Julien Charbonnier

Groundwater management in Southeast Arabia from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age: a critical reassessment

This paper aims to review the evidence of irrigation structures in Southeast Arabia during the Bronze Age (c. 3200–1300 B.C.) and the Iron Age (c. 1300–300 B.C.). The preliminary results of the excavation of hydraulic structures in Masāfī (United Arab Emirates) are also presented. While in Arabia many studies have been devoted to the qanāt technology, and especially its origin, it is demonstrated that these structures are badly dated. Conversely, it appears that wells played a significant role in water supply during the pre-Islamic period as well as in the present day.

The ethnoarchaeology of qanāt systems: a comparative study of water-sharing practices in the old world

Sharing the water flow from qanāts is important for many communities past and present and can often involve complex water-share systems. Studying and comparing historical sources and vernacular practices can help us to understand how this has and still is accomplished. Did the technical requirements of qanāts result in similar water management methods in different regions and at different times? Can modern practices of water management help to understand ancient practices and their evolution? Water sharing in many regions is done from memory without the help of archives; can we understand the historical trajectory of these sharing systems by studying textual documents relating to water management in ancient literate societies? Comparing the social systems of irrigation associated with qanāts, in North Africa and the Middle East, could be a significant step forward toward understanding the social context(s) for the digging and maintenance of qanāts. It would also contribute towards an understanding of the evolutionary path of qanāt systems and the social reasons behind their development or abandonment.

Taming Surface Water in Pre-Islamic Southeast Arabia: Archaeological, Geoarchaeological, and Chronological Evidence of Runoff Water Channeling in Masāfī (UAE)

ABSTRACT In semi-arid to arid environments, water is the most constraining resource for agricultural communities. In Southeast Arabia (Sultanate of Oman and United Arab Emirates), the demographic growth and the increase of sites at the beginning of the Iron Age II (1100–600 b.c.) is generally attributed to the development of groundwater harvesting techniques, and more precisely to qanāt technology. While only little is known on the origin of this technology, even less is known about other hydraulic techniques, which could have been used as a complementary source of water. An irrigation system, recently discovered near an Iron Age settlement in the oasis of Masāfī (UAE) was studied thanks to the combination of various methods—archaeology, geoarchaeology/micromorphology, spatial analysis, and chronology—which have allowed us to identify the technological development of small-scale runoff farming and to link this practice to social as well as environmental issues.

The Qanāt: a multidisciplinary and diachronic approach to the study of groundwater catchment systems in archaeology

The qanāt, as a traditional, low-cost, sustainable, water distribution system, was fundamental for the settlement of arid environments. This brief introduction to the special issue “The Qanāt: Archaeology and Environment” presents an overview of a workshop of the same name, held at Durham University in October 2014, and introduces the key themes that are explored through the papers in this volume. It also lays out the basis of an interdisciplinary research agenda for qanāt studies in archaeology.

The control of water in the kingdom of Qatabān (Yemen): from local to central management of the irrigation systems during antiquity

Wādī Bayḥān is located on the edge of the Ramlat as Sab’atayn desert (Yemen) and constituted the core of the preislamic kingdom of Qatabān. During the 1st millennium B.C., floodwaters caused by summer rainfall were diverted into the fields. Several irrigation systems of this kind were spread all along the valley. The aim of the present paper is to show the tension between political body and local populations for the control of water in Wādī Bayḥān. I will argue that water was generally managed at a local scale but the kings of Qatabān have tried to take the reins of the irrigation system when their power strengthened. They issued decrees regulating the use of water and space or the maintenance of hydraulic structures and fields. The kings also got involved in the construction of irrigation structures. To support my arguments, I have used antique inscriptions, engraved on rocks or stone blocks, which make reference to water management.