Production requires water: Material remains of the hydrosocial cycle in an ancient Anatolian city

Abstract

Kerkenes is the largest pre‐Hellenistic city in Turkey. It covers 2.5 square kilometers and is enclosed by a 7‐km‐long stone wall. This Iron Age, Phrygian city was well planned, only inhabited for forty to sixty years, and then purposefully destroyed and abandoned. Not only were the city wall and architecture planned but interconnected water management features for the city were also part of how the city was conceived. While some might view the management of water in the city as an indication that the social elite wanted to control the water, the available evidence does not support this idea. Drawing on Linton and Budds's hydrosocial cycle, this article uses water as a lens to examine hydrosocial relations at Kerkenes, specifically instances where water is part of the dialectical and relational process in the production of food, crafts, health, and politics. This article argues that using water as a lens can help archaeologists find traces of sociocultural, economic, and political relationships and may not only reveal insights into water negotiations in the past but also inform contemporary water concerns.

The economic anthropology of water

“…Among the articles included in this special issue, six employ the hydrosocial cycle as an analytic framework (Graff, Branting, and Marston ; Harnish, Cliggett, and Scudder ; O'Leary ; Radonic ; Walker ; Wells et al ). Here we briefly discuss two of these.…”

“…Here we briefly discuss two of these. First, Graff, Branting, and Marston's () analysis of the pre‐Hellenistic city of Kerkenes in contemporary Turkey illustrates how hydrosocial relations were integrated through water management and related craft and food production. This is the first time—to our knowledge—that the hydrosocial cycle has been applied to an archaeological analysis.…”

Change in Water Technology in Anatolia: From Use to Energy, Conflicts to Climate Action

“…The discovery of the water level alone, as an instrument that made it possible to build irrigational channels as well as exemplary structures such as pyramids and temples, is worthy of recognition. Thus, as water is essential to all living creatures, it is equally important to understand the role it plays in the development of civilization (Graff et al, 2019). Although humankind mastered water technology a long time ago, issues related to water are at the heart of global discussions (Sanyanga et al, 2020;Wrong Climate for Big Dams, 2011).…”

Flooding water and society

“…In contrast, the idea of the hydrosocial cycle emphasizes that the circulation of water depends on—and internalizes—historical, political, economic, technological, and hydrological relations across space and time (Swyngedouw, ; Linton & Budds, , p. 177). The hydrosocial cycle has thus influenced a variety of studies in geography, anthropology, and STS which demonstrate how different manifestations of water (irrigation, dams, rivers, marshes, tidal movement, and oceans) are deeply connected with complex relations of power (Bouleau, ; Bourblanc & Blanchon, ; Boelens, ; Budds, ; Loftus, March, & Nash, ; McDonnell, ; Mills‐Novoa et al, ; Mollinga, ; Paerregaard, ; Schmidt, ; Workman, ; Graff, Branting, & Marston, ).…”