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[1] Sanlaville (1996). [2] For a recent synthesis of the birth of agriculture and the Neolithic revolution, see the book of the pre­historian and archaeologist Jacques Cauvin, Naissance des divinites, naissance de l’agriculture, la revo­lution des symbols au Neolithique, revised in 1996. [3] Some have proposed that population pressure explains the exodus which clearly accompanied […]

How many achievements called “eternal” survive the civilization, or even the regime, under which they were created? Perhaps not many, but certain of the hydraulic works of Antiquity have survived their origins. The canal connecting the Nile River and the Red Sea — built by the Pharaoh Necho, finished by the Persian Darius, perfected by […]

The historical record shows how important it was for hydraulic engineering to have social utility in Antiquity. Its effects must be recognized by the beneficiaries — but often these beneficiaries are far from the hydraulic projects themselves. If they are in the countryside, they may easily recognize the utility of large irrigation canals, such as […]

Planning for the maintenance of an engineering structure as an integral part of its design has become routine in modern practice. Yet, by necessity, this preoccupation was also present in numerous ancient projects. For example planning of the irrigation system of Sechuan, with its intake at Dujiangyang, obviously took into account the need to clean […]

One may be skeptical of the overall contribution of Hellenistic science — its relative dis­connection with practical application, or its failure to document the significant revolu­tion represented by hydraulic energy. But the incontestable fact remains that in the study of the science and techniques of Antiquity preceding the Middle Ages, one cannot avoid marking pre […]

The legacy of Alexander is somewhat mixed insofar as innovation is concerned. To his credit there is the city of Alexandria, with its cultural diversity and intellectual fertility. Of course there is also Archimedes, founder of hydrostatics and supposed inventor of the “Archimedes screw”. There is also Ctesibios, inventor of the fire pump. But other […]

From our earliest ancestors who created irrigation canals by scratching the ground to channel the water of a stream, to the appearance of the first technology, from the great engineering projects of Mesopotamia and China to the blossoming of the first great cities — civilization and hydraulics have always advanced hand-in-hand. Technique, power and society […]

We have seen that the role of the abbeys, and in particular the Cistercians, was quite important in the conquest of new agricultural lands in the 12th and 13th centuries. However an assessment of the social success of these monk-hydraulicians is not as clear as it might be. Unless supported by a powerful lord or […]

Initially, the typical vessel in service on the Atlantic coast was the “long boat”, the Viking knorr whose appearance seems to have sown terror in the 9th century, and enabled the Normands to colonize Iceland and Greenland. This is a light boat, easily pulled onto the beach. In the 11th century quite a different type […]

The minor lay lords of the middle ages were all too often uninterested in the manage­ment of the land, or sometimes were simply incapable of applying techniques that went beyond their competence. So it was the monks, and in particular the Benedictines and Cistercians, who became the custodians of land development during the demographic expansion […]