Snapshots of the Past

The shadoof, the crudest method of lifting water from the Nile, Egypt. – Vintage Print

The shadoof, the crudest method of lifting water from the Nile, Egypt., c1904. — historic photograph
The shadoof, the crudest method of lifting water from the Nile, Egypt., c1904.. Historic photograph from the Historic Print Archive collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with The shadoof, the crudest method of lifting water from the Nile, Egypt., a historic photograph rich in period detail. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.

The shadoof, the crudest method of lifting water from the Nile, Egypt.

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Lifting water from a channel with a shadoof, a long pole balanced on a post with a bucket on one end and a counterweight on the other, is the subject of this view along the Nile. The device is very old, shown in Egyptian tomb paintings, and it was still in common use along the river in the early 1900s, when farmers raised water by hand to irrigate their fields. The caption's description of it as the crudest method of lifting water reflects the tone of many travel views of the period, which set simple local tools against Western machinery. Stereo cards like this one, sold in pairs for viewing through a stereoscope, gave armchair travelers a vivid sense of distant places around 1904.

Created / publishedc1904.
Medium1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph.
NotesStereo copyrighted by C.H. Graves. No. 42. This record contains unverified data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geogr.; Irrigation; Ph. Ind.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 735 px · prints to 5 × 2 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-171780

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