Expanding our understanding of tunneling through out history

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Expanding our understanding of tunneling through out history (3/14/06)

Awhile back I saw a map showing how many tunnels Israel had uncovered going into and out of Palestine. The various insurgency groups like to dig these tunnels so they can smuggle weapons into Palestine from Egypt or other countries, or into Isreal for use in terrorist operations. The problem is so bad the Israelis have taken to digging fences deep into the ground to discourage this. This is a good schematic of them, and the BBC has a great inside look as well. Pictures 7, 8, and 9 show the insides.

Now, if you haven't put this together yet let me just say my brain works by tying things together that most folks wouldn't think to. I've received awards for being an "Out of the Box" thinker. Problem is, I'm not out of the box I just see a different, and much larger, box. That said, my brain churned up the Valley of the Kings along with a "Hey, the ancients sure dug a lot of tunnels back then. There must be more." thought. It turns out they were digging these tunnels for a variety of purposes, one of which was to move water over immense distances several thousand years ago. Called qanats, the Middle East is literally covered with these things. Another tunnel use example is how the Israelis used tunnels during a revolt against the Romans to escape persecution.

We tend to think of tunneling as a complicated enterprise ala the Chunnel, but it is really a very old form of engineering that humanity has been doing for a very long time. I don't think there can be much surprise at that actually, because we've always been surrounded by animals and I happen to know of species in particular that a lot of folks have kept as pets for at least 14,000 years that really like to bury things. It wouldn't have taken much of a leap for a person to watch this and wonder if they might try it as well. Moles and worms would have triggered similar thoughts too.

There are probably a lot more of tunnels than we know of, and they can probably explain a lot of little mysteries we have been wondering about. In particular, I wouldn't at all be surprised to hear of them being used as a strategic advantage within a particular battle. Good generals always prep the field of battle, and this would fall under that activity. There would be a lot of value in uncovering these things as the Syrians demonstrated above with the qanats, and also from a historical perspective. If we could run a program to search for these things via the shuttle or ISS, I think it would help spur some innovation and historical yearning over in the Middle East. Authenticating the finds will require trained scientists in the field in an area with few trained scientists, and, depending on what the tunnels were used for, could lead to increased fertility of the land, historical and sciencetific insights, and anything the wisdom of the ancients could think up.