In the lands of ancient Mesopotamia, a team of archaeologists and geologists has accomplished a remarkable feat. They have successfully mapped a large and complex network of irrigation canals surrounding the ancient city of Eridu, a network that sustained the farmland that supported the population of this early urban enclave. Located in southern Iraq, Eridu was the southernmost of all the great Sumerian cities, and it is believed to be the oldest city in history, having been founded around 5,400 BC.
While the outlines of some of the canals of Eridu have been seen and identified before, this is the first investigation that has successfully tracked the entire network, which is one of the best-preserved in all of Mesopotamia (comprised of modern-day Iraq plus parts of Syria, Kuwait, Turkey, and Iran).
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Mesopotamia is known both as the cradle of civilization and the Fertile Crescent, and neither designation would have been possible without the system of land and crop irrigation that made large-scale agriculture possible in an area that is mostly dry desert today. Sumer and other Mesopotamian civilizations depended on the Euphrates and its tributaries to supply the water they needed to survive and thrive, and the canals that fed the land and the people of Eridu are a prime example of how the efforts of the Sumerians and their descendant cultures manipulated the river’s flow to meet their needs.
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Canal systems for irrigation were associated with most Mesopotamian cities. However, most of the old canals have long since been filled in by natural sediment, making them extremely difficult to find, or they were filled in on purpose so that roads could be constructed on top of them. Needless to say, this has complicated the efforts of researchers seeking to learn more about the agricultural infrastructure of ancient Sumer and the other Mesopotamian cultures.
The reconstructed irrigation canal network and ancient Euphrates riverbed in the Eridu region. (Jotheri, et.all/Antiquity Publications Ltd.).
But circumstances are somewhat different in the Eridu region, which is located approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of the ancient site of Ur in Iraq, near the mouth of the Euphrates not far from the Persian Gulf. Here, the people only abandoned the city around 600 BC because of changes in the course of the Euphrates, which left their water diversion projects inadequately supplied and ultimately rendered Eridu uninhabitable. Because of this sudden depopulation the canal system that was left behind remained relatively functional and intact, and that is what made the just completed mapping project possible.
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For the purposes of this groundbreaking study, the archaeologists and geologists used an interdisciplinary approach that included geomorphological analysis, historical map reviews, and the use of remote sensing technology. High-resolution satellite imagery, including images from the 1960s CORONA program and new photos taken drones, plus extensive ground-level photography, were used to find canals that in some cases were more than 7,000 years old.
Both natural and artificial canals bisected the landscape around Eridu, which did present the researchers with somewhat of a challenge (how to separate one from the other). To do this they completed a careful and detailed analysis of ancient water flow patterns, evaluated the site’s topography, and identified the ruins of Eridu’s water control system wherever they could be found.
By the time they had finished with this exhausting and time-consuming task, the researchers had identified more than 200 primary canals, along with an incredible 4,000 smaller canals that linked all of these branches togethter. The larger canals were between five and six miles (eight and nine kilometers) long and between six and 16 feet (two and five meters) wide, while the complementary canals (which funneled water to individual agricultural plots) ranged from 30 to 650 feet (10 to 200 meters) in length.
Topographic map of the Mesopotamian floodplain, drawn using Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, showing the location of the Eridu Region and the networks of modern and ancient rivers and canals in the floodplain. (Jotheri, et.all/Antiquity Publications Ltd.).
As one might imagine, the research team was both stunned and impressed by the accomplishments of the canal builders of ancient Eridu, who created an irrigation system that rivals the most complex ever built anywhere in the world in any era.
In total, the researchers were able to document the existence of around 700 farms in the vicinity of the complementary canals. While clear differences in wealth were detected, with the more prosperous landowners having farms that were up to 40 times larger than the smallest farmers, the canals were constructed to make sure every farmer had what they needed to grow their crops.
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This study confirmed that agriculture in Mesopotamia relied on irrigation to preserve the fertility of the region’s soil over centuries. It also confirmed that the ancient Mesopotamians were training scores of master engineers and architects who knew how to design sophisticated water diversion and control systems that could be scaled-up as populations grew and cities got bigger. And it also showed that the governments of the world’s earliest urban areas possessed the administrative skills necessary to organize and implement vast and complex infrastructure projects, which were vital to the success of what were essentially experiments in cooperative living.
With respect to the latter observation, one of the truly remarkable things is how well the irrigation system was maintained and sustained over so many different eras. In succession, Eridu remained occupied and thriving through the Early Dynastic, Akkadian Empire, Isin-Larsa, Old Babylonian, Kassite, and Neo-Babylonian periods, each of which had their own unique cultures and governing and adminsitrative styles. But each made sure the irrigation system continued to function, as all recognized it as the lifeblood of the city and absolutely essential to the survival of its people.
Constructing a Timeline
The results of this landmark study, which was organized through the Department of Archaeology at the University of Al-Qadisiyah in Diwaniyah, Iraq, were recently published in the journal Antiquity. According to the research team, their next goal is to develop a timeline that details how and when the network of canals was constructed.
The ruins of Eridu, featuring some of the baked bricks used in the construction of a Sumerian ziggurat in the heart of the city, which are stamped with the name of King Ur-Nammu (2123-2106 BC). (David Stanley/CC BY-SA 2.0).
“This reconstructed network of irrigation canals represents the combined agricultural activities for all the periods of occupation in the region and it is unlikely that all of the canals were running simultaneously during the entire occupation period (i.e. from the sixth until the early first millennium BC),” they wrote in their journal article. “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.”
The team members also plan to study cuneiform tablets from Sumerian times and beyond, to cross-reference their discoveries in the field with the descriptions of agricultural practices and water management strategies mentioned in these ancient texts.
Top image: Drone images of two small canals taken in the Eridu region, verified by a ground-level examination.
Source: Jotheri, et.all/Antiquity Publications Ltd..
By Nathan Falde
