Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, is an island city from the Sassanid era with a complex irrigation system, situated in
Iran's
khuzestan Province. It has been registered on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 2009, as
Iran's 10th cultural heritage site to be registered on the United Nation's list.
The Band-e Kaisar ("Caesar's dam"), an approximately 500 m long Roman weir across the
Karun, was the key structure of the complex which, along with the Band-i-Mizan, retained and diverted river water into the irrigation canals in the area.
Built by a Roman workforce in the 3rd century AD on Sassanid order, it was the most eastern Roman bridge and Roman dam and the first structure in
Iran to combine a bridge with a dam.
Parts of the irrigation system are said to originally
Date to the time of Darius the Great, an Achaemenian king of
Iran.
It partly consists of a pair of primary diversion
...see more canals in the Karun River, one of which is still in use today. It delivers water to the Shushtar city via a route of supplying tunnels.
The area includes Selastel Castel, which is the axis for operation of the hydraulic system. It also consists of a tower for water level measurement, along with bridges, dams, mills, and basins.
Then it enters the plain south from the city, where its impact includes enabling the possibility of farming over the area called Mianâb and planting orchards.
In fact the whole area between the two diversion canals (Shutayt and Gargar) on Karun River is called Mianâb, an island having the Shushtar city at its northern end.
The site has been referred to as "a masterpiece of creative genius" by UNESCO.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shushtar_Historical_Hydraulic_System
