What role did technology play in the construction of the Suez Canal?

Question

anonymous · Answer

http://people.hofstra.edu/alan_j_singer/CoursePacks/TheSuezandPanamaCanalsandtheAgeofEmpireDBQ.pdf

nurali · Answer

The Suez Canal is a flat sea level canal (There was no lock systems). It was dug using forced labor. Early steam powered shovels existed but were not used. The main tools used were most likely have been hand picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. There is an engraving from 1869 which shows construction steam trains moving objects, presumably for the removal of materials(rocks/dirt) from the site, but there is no other equipment visible in the carving.