Gurgānj Dam
The Gurgānj Dam was a major water engineering project of medieval-era Central Asia. The dam was constructed on the Amu Darya river, near what is now called Konye-Urgench ("Old Gurgānj") in northern Turkmenistan.
History
The dam stood from about 985 to April 1221, when it was destroyed following the Siege of Gurganj during the Mongol invasion of Khorasan. While it stood, the wooden dam was located about a ghalwa upstream from the town,[1][2] and it diverted the flow of the previously forked river entirely to the Aral Sea.[3] Our knowledge of the dam comes from both al-Biruni and Yakut.[4] The dam had gates that controlled the flow of water.[5] The dam was just one part of the city's waterworks, which included irrigation canals watering expansive agricultural fields.[1] Destroying the dam washed away the city and any surviving residents, which contributed to the overall death toll from the conquest period of the Mongol Empire.[6]
See also
- Oasis of Bukhara
- Khwarazm – Oasis region in Central Asia
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7524-9792-1.
- ISBN 978-0-87991-453-0.
- ISBN 978-1-000-96328-1.
- ISBN 978-1-78297-165-8.
- ISBN 978-0-691-16585-1.
- ISBN 978-0-85773-926-1.
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