PROGRESS IN RIVER ENGINEERING & HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES VOLUME 1 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Recognition criteria for canals and rivers in the Mesopotamian floodplain.pdf
UCL Press., 2019
The ability to distinguish between the remaining traces of rivers and those of canals would greatly increase our understanding of water history and management within a given area. Such an understanding would lead in turn to a greatly enhanced understanding of the landscape, social structure, political life and economy of that area. For the Mesopotamian floodplain, intensive water-management activities, together with the frequent avulsions of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, have rendered channel networks complex and interlocked. This complexity has long confused researchers in regard to channel origins, and whether they are natural or anthropogenic, or a combination of the two. It is a challenging task, but the present work proposes and discusses seven key differences between the two types of channels, namely topographical cross-sections, crevasse splays, marshes, meandering, cut-offs and oxbow lakes, channel patterns, and stream directions. The discussion is based on geomorphological, remote-sensing, historical and archaeological data. It is concluded that, for a given channel, these differences may be sufficient to establish its origin.
Recognition criteria for canals and rivers in the Mesopotamian floodplain
UCL Press, 2018
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Bernard Geyer, Jean-Yves Monchambert, Canals and water supply in the lower Euphrates valley
Water History, 2015
In the lower Euphrates valley, a region subject to strong bioclimatic constraints, irrigation appears to have been tried out very early, probably in the Halaf period (6000–5100 BC), because of a change in the dynamics of the river. Then in the Early Bronze Age, when the kingdom of Mari became established, a system for exploiting the valley appeared, based on different types of canals using gravity flow (for diversion, irrigation, drainage, navigation), the complexity of which necessitated a long period of development. The various canals, the water intake points and the choices of location of the settlements demonstrate an accomplished knowledge and understanding of the principal dynamics that governed the development of the valley, as well as the remarkable technical inventiveness and adaptability of the inhabitants. The quite complete network that has been demonstrated in the area of Mari for the 3rd millennium BC seems to figure among the earliest known. As there is no evidence, in the field in lower Mesopotamia, of other such networks, it might be considered as an ‘‘ancestor’’ of the many networks that will come into being in all of the Near East from the 1st millennium BC and especially throughout the last two millennia. It is probably the very first project of large-scale town and country planning that our geomorphological and archaeological prospection, conducted for 9 years, allowed to highlight.
An Introduction to the Ancient Irrigation Structures Upon Karun River in Shushtar City, Iran
Iranian Journal of Science and Technology, Transactions of Civil Engineering
Unique geographical and living conditions within Shushtar region due to the amicable weather and the existence of Karun River have provided a resourceful settlement for the people in the region. Adequate and high-quality water resource, i.e., the Karun River, on the one hand and the fertile croplands on the other caused the early settlers to design and build numerous hydraulic structures upon Karun River in order to efficiently harness and utilize water. These monumental structures include weirs, weir-bridges, bridges and water intakes dating back to the time of Achaemenian (330-550 BC) and Sassanian dynasties (224-651 AD). Although some of these structures have been partly deteriorated or damaged by frequent floods, long wars or development of modern irrigation networks in time, still some others have survived through time and are now being used or developed into modern irrigation and drainage grids. The present paper is an introduction to the existing structures upon Karun River within Shushtar region; the primary objectives of their establishments, materials used and related designs, technical aspects and operation of the structures, how they are connected and the feeding water supplies to each. It also proposes a number of practical recommendations to effectively conserve, protect and utilize the existing hydraulic structures.
Geoarchaeology, 2024
The last two decades witnessed increasing scholarly interest in the history of water management in southern Mesopotamia. Thanks to many geoarchaeological research projects conducted throughout the central and southern Iraqi floodplains, a general understanding of the macrophases of anthropogenic manipulation of this vast hydraulic landscape has been achieved. However, current narratives mostly rely on studies at a regional scale and are based on excessively long chronological phases (often spanning a whole millennium). A finer‐tuned analysis at a submillennial scale is needed to better appreciate the dynamics that led to the development of artificial canals and irrigation systems and the creation of harbours in cities and other navigation‐related facilities. The Iraqi‐Italian QADIS project is addressing this issue through a systematic geoarchaeological investigation in the south‐eastern area of the Qadisiyah province. We aim to update the current narrative by analysing case studies involving specific periods of occupation. We performed 17 boreholes to propose a date on the functioning period of the hydraulic works in five selected archaeological sites of this region. This approach allowed us to understand changes in water management strategies in both the short and the medium term (i.e., on a scale of centuries). In this paper, we present the results for the fourth and third millennia B.C.E. This period witnessed a crucial passage from the basic exploitation of natural watercourses for irrigation and occasional navigation to the emergence of the first system of artificial canals and intraurban harbours.
The Origins of Levee and Levee-Based Irrigation in the Nippur Area—Southern Mesopotamia
Oriental Institute , 2021
This paper aims to understand the geo-archaeological development of one of the major palaeochannel levees to the northeast of Nippur in southern Mesopotamia, and also reveal when these levees began to aggrade so that benefitting from their levee slopes for irrigated agriculture became possible. These levees were reported in several previous works; however, they provide different interpretations, as some authors called them the ancient Tigris while others considered them as one of the ancient branches of the Euphrates. However, in the present study, two fieldwork trips have been carried out in this area: first in 1990, when Gibson and Wilkinson were able to record a series of sections by means of the exposed section of the Third River Drain project, and secondly in 2013 when Jaafar Jotheri conducted fieldwork as part of his PhD study. Archaeological data and radiocarbon dates have been used and integrated with lithological interpretation of the levees. As a result, it seems that the levees were initiated probably as herringbone canals in the fourth millennium bc and were sustainable over some 4,000 to 5,000 years. This supports the idea that this type of herringbone canal system is long lasting and easy to maintain, while the massive and extensive canal systems of later periods were difficult to maintain and had a relatively short life.