50
30°55′49″N / 34°41′46″E
November 13, 2011. Recent earthworks along the route south toward the Egyptian border. The equidistant vertical holes on the left of the image form a portion of an ancient fuqāra—one of a series of well-like vertical shafts that are connected by gently sloping tunnels in order to create a reliable supply of water for human settlement and irrigation in arid areas such as the Negev. The fuqāra efficiently taps into the subterranean water to deliver it to the surface without the need of sophisticated pumping techniques. The water is drained by gravity to an outlet below the source. Developed in Persia in the early first millennium BC (the fuqāra were known in the region as qanāts) the technique soon moved beyond the borders to the east and the west. At the time, densely populated areas were in close proximity to fuqāra. Expensive and time consuming to construct, these offered the community a long-term solution for the requirements of water consumption.