“This book gives us a multidimensional insight into the ancient technique of qanat. “Qanat: Stream of Wells” is an invaluable and thorough report that clearly shows how qanats could create a special cultural landscape that is the manifestation of millennia of human adaptations to a changing environment. The encyclopaedic nature of this book, which encompasses a wide range of qanat-related subjects across time and place, never detracts from its value as an analytical study that can change our current perception of qanats. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to understand qanats in a global context and from a holistic perspective.” ―Majid Labbaf Khaneiki, International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (UNESCO-ICQHS)
“Supported by exhaustive data, maps and diagrams, Lightfoot's study answers a felt need for a multi-disciplinary exploration of historic water management wherein hydrology, geography, landscape studies and social history converge to articulate patterns of human sustainability, their past and their future.” ―Yaaminey Mubayi, Historian and Community Development Specialist
“Thirty years of hot and dusty fieldwork in arid lands around the world, much of it in countries now hostile to outsiders, has resulted in the most thorough volume ever written on qanats. These chain-well and tunnel features-many built recently, some excavated more than 3,000 years ago-transport(ed) irrigation waters from deep under mountain piedmonts to surface fields of crops kilometers away. Lightfoot has labored through archives, libraries, and museums everywhere, gleaning histories and first-hand accounts when not crawling through qanats and talking to and interviewing local builders, users, and scholars. He weaves a compelling story of human survival, ingenuity, and the transfer of ideas and technologies that crosses oceans and transcends culture and time from the Middle East to the Taklimakan, to Perú and México. Ubiquitous and nearly invisible in dry lands, and long marginalized by scholars and lay people alike, qanats now have visibility and voice, a very high visibility and a very loud voice.” ―William E. Doolittle, Erich W. Zimmermann Regents Professor in Geography, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
“Drawing from over thirty years of research and fieldwork, Lightfoot offers a truly comprehensive and groundbreaking look at qanats worldwide, spanning multiple disciplines-geography, archaeology, history, sociology, and hydrogeology. Despite its encyclopedic perspective, Lightfoot breaks away from common oversimplifications in the history of qanat technology and offers a definitive course for future scholarship on the topic. If you seek depth, breadth, and a clear lens on qanats, this pivotal study is your essential guide.” ―Mehrnoush Soroush, The University of Chicago, USA
“I thank Professor Dale Lightfoot for this rigorous scientific reference and the immense work he has accomplished. This book is extremely important for researchers studying qanats and traditional water management, containing the product of diligent work and extensive experience by Professor Dale Lightfoot, who traveled the world in search for these systems, met with the most significant researchers in this scientific area, and reviewed the most important research published in the field of archaeohydrology. The book provides focused and comprehensive information about qanats around the world and explains their natural and human environments, with a strong effort dedicated to studying their history and origins.
This book serves as an important academic reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students, studies human geography, socio-hydrology, human-ecology, and other interdisciplinary science that explore the relationships between humans, nature, and knowledge throughout history” ―Abdullah Al-Ghafri, UNESCO Chair on Aflaj Studies-Archaeohydrology, Oman
