Evidence for early irrigation at Bat (Wadi Sharsah, northwestern Oman) before the advent of farming villages

Desruelles, Stéphane; Fouache, Éric; Eddargach, Wassel; Cammas, Cécilia; Wattez, Julia; Beuzen-Waller, Tara; Martin, Chloé; Tengberg, Margareta; Cable, Charlotte; Thornton, Christopher P.; Murray, Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.08.007

Cited by 21 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Also at Bat in central Oman, not far from Salut, evidence for irrigation practices mainly involving an early control of the wadi floods has been dated to the 3 rd millennium BCE (Desruelles et al, 2016).…”

Section: Palaeoclimatic Significance Of Calcareous Tufa and Comparisomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a number of archaeological examples from the Sahara, the Arabian Peninsula and Thar Desert that reveal human responses to abrupt changes in water availability (and subsequent effects on the landscape) during the Holocene (e.g. Weiss, 1997;Brooks, 2006;Cremaschi et al, 2006;Madella and Fuller, 2006;Cremaschi and Zerboni, 2009;Manning and Timpson, 2014;Desruelles et al, 2016;Zerboni et al, 2016). Most of examples date back to the mid-Late Holocene (e.g., Mayewski et al, 2004;Anderson et al, 2007), when the progressive weakening of the summer monsoon led to the progressive reduction of water reservoirs throughout the subtropical desert belt (e.g., Fleitmann et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1) the landscape preserves evidence of agricultural activity dating back at least to the Bronze Age (e.g. Cleuziou and Costantini, 1980;Potts, 1994aPotts, , 1994bal-Jahwari, 2009) and irrigation facilities were likely established in the area of Bat in the late 3 rd millennium BCE (Desruelles et al, 2016). In the region surrounding the ancient citadel of Salut, a recent geoarchaeological survey revealed a complex archaeological landscape, which includes settlements dating back to the Neolithic, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Islamic period (Humphries, 1974;Avanzini and Phillips, 2010;Avanzini, 2015;Degli Esposti et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Holocene onset of intensive cultivation and introduction of the falaj irrigation system in the Salut oasis (Sultanate of Oman)

Cremaschi

Esposti

Fleitmann

et al. 2018

Quaternary Science Reviews

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This paper discusses the time and steps of the introduction of intensive agriculture and evolution of irrigation systems to sustain crops in the palaeo-oasis of Salut in the northern Sultanate of Oman. Various geoarchaeological methods allow reconstructing the exploitation of the natural resources of the region and technological development of irrigation methods since the Mid-Holocene. Intensive agriculture started during the Bronze Age and continued with some spatial and intensity fluctuations up to the Islamic period. Cultivations were initially sustained by surface irrigation systems and later replaced by a dense net of aflaj, the typical surface/underground system adopted in the Levant, Arabian Peninsula and western Asia to collect water from deep piedmont aquifers and redistribute it to the fields located in the lowlands. Our results indicate that the aflaj were in use for a long period in the palaeo-oasis formed along Wadi Sayfam and surrounding the citadel of Salut. Uranium-Thorium dating of calcareous tufa formed in the underground tunnels of the aflaj suggests that they were used between ~540 BCE and ~1150 CE.After ~1150 CE Wadi Sayfam were abandoned and the size of the oasis shrank substantially.During the late Islamic period, a surface aqueduct descending from the piedmont of Jabal Shams 2 secured water supply. Our work confirms that in arid lands archaeological and historical communities were able to actively modulate their response to climate changes by using a variety of technological strategies.

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Section: Palaeoclimatic Significance Of Calcareous Tufa and Comparisomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Holocene onset of intensive cultivation and introduction of the falaj irrigation system in the Salut oasis (Sultanate of Oman)

Cremaschi

Esposti

Fleitmann

et al. 2018

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…The mkayel technology, known as Falaj, an invention is Oman, which is considered the home of this technique (Desruelles et al 2016), has been dated to 3000 BCE (Orchard and Orchard 2007), but its third millennium attribution is still debated (Charbonnier 2014). According to Tosi (1998, 2007), the falaj could have been used since the beginning of the third millennium BCE at Hili (UAE), but evidence of hydraulic structures such a aflaj and date cultivation are more well known and numerous for the Iron Age (Magee 2004;Al Tikriti 2002;Cordoba 2013) before it spreads to others cultures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate change on groundwater and the extinction of ancient “Foggara” and springs systems in arid lands in North Africa: a case study in Gafsa basin (Central of Tunisia)

Mokadem

Redhaounia

Besser

et al. 2018

Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr

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The rising increase in groundwater abstraction to serve the industrial sector and to fulfill the agricultural and domestic needs, coupled with severe drought periods during the past decades, leads to a growing deficit of water. The drawdown of piezometric levels and progressing degradation of water quality are the main consequences of such intensive exploitation. In this connection, the present study emphasizes the major effects of groundwater resource overexploitation in Southern Tunisia, and it evaluates its impacts on the ancient mkayel "Foggara" system. Although it is crucial role in various aspects of modern society, especially in Gafsa basin ("El Guettar region", central of Tunisia), this system is facing an increasing abandonment with the introduction of new technologies in response to the irrational exploitation. The mkayel are particularly susceptible to impairment by groundwater withdrawals with modern wells and pumps. In arid regions, the proper conservation and maintenance of the mkayel systems constitute promising alternatives for sustainable water management and for supporting economic development. In the past few decades, we witness a gradual disappearance of these galleries by an average loss of a dozen of mkayels per year for over half of a century expressed by a significant drop in the discharge of the 800 functional mkayels, enough to irrigate 450 ha, from 1000 l/s in 1900, 200 l/s in 1960, and 5 l/s in 1975 to 0 l/s in 2011 related to technical, social, and environmental causes. Despite the continuous extinction of mkayels, many Arabic countries still consider it as an important system of water transfer.

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“…et notamment les travaux récents menés sur les structures hydrauliques et la gestion de l'eau en contextes arides(Purdue, 2011 ;Desruelles et al, 2016 ; Cez et al, à paraître). En lames minces, les traits sédimentaires et pédologiques relevant de la gestion des écoulements, de la mise en eau, du fonctionnement et de la maintenance des ouvrages hydrauliques, sont recherchés.…”

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Le paysage fluvial et irrigué de Sarazm dans la moyenne vallée du Zeravchan, Tadjikistan, Asie centrale

Cez¹

2019

paysage

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Evidence for early irrigation at Bat (Wadi Sharsah, northwestern Oman) before the advent of farming villages

Cited by 21 publications

References 36 publications

Late Holocene onset of intensive cultivation and introduction of the falaj irrigation system in the Salut oasis (Sultanate of Oman)

Late Holocene onset of intensive cultivation and introduction of the falaj irrigation system in the Salut oasis (Sultanate of Oman)

Impact of climate change on groundwater and the extinction of ancient “Foggara” and springs systems in arid lands in North Africa: a case study in Gafsa basin (Central of Tunisia)

Le paysage fluvial et irrigué de Sarazm dans la moyenne vallée du Zeravchan, Tadjikistan, Asie centrale

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