Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health
Get our free Health Check email
Get our free Health Check email
Archaeologists have uncovered a vast network of canals underneath the world’s oldest city in Mesopotamia, shedding more light on the rise of farming in the region.
Researchers, led by geoarchaeologist Jaafar Jotheri from Durham University, said the extensive water management system predates the first millennium BC and reveals how ancient farmers irrigated their fields.
The Eridu region of southern Mesopotamia in present-day Iraq – one of the best preserved ancient archaeological sites – was occupied from the sixth until the early first millennium BC.
Our understanding of the irrigation and farming methods used in the ancient city has come mainly from indirect evidence such as cuneiform tablets. Now, though, researchers have identified and mapped a vast, intensive and well-developed network of irrigation canals pre-dating the early first millennium BC.
The canal network, detailed in the journal Antiquity, remained untouched for centuries due to a shift in the Euphrates river’s course in the first millennium BC.
This left the area dry and uninhabited in modern times, preserving the ancient landscape unlike elsewhere in Mesopotamia where older irrigation systems were buried under newer canals.
Archaeologists used satellite and drone imagery and fieldwork to identify nearly 200 primary canals directly connected to the ancient Euphrates, and around 4,000 smaller branch canals feeding over 700 farms.
“The main canals are directly connected to the ancient course of the Euphrates and are between 1km and 9km long and between 2m and 5m wide,” they wrote.
Farmers in the ancient city used the natural landscape to their advantage, digging canals in a way that allowed water from high river levees to flow by gravity to the surrounding fields.
Breaks in the levees helped distribute water across the floodplain.
Crops were planted on both sides of the river, with the northern side more heavily farmed.
“Both sides of the river were canalised and farmed, although farmers exploited the northern side more heavily than the southern side,” the researchers wrote.
The latest findings highlight how the irrigation system, which required significant labour and expertise to maintain, evolved over centuries as different parts of the network were likely used at different times.
Researchers hope further studies can reveal how farming practices changed over time in the region.
They hope more excavations in the area can provide insights to improve agricultural practices and management of the Euphrates floodplain in modern times.
“Canals require immense labour and experience in water management to operate successfully. Therefore, it is essential to conduct additional research on the chronology of the canals to better understand changes in the irrigation systems and agricultural landscape over time,” researchers wrote.
Source: independent.co.uk
