|
©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ferhat Kanali |
|
|
For site maps and drawings please click on the picture...  |
For photographs please click on the photo...  |
|
Type:
|
Water Construction |
|
Altitude:
|
m |
|
Region:
|
Eastern Anatolia |
|
Province:
|
Agri |
|
District:
|
Dogubayazit |
|
Village:
|
|
|
Investigation Method:
|
Survey |
|
Period:
|
Middle Iron Age |
|
|
|
  |
|
| It is located around the Balik Lake in the Dogubeyazit District of Agri. It represents an interesting example of the Urartian hydraulic engineering. It is 2220 m high above the sea level. Functioning without interruption for 2700 years, the channel provides the water required for agriculture in the surrounding area. More importantly it is the earliest and finest example of the irrigation channels, supplying from a large lake, which have been found in the Eastern Anatolia so far. The local people identifies the channel with the legendary water channel made by Ferhat boring a hole through the mountains in order to join his great love, Sirin, who had a legendary beauty. The channel of Ferhat was built to have met the water requirements for agriculture in the northern sections of the Dogubayazit Plain that were not irrigated by the Balik Lake Stream. The wall was erected with large andesite blocks, but fast flowing waters gave damage to the wall, and thus they frequently underwent repairworks. The channel has two significant features. One is that it was cut by carving into the rocks at the rocky sections of the terrain. Carved into the bedrock, it has a 2 to 2.5 m width and 1 to 1.5 m depth. The second significant feature of the Ferhat Channel is that the depressed sections, where the terrain falls away, had been supported by high retaining walls. Black andesite stones were used in the walls of of the Ferhat Channel. It has great similarity to the Menua Channel in terms of construction and plan. The only distinctive feature is that the Ferhat Channel was made of black andesite blocks while limetones were used for the walls of the Menua Channel. The exact lenght of the channel is unknown. The reservoir is dated to the 7th century BC along with the fortress and settlement in the neighbourhood. |
| Location: |
| Geography and Environment: |
| History: |
| Research and Excavation: |
| Stratigraphy: |
| Small Finds: |
| Remains: |
| Interpretation and Dating: |
