Efqa | |
---|---|
Afqa Nabʿ Afqa Ain al-Afqa Efqa-Quelle إفقا | |
Coordinates | 34°32′55″N 38°15′33″E / 34.5486°N 38.2593°E |
Type | Sulphured, warm[1] |
Temperature | 33 °C (91 °F)[2] |
Efqa Spring (Arabic: إفقا) is an ancient artesian spring in the Syrian Desert that was first developed between 4000 BCE and 2000 BCE.[3] Once upon a time the spring fed a natural stream that drained eastward into a brackish wetland.[4] The ancient city of Palmyra developed around the oasis created by the spring water.[5] Efqa comes from the Aramaic word meaning source.[2]
The spring emerges on the west side of modern Tadmur,[6] "opposite the modern building of the Cham Palace hotel, situated on the road to Damascus beyond the ruins of the ancient city."[7] The spring flows out of the limestone inside al-Mintar Mountain via nine hand-dug wells that feed into a 400-meter-long cave, or underground irrigation channel, known as a qanat.[8][3] A recent restoration project sought to undo some of the damage done by ISIS attacks in the area.[9] The spring went dry in 1994,[7] due to a combination of drought, over pumping, and neglect, but has been rehabilitated as the result of a joint Syrian–Russian restoration project and is flowing again as of 2019.[3] Water from the spring is channeled into the 420 hectares (1,000 acres) of date palm and olive orchards surrounding the spring.[8]