How Did Persians Make Ice in The Desert Without a Single Machine?

How did Persians make ice in the desert without a single machine? On clear winter nights in Kerman and Yazd, water from hand-dug qanats froze in shallow basins beside strange, giant mud walls, and the ice was stored in huge yakhchal domes until the July heat. This is the real story of the Persian yakhchal: the qanat, the ice pond, the mud-brick dome and the deep pit beneath it, what engineers found when they modelled one, and how ancient these ice houses really are. If you like stories about how people beat impossible climates, a like really helps, and subscribing means you won't miss the next one in this series. 0:00 Ice in the desert, no machine 0:41 A January night in Kerman 2:46 Why a desert can freeze 4:05 Qanats: water from underground 6:08 The secret of the giant wall 7:25 Freezing water under a clear sky 9:31 How much ice could one pond make? 10:47 A correction: mountain ice 11:24 The giant mud-brick dome 13:54 Inside the ice pit 15:26 Who could buy ice 16:53 How ancient is the yakhchal? 19:00 Decline and a modern revival 20:38 Which job would you take? #Yakhchal #PersianHistory #AncientEngineering #PassiveCooling #IranHistory #DesertSurvival #Qanat