5000 Jahre Geschichte visualisiert: die Stufenbrunnen Südasiens und seine Regenfälle! [OC]
Von mydriase
![5000 Jahre Geschichte visualisiert: die Stufenbrunnen Südasiens und seine Regenfälle! [OC]](https://www.bytesde.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/yqa9wooeporh1-819x1024.png "5000 Jahre Geschichte visualisiert: die Stufenbrunnen Südasiens und seine Regenfälle! [OC]")
5000 Jahre Geschichte visualisiert: die Stufenbrunnen Südasiens und seine Regenfälle! [OC]
Von mydriase
10 Kommentare
The Stepwells of the Subcontinent 💧
Stepwells (also known as baori, tanka or vav depending on the region) are millennia-old rainwater harvesting structures found across South Asia, with some of them built 5000 years ago but they could make a come back as climate change worsens. I mapped 3,000 of them thanks to data gathered by an NGO called Stepwell Atlas.
Most are fantastic, ancient-looking, heavily ornamented structures dug into the ground, designed to capture the sometimes short and intense monsoon rains and make the water available throughout the rest of the year, in often hot and arid climates. They also served as a community centre for life in urban settlements, a function that has vanished.
Another layer of information shows how much it rains in a given place, and how evenly — or not — precipitation is distributed throughout the year.
Some experts believe these ancient structures, which remained in use until the Mughal era, could be restored, adapted and put back into use as climate change makes monsoon rains increasingly erratic and unpredictable.
Data: [Stepwell atlas](https://www.world-atlas.net/atlas.php?cmbm=1&subm=1) and [Chelsa](https://www.chelsa-climate.org/)
map made with QGIS and Adobe Illustrator
More maps on my website, with this[ South Asia Map galery](https://www.perrinremonte.com/subcontinent-eng) for a focus on the region
Hey there! Prepare to go really viral in India. This is a phenomenal map. Thank you so much. Very well done
👏
This is actually beautiful! Love the aesthetics and readability of this visualization
The gaps where they’re not present/sparse is interesting, up north it’s pretty much around the Ganges-Brahmaputra River basin, whereas, in the south there’s a clear absence in the eastern coast due to most of the cities being young/developed after industrialization
Great info! I’ve been to Rani ni vav and Adalaj vav. For someone who sees it the first time its much bigger than you imagine and much cooler at the bottom than you anticipate. I loved spending time there
Very cool post. Did people live directly within the stepwells structure, or merely in close proximity?
Holy shit actual beautiful data. Was about to unsubscribe before this post.
Reading „The Stepwells of South Asia“ I thought this would be about the history of a British family in India during the colonial days. It’s already late here.
Fortunately it turned out to be a much more interesting topic! Thank you!
Truly beautiful, thanks for posting. (And they look like open …silos.)
Functionally speaking, are these any different from an artificial lake?