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Water
is the most precious resource of nomadic people who constantly
move from one place to another. They must know, therefore, the
places where water can be found in nature or drawn by means
of the devices built by the nomads themselves. Above, a Saharan
Tuareg near a guelta. Below, a young nomad from the Dahalac
isles in the Red Sea who is drinking the fresh water produced
by catching the sea evaporation in the artificial basins.
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Beyt
Bows (Yemen). Stone settlement on the upland with an open-air
cistern for harvesting water.
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Hababa
(Yemen). The town surrounds the large cistern-basin where the
water coming from the terraces of the buildings is collected.
The little building at the water's edge is a mosque with pools
inside supplied with water by the big arches.
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Hababa
(Yemen). Even the smallest mosque has its resaf, terrace or courtyard
for collecting the water that is stored in the open-air cistern
and the underground rooms for ablutions.
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Cisterns
and rain water harvesting and decantation systems on the rock
of Thula
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The
large reservoirs for water conservation on the acropolis of Thula
(Yemen) had sufficient dimensions to supply water to the fields
and the surrounding houses and to withstand sieges.
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Gravina
in Apulia, tombs, water cisterns and hydraulic systems at the
bottom of the hill of Botromagno. The aqueduct-bridge still connects
both the edges of the canyon to each other.
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Red
Sea. Pool of fresh water in the salt deposits on the Red Sea coast.
Since the most ancient times along the arid coasts of the Arabian
desert water reservoirs were created in pools or buried jars,
known only to the organisers of the sea or caravan routes.
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Chichén
Itzá (Yucatan), the holy cenote of the town. The natural sinkhole
is used for water harvesting and the monumental architecture for
the periodical votive offerings.
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Reconstruction of the natural karstic system of the aguada and cenotes (National Museum of Mexico City).
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The system of cisterns (cisternali) of Traversa near Alberobello: a whole view dating back to the beginning of the 20th century. This system, very similar to the 'laghi' of Conversano, consists of a depression containing cisterns dug out to impound flood waters.
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