The domestication of water: water management in the ancient world and its prehistoric origins in the Jordan Valley

Abstract

The ancient civilizations were dependent upon sophisticated systems of water management. The hydraulic engineering works found in ancient Angkor (ninth to thirteenth century AD), the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (thirteenth to fifteenth century AD), Byzantine Constantinople (fourth to sixth century AD) and Nabatean Petra (sixth century BC to AD 106) are particularly striking because each of these is in localities of the world that are once again facing a water crisis. Without water management, such ancient cities would never have emerged, nor would the urban communities and towns from which they developed. Indeed, the 'domestication' of water marked a key turning point in the cultural trajectory of each region of the world where state societies developed. This is illustrated by examining the prehistory of water management in the Jordan Valley, identifying the later Neolithic (approx. 8300-6500 years ago) as a key period when significant investment in water management occurred, laying the foundation for the development of the first urban communities of the Early Bronze Age.

GIS and Remote-Sensing Application in Archaeological Site Mapping in the Awsard Area (Morocco)

“…A sum of 365 out of 815 archaeological sites (45%) lay within 500 m distance of water sources, and 82% of sites are 1 km distance closer to paleorivers, while 284 sites (35%) are located around the paleolake in the south-western part of the study area, life always depends on water availability and accessibily since water reflects the image of society [65]. However, it must be mentioned that few sites are very close to water streams with only 14% of sites (115 tumuli) within a 100 m buffer zone of water bodies (Figure 6d).…”

Stable carbon isotope analysis as a direct means of inferring crop water status and water management practices

“…Although past climatic conditions differed from those of today, these areas are likely to have been water-limited environments throughout the Holocene. Consequently, the management of surface water resources has been a focus of archaeologists studying the ancient agriculture of the region (Butzer 1996;Charles 1988;Davies 2009;Mithen 2010). Traditionally, information on ancient crop watering has been derived from indirect lines of evidence, such as irrigation infrastructure (Bruins 1990;Clement and Moseley 1991;Farrington 1980;Kirchner 2009) and the ecology of weed species found in unprocessed harvests or processing by-products Jones et al 1995).…”

Sustainably Managing Reservoir Storage: Ancient Roots of a Modern Challenge

“…As a result, the city contained over 200 cisterns and generated over 360 L of water a day for each individual inhabitant, who may have numbered 20,000 or more during the time of its densest habitation between 150 BCE and 300 CE [54] (107). There is evidence of numerous sediment-settling tanks used in water-diversion to reservoirs that allowed sediment to accumulate in easily accessible areas for manual removal [54] (105), [55] (24)(25)(26). Water would be introduced into a primary settling tank via a canal, piping, or other water transport structure, fill the basin, and the spillover of that water diverted into another reservoir.…”

“…9000 BCE) to the present, with some of the earliest evidence from the island of Cyprus ( [20], cf. [21][22][23][24]). Nevertheless, there has been significant variability in the factors that influenced the creation and maintenance of water supply systems.…”