Roman Tunnels Reading Passage
Roman Tunnels
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The tunnels were constructed by the Persians to provide a reliable water supply to the human settlements in the dry areas of present-day Iran. A quant method of tunnel construction was introduced in the early first millennium BCE, where the posts are placed in a straight line over the hill and vertical shafts are dug at regular intervals into the grounds, thus ensuring the route of the tunnel. The earth between the ends of the shaft was removed by the workers in the underground to create a tunnel. The shafts were also used to remove excavated soil and provide ventilation during construction. Once completed, the tunnel allowed water to flow from the top of a hillside down towards a canal, supplying water for human use. Remarkably, some qanats built by the Persians 2,700 years ago are still in use today.
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The knowledge about the quant method of constructing tunnels for water supply for agriculture was transferred by the Persians to the Romans. Vertical shafts dug with 30 and 60-metre intervals were used in the Roman quant tunnels. To aid in moving in and out of the shafts, they are equipped with footholds and handholds, and wooden or stone lids are used to close them. Romans hung a plumb line at the top of the shaft with the help of the rod placed across it to check whether the shaft was vertical and ensure the weight was hanging in the middle of the shaft. It is also used to identify the tunnel slope and to determine the shaft depth. The Claudius tunnel was built in 41 CE to drain the Fucine Lake in Central Italy. It is 5-6 Kilometres long with a 122-metre deep shaft. It took approximately 30,000 employees to complete the tunnel in 11 years. Remarkably, the ancient roads are still used today for transportation. Mineral extraction tunnels were also built.
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Counter-excavation tunnel construction was the second tunnel-building methodology, originated in the 6th century BCE, where tunnels were built from both ends. This method is adopted to cut through the mountains where quants implementation is not a practical alternative. As both ends of the tunnel have to meet at the centre of the mountain, a great plan and advanced planning are required to implement this method. Whenever there is a chance of geological problems or the paths have deviated, direction adjustments have to be made. The advancing direction of the tunnel is constantly checked; for example, light penetration from the mouth of the tunnel will be looked back, and if any deviations are found, corrections will be made. At times, there is a possibility of having large deviations, causing one end to be unused. The Saldae aqueduct system, located in modern-day Algeria, was built by the Romans and is 428 metres long, but the workers failed to meet the ends of the mountain. An inscription written on the tunnel explains how they missed it and how it was later altered using a lateral link between the corridors to rectify the error.
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The Romans used the counter-excavation method to construct tunnels for roads in places where they encountered mountains and hills that were too high to cross. The 37-metre long and 6-metre high Furlo Pass tunnel in Italy, built in 69-79 CE, is an example of counter excavation roads. Once mineral veins are located, the miners pursue building a tunnel using the shafts underground. An example of this type of tunnel can be found at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales, which are used for mining gold. The construction planning is simple, and the routes will be determined only based on the mineral vein if the sole purpose of the tunnel is mineral extraction.
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All the Roman tunnel constructions were carefully planned and executed well. The tunnel construction method and the type of rock in the excavation area will determine the length of time required to build the tunnel. As the quant construction method uses a straightforward approach, the work is faster than that of a counter-excavation method. This is because apart from excavating only from the tunnel mouth, even the shafts can be used for excavation. The construction time is also affected by the type of rock. The Romans employed a technique named fire quenching, where they would heat the rock and suddenly cool it with cool water to create a crack in the hard rocks. As the tunnel progression across the hard rocks requires a lot of time, the tunnel construction takes years to complete and sometimes a decade to build a tunnel. The rate of advance through the solid rock was only 30 centimetres per day, as indicated by the construction marks in the Roman tunnel of Bologna. In contrast, the rate of advancement in the Claudius tunnel is 1,4 metres per day. The names of the patrons who started the tunnel project and the architect names are inscribed in most of the tunnels. For example, you can still find the inscription in the 1.4-kilometer Cevlik tunnel in Turkey today. Here, the tunnel starting at 69 CE and the completed year at 81 CE will be found. The tunnel is built to divert the floodwater from flowing into the harbours of the ancient city of Seleucia Pieria.
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