Yakhchals: Ingenious Ancient ‘Refrigerators’ Could Store Ice In The Hot Desert
A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - These ancient structures, called yakhchals should not be confused with pyramids or ziggurats.
The yakhchals (‘yakh’ means ‘ice’ and ‘chal’ means ‘pit’) are in fact ancient “refrigerators” used to store ice and other food items.
Modern refrigerators and freezers that we possess today, are by no means new inventions. Ancient people had their technological ideas and they were similar to ours.
The yakhchals were mostly used in Persia about 400 BC. Ancient Persian engineers mastered the technique of storing ice in the middle of summer in the desert. People harvested ice and snow even much earlier, in 1000 BC. There is also written evidence that ancient Chinese, Jews, Greeks, and Romans had a similar tradition.
But what people that lived in deserts did? Some of them, like Persians, built yakhchals, a type of evaporative cooler, which cooled the air through the evaporation of water. The yakhchals were made of a special mortar called sārooj, composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash which acts as an insulator. Above ground, a yakhchal is in a shape of a dome, and it has an underground storage space, which is used to keep ice or less often - food.
Ancient people got the ice from the icy river in the winter and stored it. Many of the yakhchals - although they were built hundreds of years ago - they survived to the present day.
The twin ice-pits on Sirjan, Kerman Province, are surrounded by high walls and were constructed with mud-brick.
The twin ice-pits on Sirjan, Kerman Province, are surrounded by high walls and were constructed 108 years ago with mud-brick, the ice-pits are surrounded by high walls.
Another way to keep the temperature low was to use the wall made on the north side of the yakhchal. The water channeled along the wall would freeze faster on a winter day thus producing more ice.
The ice produced and stored was kept in large underground pits. In most yakhchals, the ice was created by itself during the cold months of the year. The water is channeled from the qanat (Iranian aqueduct) to the yakhchal and it freezes upon resting inside the structure.
The yakhchals were constructed with up to two meters thick walls made of a special mortar composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash in specific proportions.
These remarkable structures were not only resistant to heat transfer but also completely water impenetrable.
The yakhchals have not been forgotten and erased from history. Even today, Iranians still call the modern fridges and freezers “yakhchals”. One of the yakhchals that still stands today is in Kerman, the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. It is about eighteen meters high, and one of the rare surviving yakhchals.
Sometimes, the ingenious ‘refrigerators’ were equipped with a system of windcatchers or wind towers that could easily regulate temperatures inside the yakhchals, especially during very hot summer days.
Written by – A. Sutherland AncientPages.com Staff Writer
Copyright © AncientPages.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of AncientPages.com
Expand for referencesReferences:
More From Ancient Pages
-
3,000-Year-Old Ancient Egyptian Artifact Seized By US Agents In Memphis
Archaeology | Aug 29, 2022
-
Portus: History Of Ancient Roman Hub Of Commerce – Reconstructed With New Methods
Archaeology | Jul 17, 2019
-
Did Ancient Oshoro Stone Circle Serve As A Portal To The Spirit World?
Featured Stories | Aug 19, 2017
-
Chickens Were Introduced To Britain, Mainland Europe, And Northern Africa Later Than Previously Thought
Archaeology | Jun 13, 2022
-
Investigation Of A 2.9-Million-Year-Old Site Reopens Case Of Who Made First Stone Tools
Archaeology | Feb 9, 2023
-
Evolution Of Paleodiet At Neolithic Qujialing Site Unveiled By Scientists
Archaeology | Nov 30, 2022
-
Strange Case Of The Italian Doppelganger – A Tragedy – Part 1
Featured Stories | Oct 14, 2019
-
Radiocarbon Dating Method Needs Adjustments – Researchers Say
Archaeology | Apr 1, 2020
-
Smuggled 1,800-Year-Old Lydian Atonement Inscription Sent Back To Turkey By Italy
Artifacts | Sep 28, 2020
-
Deciphered Ancient Tablet May Depict Biblical Tower Of Babel – New Evidence
Archaeology | May 9, 2017
-
Ancient Greek Costumes, Masks And Theater In Focus
Ancient Traditions And Customs | Nov 25, 2016
-
Mysterious Runes Deciphered By School Children In Sweden Shed New Light On The Kensington Stone
Artifacts | Oct 4, 2019
-
One Of Europe’s Most Ancient Domestic Dogs Lived In The Basque Country 17,000 Years Ago
Archaeology | Nov 29, 2022
-
Chankillo: A 2300-Year-Old Solar Observatory in Peru
Civilizations | Sep 2, 2015
-
Judas: A Famous Traitor Or A Hero?
Biblical Mysteries | Oct 16, 2017
-
True Colors Of The Parthenon Sculptures Revealed In New Study
Artifacts | Oct 12, 2023
-
Secrets Of An Unusual And Mysterious Medieval Danish Axe Revealed By Scientist
Archaeology | Nov 25, 2022
-
Never-Before-Seen 5,000-Year-Old Mysterious Monument On Isle Of Arran Discovered By LIDAR
Archaeology | Jan 27, 2021
-
Freemasons Secrets – American Democracy Is Part Of An Ancient Universal Plan – Secret Societies’ Role – Part 3
Civilizations | Jul 14, 2018
-
Meskiaggasher: Legendary Founder Of The First Dynasty Of Uruk Who ‘Entered The Sea And Disappeared’
Featured Stories | Apr 20, 2021