Squeezing Water from a Stone: Perceptions of Groundwater in al-Karaji's 11th-Century 'Treatise on the Extraction of Hidden Waters'

Time: 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Place: 6th Floor Conference Room, Chemical Heritage Foundation

Information: 215-873-8289 or bbl@chemheritage.org

Baghdad mathematician al-Karaji wrote his treatise, sometimes called the “oldest hydrology textbook,” on the characteristics of groundwater in the 11th century. Experts in the modern field of geohydrology have praised Karaji’s work as remarkably accurate. Since Karaji’s work focused on traditional methods of groundwater drilling in his native Iran, this how-to manual provides a glimpse of historical agricultural techniques and hydrological expertise usually not available to the historian in such detailed written form.

This topic is part of Abigail Schade's dissertation on traditional technologies of groundwater irrigation in arid regions of the ancient and medieval world. This dissertation in international/global history is being completed in the Department of History at Columbia University, where Schade is a Whiting Fellow for the 2009–2010 academic year. She held a Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (PACHS) during summer 2009.