The successful floodwater farming system of the Sabeans, Yemen Arab Republic

Brunner, Ueli; Haefner, H.

doi:10.1016/0143-6228(86)90030-5

Cited by 54 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Though Southwest Arabia remains one of the least archaeologically known areas of the Near East, a comparative wealth of research documents the importance of irrigation among ancient states and their precursors (e.g., Brunner 1997Brunner , 2000Brunner and Haefner 1986;Coque-Delhuille 1998;Francaviglia 2002;Gentelle 1991;Gentelle and Coque-Delhuille 1998;Hehmeyer 1989;Mouton 2004;Vogt 2004;Vogt, Buffa, and Brunner 2002), and recent investigations have begun to establish the tandem beginnings of crop agriculture and irrigation during the fourth millennium BC 1 (see Edens 2005; Edens and Wilkinson 1998). Italian research in Khawlan identified ceramic impressions that include wheat, barley, and sorghum dated to the latter half of the third millennium (Costantini 1990).…”

Section: Early Evidence Of Crops and Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology, Ideology, and the Origins of Irrigation in Ancient Southwest Arabia

Harrower¹

2008

Current Anthropology

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Section: Early Evidence Of Crops and Irrigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrology, Ideology, and the Origins of Irrigation in Ancient Southwest Arabia

Harrower¹

2008

Current Anthropology

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“…The largest floodwater diversion system in the world is found in Yemen, where an enormous dam was built near Marib before 750 bce (Le Baron Bowen, ; Brunner and Haefner, ). The dam was 15‐m high, 700‐m long and 80‐m wide at its base.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The very large dam blocked the entire valley, raising the water level during floods, so that it could flow on the northern and southern floodplains of Wadi Dhana, to enable irrigation agriculture in large complex field systems. This very sophisticated diversion system functioned for at least 1300 years until 575 ce (Le Baron Bowen, ; Brunner and Haefner, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Features of Ancient Agricultural Terrace Walls in the Negev Desert: Human‐made Geodiversity

Ore

Bruins

2012

Land Degrad Dev

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Thousands of stone terrace walls were constructed by past societies in the dry valleys of the central Negev highlands to capture runoff/floodwaters from local rainfall to enable agriculture in the desert. Human intervention in geomorphic processes led to human-made geodiversity, as significant differences developed between terraced and natural stream channels. The former are characterised by soil aggradation, as terraced fields also captured sediment during each rainfall/flood event. The natural stream channels, on-the-other-hand, often experienced erosion and desertification. The ancient agricultural terraces were abandoned about 1000 years ago, but many stone terrace walls are still intact. On the basis of fieldwork, we report new findings of sophisticated design characteristics of terrace walls. (1) Mutual friction-hold of rectangular building stones was increased by placing the longest axis parallel with the flow direction of the floodwater and orienting the second longest axis vertically in the terrace wall.(2) The gradual addition of stone layers in the terrace walls, necessary to keep the wall above the aggrading field surface, was sometimes performed in a way that resulted in a staircase construction. Thus, the floodwaters would gradually cascade down to the next terraced field, thereby preventing undercutting and erosion. (3) In larger stream channels of 4th and 5th orders, the longitudinal axis of terrace walls was sometimes constructed with an oblique angle. This was apparently performed for two reasons: (i) to lessen the impact of the floodwaters on the terrace wall and (ii) to steer the water in diversion systems further onto the floodplain.

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“…The massive dam at Ma'rib was over 600m long, 16m high and irrigated 9600 hectares (Brunner and Haefner 1986). Rather than impounding water, it redirected flash floods into two massive sluice gates at its northern and southern extremities followed by an extensive system of canals and banked fields.…”

Section: Irrigation Systems Of Southwest Arabian Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the hydraulic hypothesis dead yet? Irrigation and social change in ancient Yemen

Harrower

2009

World Archaeology

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Irrigation played an important role throughout ancient Southwest Arabian histories. Irrigation structures provide some of the earliest evidence of crop agriculture and large-scale flash floodwater irrigation systems sustained ancient states; the region thus offers important potential for reconsidering links between irrigation and social change. This paper examines millennia-long connections between social relations and the increasing technological and organizational complexity of irrigation in ancient Yemen. While the hydraulic hypothesis in its original deterministic formulation does not adequately account for the complexity and diversity of regional histories, large centrally managed irrigation systems played an indisputably significant role in Southwest Arabian state formation. Irrigation not only generated the food to sustain burgeoning populations but, just as importantly, afforded ancient kings the ideological prestige of commanding transformation of hyperarid areas into lush, bountiful oases.

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The successful floodwater farming system of the Sabeans, Yemen Arab Republic

Cited by 54 publications

References 3 publications

Hydrology, Ideology, and the Origins of Irrigation in Ancient Southwest Arabia

Hydrology, Ideology, and the Origins of Irrigation in Ancient Southwest Arabia

Design Features of Ancient Agricultural Terrace Walls in the Negev Desert: Human‐made Geodiversity

Is the hydraulic hypothesis dead yet? Irrigation and social change in ancient Yemen

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