Editing Shadoof (section)

== History ==
[[File:Up the Nile, and home again. A handbook for travellers and a travel-book for the library. (1862) (14577389808).jpg|thumb|Multi-level shadoof system in Egypt|alt=Multi-level shadoofs]]

One theory states that the shadoof was invented in prehistoric times in [[Mesopotamia]] as early as the time of [[Sargon of Akkad]] (around 24th and 23rd centuries BCE). The earliest evidence of this technology is a cylindrical seal with a depiction of a shadoof dating back to about 2200 BCE. Then, it is believed that the [[Minoan civilization|Minoans]] adopted this technology; evidence suggests the use of shadoofs as early as around 2100–1600 BCE. The shadoof appeared in [[Upper Egypt]] sometime after 2000 BC, most likely during the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|18th Dynasty]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Yannopoulos |first1=Stavros I. |last2=Lyberatos |first2=Gerasimos |last3=Theodossiou |first3=Nicolaos |last4=Li |first4=Wang |last5=Valipour |first5=Mohammad |last6=Tamburrino |first6=Aldo |last7=Angelakis |first7=Andreas N. |date=September 2015 |title=Evolution of Water Lifting Devices (Pumps) over the Centuries Worldwide |journal=Water |language=en |volume=7 |issue=9 |pages=5031–5060 |doi=10.3390/w7095031 |issn=2073-4441 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2015Water...7.5031Y }}</ref> Around the same time, the shadoof reached [[Ancient china|China]].

Some historians believe the Egyptians were the original inventors of the shadoof. The theory states that the shadoof originated along the [[Nile]], using tomb drawings illustrating shadoofs at [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] dating from 1250 BCE as evidence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=T. H. Mirti |last2=W. W. Wallender |last3=W. J. Chancellor |last4=M. E. Grismer |date=1999 |title=Performance Characteristics of the Shaduf: A Manual Water-Lifting Device |url=https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.5769  |journal=Applied Engineering in Agriculture |doi=10.13031/2013.5769 |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=225–231 |access-date=2023-12-01 |language=en-us|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

An alternative origin theory states that shadoof originated from India around the same time as in Mesopotamia. This theory owes to the fact that the shadoof was well spread in [[Ancient India|India]]; however, there is little to no other evidence that makes this theory any stronger.<ref name=":0" />

It is still used in many areas of Africa and Asia and is very common in rural areas of India and [[Pakistan]], such as the [[Bhojpuri region|Bhojpuri]] belt of the [[Ganges]] plain. In Europe, they remain common in countries like [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]], [[Poland]] and [[Germany]]. In the [[Great Hungarian Plain]] they are considered a symbol of the region.