Рубрика: Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations. 5,000 Years of History

Irrigation and urban civilization in the Euphrates delta

The driving force of this urban development is likely the significant population growth, as seen in a proliferation of villages and small towns in the IVth millennium BC. Subsequently, it may be that as the climate became drier, some of the villages were aban­doned causing market towns to grow and evolve into cities. As some […]

Hydraulics and The Birth of Civilization

Water and the infrastructure for its conveyance are ever-present needs of civilization, whether for irrigation or flood protection, for water supply or for wastewater drainage from the earliest cities. Added to these needs are those of waterborne commerce, canals, and ports. This story begins in the East with the great Neolithic revolution, humanity’s funda­mental stride […]

Introduction

Water is the key to all civilization. The diverse and often competing uses of water inevitably lead to tensions and conflicts in its management and allocation. Water tech­nology has progressed from the primitive to the advanced, but this progress has not changed man’s continuous responsibility for careful and fair management of this pre­cious resource. Initially, […]

Water Engineering in Ancient Civilizations. 5,000 Years of History

Pierre-Louis Viollet published the first edition of his book as I was finishing my academ­ic career at the University of Iowa. I decided then that a challenging first project in my new life would be to spend a few months translating his work into English. A few months curiously inflated to nearly three years as […]