The Harbaqa Dam or Kharbaqa Dam ( ar, سد خربقة) was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

era Palmyrene gravity dam in the Syrian desert about southwest from

Palmyra Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...

on the road to Damascus. The dam, built of rubble,

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

, and dressed with ashlar stones, dates to the first or second century AD. The dam later was used as a water supply for the

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...

palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi.

Overview

The dam was built in the first/second-century AD by

. It was restored and used again by the

s in the eighth century for irrigation purposes. It served as a major water supply for the nearby Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, to which it was connected by a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

. The dam collected the seasonal floods of Wadi al-Barada in a storage basin that could be used all year.Butcher, 2003, p. 163. The remains of the dam are well-preserved for lack of quarrying from nearby settlements.Gerster; Trümpler, 2007, p. 364. The dam was built out of a

core faced on both air and water face with ashlar stones. The wall is around wide at the base, high and stretches for in length. The dam wall had three outlets. Two outlets were located at the base that allow the torrential water to flow in winter. The third one,

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

with a smaller diameter, crossed the dam in a steep slope and was located about from the top on the upstream side.Schlumberger, 1939, p. 201. The former reservoir, now filled with

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

, had a capacity of and measured up to in length and in width. The dam was first surveyed in 1934 by

Antoine Poidebard Antoine Poidebard (Lyon, 12 October 1878 – Beirut, 17 August 1955) was a French archaeologist and Jesuit missionary. He pioneered aerial archaeology in the Middle East. References

1878 births 1955 deaths Archaeologists from Lyon Clergy ...

. A more detailed survey and excavation was conducted by a French archaeological team led by

Daniel Schlumberger Daniel Théodore Schlumberger (19 December 1904 – 21 October 1972) was a French archaeologist and Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Strasbourg and later Princeton University. Biography After having been invited by ...

in 1938.Calvet; Geyer, 1992, p. 80.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Roman dams Dams in Syria Ancient Roman dams Gravity dams Buildings and structures in Homs Governorate

Overview

See also

References

Bibliography