IWA 2 nd Regional Symposium on Water, Wastewater and Environment, 22- -Izmir, Turkey. 465 ID_2848 A Brief History of Water Wells Focusing on Balkan, Indian and Chinese Civilizations Konstantinos Voudouris 1,a , Asimina Kaiafa 2 , Zheng Xia Yun 3 , Rohitashw Kumar 4 , Katharina Zanier 5 , Elpida Kolokytha 6 , Andreas Angelakis 7 1. Lab. of Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Hellas 2. PhD, School of Architecture, Aristotle University, 54124 Thessaloniki, Hellas 3.President of Int. Water History Association, Professor of Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, China 4.Division of Agricultural Engineering, SKUAST- Kashmir, India 5.Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia 6.Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Hellas 7.National Foundation for Agricultural Research (N.AG.RE.F.), Iraklion 71307, Hellas a.Corresponding author (kvoudour@geo.auth.gr) ABSRACT: The provision of water has been a major enterprise in human history. Groundwater has been utilized since the Prehistoric times to cover the human needs. Initially, the exploitation of groundwater has been made by shallow wells and later by boreholes. A water well is an excavation in the ground by digging, driving, boring, or drilling to access groundwater in aquifers. Groundwater wells were used in Helladic world since Neolithic times. Ancient Chinese also developed a drilling tool for water wells which, in principle, is similar to modern machines. Moreover, the Indus valley civilization had well-constructed wells mainly for drinking purposes. The construction of wells varied according to local conditions, determined by geology, hydrogeology, morphology, as well as to the local tradition. Furthermore, a well was not just a water source but also became a cultural symbol on the history, related to local religion and custom. For example, the stepwells in India became not only sources of drinking water, but cool sanctuaries for bathing, prayer, and meditation. In the present review the evolution of wells through the centuries is examined. The examples of water wells technologies demonstrate that the ancient people had an outstanding engineering knowledge of water supply, which is interesting for water engineering and hydrogeologists even nowadays. Keywords: Groundwater, Hellenic civilizations; Stepwells, Water source, Wells digging 1. INTRODUCTION The most traditional and relatively simple method of water supply since prehistory was drawing it from wells, namely deep holes made in the ground through which water can be lifted. A remarkable series of water wells with foot hand holes in Kyssonerga, in a region without springs or rivers on the SW coast of Cyprus, near to Paphos, is dated in aceramic Neolithic, in late 10 th and 9 th millennia and seem to be the earliest known wells (Peltenburg et al., 2014). A contemporary well at Shillourokambos, also in Cyprus, attests to the long time history of well digging (Peltenburg et al., 2000). Moreover, at least two wells from the Neolithic period, around 6500 BC, have been discovered in Israel (Tegel et al., 2012). During antiquity wells, usually round in cross section, were always dug, not drilled (as in modern times), and were lined usually with stone, brick or even wood. Several wood lined wells have been found in central Europe, dating back to the Neolithic era and later BC and Eythra, dated ca. 5200 BC in Schletz, Austria (Tegel et al., 2012). Both digging and constructing wells were skilled crafts that required specialists. There is little evidence of technological advances in well drilling during prehistoric times in the Mediterranean region (Brantly, 1961). Well construction in the Near East was accomplished by man and animal and was aided by