Episode Details

Have you ever wondered how ancient farmers grew massive fields of food in the middle of the baking hot desert? Discover the incredible, muddy, and genius history of how irrigation began! Thousands of years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, early humans figured out how to tame the wild Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Without giant bulldozers or tractors, they dug miles of dirt canals entirely by hand to save their crops from drying up. You'll learn all about an amazing ancient water machine called a "shaduf" that worked exactly like a giant seesaw to lift heavy buckets of river water. We'll also explore King Hammurabi's super strict ancient laws—if you let your water dam break and wash away your neighbor's farm, you had to pay them back in pure grain! Plus, find out how ancient Persian engineers dug massive underground water tunnels called Qanats. Did you know that if you lined up all those tunnels, they would stretch all the way to the moon?! Grab your buckets and shovels, and join Mira and Finn as we uncover how moving water helped build the first human super-cities!