In design and technology, we worked in groups to design and make an Egyptian shaduf. These were used by the ancient Egyptians to collect water from the River Nile to irrigate the land.
We began by completing some research – we looked at representations of shadufs on Egyptian tomb paintings as well as images that we could find online. We then considered ideas for possible designs using annotated drawings. When we were ready to begin making, we used sticks to construct a triangular framework before constructing a lever mechanism. A counterweight was needed in order to balance the bucket of water. It was great fun testing our shadufs!
Finally, we evaluated our work – we thought about whether our products were durable and sturdy, whether the lever mechanism worked successfully and also whether our models looked authentic.
