Technical Studies, Historical Period, In Shaanxi Wells

Water is the source of life and one of the most indispensable and important material resources for human survival and development. In ancient times, due to lower productivity, people lived near the water. Then the earliest way of exploiting and using water resource emerged, that is, direct taking the surface water from rivers and lakes. With the development of human civilization, the river can not satisfy human needs, so Chinese ancestors found other ways of solving the problem in unremitting exploration: digging wells in flat to exploit groundwater resources, which makes wells become an indispensable infrastructure in human life. Shaanxi province is one of regions exploiting water conservancy earlier in ancient times of China and thereby it is one of the regions using wells earlier. But in different historical periods, the social background and technology of human digging wells also vary. Besides, researches made from the perspective of the history of science and technology have been less. Therefore, a tentative probe into wells in Shaanxi province will be made with the usage of the history of science and technology. The paper can be divided into four chapters.Chapter one is an overview of national ancient wells technology. This chapter reviews the national wells mainly from three aspects:types of ancient wells, digging technology in ancient times and functions of ancient wells. From the perspective of technical features of national wells, the development and transformation of wells technology transforms with the development of economy and social changes.Chapter two is about technology researches of ancient wells in Shaanxi Province. A detailed description of wells in is made mainly from three aspects:technology in the ruins of ancient wells in, researches of ancient wells with funerary wares in Shaanxi Province and ancient wells of scenic spots in Shaanxi Province. As the earliest cradles of human civilization in our country, especially as the economic and cultural enclaves in Guanzhong area, it is self-evident that people highly rely on the wells and the digging technology is develped. Therefore, intensive wells and wells with funerary wares and the features of times and technology have been found in Shaanxi Province. These phenomena reflect the situations of social changes, economic development and scientific and technical innovation in Shaanxi Province at that times. Chapter three is concerned with the supporting facilities of ancient wells. The chapter describes the introduction of the supporting facilities of ancient wells and supporting facilities in Shaanxi Province in detail. With the development of society, human beings are increasingly aware of the importance of water cleanness. Supporting facilities of wells have thus emerged. As is known to all, the well types vary. Then according to different types of wells, the facilities will also be different. Even with different levels of economic development and science and technology, the supporting facilities of same wells are also different. So to know about the ancient wells, supporting facilities must be understood, including pumping tools and facilities over wells.Chapter Four is about management measures of ancient wells. Along with the development and progress of the society, civilized life and legal society gradually become the mainstream. So wells managements, which are closely related to people's life, become more and more important. This chapter includes setting distances of wells in cities, outflow measures and daily protecting of wells and so on.In short, the ancient wells and their technology change constantly with the improvement of the society, the economic development and the innovation of science and technology. Even if numerous civilization creations have made by the ancients, wells and their technology plays an important part in the civilization history.