed very large watersheds.
This is what made ancient
and modern humans and civilizations BC and AD
settle in Al-Jawa. Water.
Yes, water plays an important role.
In fact, Doctor, we have found some traces that confirm that man practiced grazing
for a while, as evidenced by the richness of plants and grass in this land.
We found below the sand dunes
forms of stoves that the ancient man, who grazed in these areas, used when he settled here.
Researchers say that a very long time, extending between seventeen and fourteen thousand years ago,
drought dominated over the Arabian Peninsula.
However, the drought ended with gradual rains
that irrigated the earth, so that life gradually returned to it ten thousand years ago.
It kept enjoying the humidity
and the desert changed its dress to green for a few thousand years
until the climate started changing due to the blowing of desertification winds.
Thus, drought occurred five thousand years ago.
This sandstone, which starts from the Al-Jawa through Al-Ula in Hijr to Petra
what is it called?
It is composed of several components
with different factors.
This formation or these rocks
are the legacy of humid tropical environments
covered by the sea millions of years ago.
This is fresh water as well.
Yes, because the conditions when they were formed were tropical.
Moreover, in these seas
lived a type of ancient organisms
called ancient biomolecules, and they are from the class of lichens
that live on shallow seas and warm waters.
Yes, in Kenya and Tanzania there is Lake Victoria
which has the same morphological formation, sand layer, sandstone, and rocks. Why is that?
Of course, this is part of the old existing plate
before the separation and fracture that the Arabian Peninsula was subjected to
when the Red Sea was formed.
This is an extension of what we see in Asia or Africa.
From the depths of the earth, emerge fresh water springs that meet the monsoon rains
to supply the Oswid Lake.
An imaginary scene from the distant history of this land.
However, Eid Al-Yahya asked a question
that overthrew geography and geology and made way for romance.
Doctor, before we talk about the water springs of Oswid, can you forget about love?
No one can forget about love.
We adore this land. It is very beautiful.
The first human settled and lived on its banks.
What are we looking at now? What can you tell us about it?
This edge facing Lake Oswid,
on its sides, form very old springs
that flowed heavily during the old days.
In fact, until recently, water poured in them.
Water comes from two sources;
The first source is linked to slits - Ahmed Al-Dughairy, head of the Department of Geography at Qassim University.
belonging to the underground reservoir in the lower part, containing very fresh water.
Moreover, the slits and fractures that occurred in the area
lead to the formation of long streams.
Perhaps, this may be a reason behind the fractures in the area.
This is one of the patterns formed here.
This is a work of nature, and the one in Uyun Al-Jawa is a human archaeological work.
Yes, there is no doubt. This is very clear.
Well, they say there are traces of ice.
Yes, the formation conditions of these rocks, Abu Faisal, which you can see now
well, the tropical conditions changed when the Arabian Peninsula was in the south,
and the accumulation of ice for short periods of time
led to the emergence of such scratches and streaks.
Yes.
How long ago did ice emerge above the earth?
The real studies confirm that approximately 145 million years ago,
but it did not completely stay icy.
Ice accumulated for a while,
and then it vanished.
This is one of the patterns.
Doctor, why did things change today?
The air?
The man of the desert adored the desert, whether the air was cold or hot.
- No, I mean love. - If you mean love, then it is innate
for human beings, starting with you, and I one of the people who love you.
This lake dried up,
but the eye springs kept
flowing shyly until one hundred years ago.
These eye springs maintained human stability around them
in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula.