Bullocks being used to draw water from a well in Rajasthan, India, using the Persian Wheel method.

Bullocks, buffaloes or camels are used to drive an ancient form of water lifting device called a Persian Wheel. It is also known as a Sakia, Sakieh, Saqiya, Tablia or Tympanum. The device uses buckets, jars or scoops fastened either directly to a wheel or to a continuous belt. (As in the well in this image.) The vertical wheel is attached by a drive shaft to a horizontal wheel driven by an animal or animals. They are still used in India, Egypt and other parts of the Middle East. ] as as far away as the Balearic Islands and the Iberian Peninsula. It is thought that the machine may have been invented in Hellenistic Egypt, Persia or India. They can raise water from wells up to 20 metres deep.