Ancient Engineering That Kept One of the Driest Cities Wet

The ancient Nabataeans' water storage and irrigation system was a marvel of engineering. It was the biggest reason they were able to thrive in the harsh desert for hundreds of years.

From the Series: Secrets

[devastator]

I'm amazed by the resiliance and innovation of ancient people's, I truly believe that some of these civs would never live in today's world

[jatindsaini]

Best of all, it was a sustainable system with no burden on ecology and environment.

[juggy]

wish this was more detailed, like how did the cistern collect those winter rain

[debbieschmidt]

I love this video! What brilliance! I wish we had a system like this today, I bet that water tasted good! Makes me thirsty!

[bob]

IT STARTED!!!! AT THE HILLTOP!!!! OH THE DRAMA!!!!

[richardpage]

this was part of a very long process of development, and it is brilliant!

[Anudeep-GY-]

Lucky to observe such videos....collecting water and storing water from rain is very attractive interstung important beautifull

[MarkStoneCalasade]

Without electricity or power generation of any kind. What amazes me is there are things ancient peoples accomplished we cannot replicate today. Come to think of it, what amazes me even more is we have multiple examples of sheer brilliance throughout history we can replicate, yet we do not, the majority of which come from Romans. Not just in what we should do but what we should avoid. There are some spooky parallels between the fall of Rome and the United States of today.

[kiwi]

I wonder if the swimming pool constantly had new water entering and leaving like the tides. Otherwise it would become contaminated.

[onemercilessming]

Perhaps CA should send Governor Moonbeam to Petra so that CA could learn how to store water. CA has about 840 miles of coastline and NOT ONE desalinization plant. Not one new dam.

[dwylhq]

Good intro. Is this a trailer? Where’s the rest of the show? How can people outside of the US watch it? 🤷🏼‍♂️

[jamezbond]

The whole place was different back then..just like the grand canyon also was full of water ...latterly a gaint empty lake ..

[brodiewheldrake]

Wtf i want to know more about how these people lived

[AhJodie]

These kinds of practices were all over the world, including Southwest Indigenous of USA, and the Indigenous of South America all the way to Asian cultures.... probably other places that simply have not been found or understood. If a person simply watches water after a rain.... a person gets ideas.... and with help... anything can be done!

[gretafinz]

Nabataeans were a nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed the Arabian Desert. Where did they have picked up the skills to do such precise engineering? Which high-impact rock-cutting technologies did the use? Why do the tool marks resemble those made by a powered mechanism?

[drinxs]

And people are wondering how they can get water now adays..SMFH

[holgerfarber]

is desalinated water some kind of energy storage if we produce it with surplus solar energy? 🤔or would it be the wrong term?
if someone is watering a field to let plants grow, is this putting energy to the field or is water just an activator for the plants to take the ingredience from the ground and the sunlight?
i mean, if we would pump seawater to a higher level and make energy with turbines this would be a classic enery storage
but desalination? I am just a Thinker not a Knower 🤗

[lallyoisin]

The Nabataeans???
Are we still doing this??

[losttribearts]

Question: why do all Smithsonian documentaries use narration that sounds like it's promoting a summer blockbuster or reality TV? The subject matter is interesting; it does not to be "goosed" to be aimed at viewers who aren't actually interested. It makes it really hard to watch - and equally hard to take seriously.

[outwiththem]

Then the Italians go all over the place saying "The Romans created the aqueduct". Liars, Dam Liars..