Modern refrigerators evolved from ancient Persian ice pits
From ancient Persian ice pits preserving food in scorching deserts to today's electric refrigerators, the quest to beat the heat has a 2,000-year history.
The refrigerator in your kitchen has roots in ancient Persia. Around 400 BC, Persians built yakhchals, or ice pits, using thick, insulated materials like sarooj. These dome-shaped structures, some over 50 feet tall, stored ice harvested from mountains and kept temperatures as low as 40 degrees Fahrenheit, even in scorching desert summers.
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