The area was filled with water and converted into a lake soon after Partition and it has never been emptied for cleaning since then.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) workers discovered an almost 500-year-old ring well during the ongoing work at the Old Fort lake, which had completely dried up due to the neglect by the authorities.
"The work on the lake started earlier this month. A few days later, we saw some bricks," Anurag Sharma, Civil Engineer of ASI's Delhi Mini Circle, said. "On further desilting, we discovered this well, the depth of which is still unknown. The well has Lakhori brick lining and there are some traces of random rubble (RR) masonry as well," he added.
Reportedly, a German tourist had visited the site after the desilting started and had shown some pictures of the Old Fort to the workers, which gave the ASI a lead to the well. There used to be a village behind the fort wall and villagers used to come to the well to fetch water. The image that the German national shared had a woman and some animals near the well.
The area was filled with water and converted into a lake soon after Partition and it has never been emptied for cleaning since then. As per the ASI, the well might have been closed by the Britishers by filling it with silt and stones but no records of such a well exist.
The well is 1.9 m (74 inches) in diameter and has a rounded border nearly 1.5 m broad. The total diameter of the well, along with the border and the brick thickness, comes up to 5.8 m. The stones used suggest that it may belong to the 17th century.
"We are still in the process of identifying the era," Rajendra Deori, Deputy Superitending Archaeologist, Delhi Mini Circle, said. "The bricks, stones, and border suggest that this is from the late medieval period, but we would need to do futher desilting and research to know better,"he added.
A ring well, along with some artefacts, belonging to the late Mauryan period (322-185 BC) was earlier discovered during an excavation inside the fort three years ago. The ASI managed to desilt it till 10-12 m, after which the work was stopped due to lack of funds. The well lies covered now.
The ongoing work at the lake will take another two months to complete. The department stated that the lake would be ready by August, but there is no confirmation on when the boating will start again.
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