Hydraulic Cultures and Hydrology under Climatic Change

Gebel, Hans Georg K.; Wellbrock, Kai

doi:10.1201/9781351260244-12

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…A perennial lake at Taymā’ contracted gradually from 6000 BC onwards, disappearing by 2000 BC (Wellbrock et al 2018). Other sites, such as Rasif (also in north-western Saudi Arabia), however, continued to be fed by aquifers (Gebel & Wellbrock 2019). The transition to more arid conditions during the sixth to fourth millennia BC caused the human population to contract as nomadic pastoralism developed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both hypotheses would be compatible with an early oasis in the fifth millennium BC, as at Taymâ’ (Hausleiter et al . 2018) or at Rasif (Gebel & Wellbrock 2019). At the latter site, local environmental conditions precluded the development of a full oasis economy, such as at Dûmat al-Jandal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The second hypothesis would correspond to the indigenous way of life known from the first millennium BC to the nineteenth century AD in the hyper-arid context at Dûmat al-Jandal (Veccia Vaglieri 2012). Both hypotheses would be compatible with an early oasis in the fifth millennium BC, as at Taymâ' (Hausleiter et al 2018) or at Rasif (Gebel & Wellbrock 2019). At the latter site, local environmental conditions precluded the development of a full oasis economy, such as at Dûmat al-Jandal.…”

Section: Mid-holocene Occupation In the Regionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In this regard, the site of Rasif is of primary importance, as it provides evidence for the evolution of water management and lifeways in a 'proto-oasis' during the Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic transition (Gebel 2016;Zielhofer et al 2018;Gebel & Wellbrock 2019). At Tayma', fig (Ficus carica type) pollen and seeds dating to c. 4800-4300 BC suggest a Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age permanent occupation and an oasian way of life, a chronology also supported by the archaeological data (Dinies et al 2016;Hausleiter et al 2018).…”

Section: Mid-holocene Occupation In the Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

et al. 2020

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Mid-holocene Occupation In the Regionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Mid-holocene Occupation In the Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

et al. 2020

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“…During the field campaign in November 2018, it could be observed that after a short rainfall event, rainwater still accumulated in these drainless depressions. Such seasonally filled local depressions are called Qa’a and were described to occur in other oases on the Arabian Peninsula where they were used as open water storage (Al-Homoud et al, 1996; Gebel and Wellbrock, 2019; Meister et al, 2018b). Besides, minor sediment remobilisation was documented after rainfall events in 2018.…”

Section: Settlement Structure and Geomorphology – Identifying Key Sit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Watering the desert: Oasis hydroarchaeology, geochronology and functionality in Northern Arabia

et al. 2023

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The phenomenon of very extended desert oases settlements, mega-sites featuring complex irrigation systems and monumental walls has long been observed in Northern Arabia. In the past, it has been linked to the settling down of nomadic components of the population and dated through archaeological material to the Late Bronze or Iron Ages (late second to mid-first millennium BCE). Since 2014 we have been investigating this development through the case study of the oasis of Qurayyah, a walled site of over 300 ha (Tabuk, NW Saudi Arabia). After mapping the geomorphological and hydroarchaeological layout of this ancient settlement, we established the age of key locations of the site through OSL and radiometric measurements from controlled stratigraphic excavations. We could thus confirm that a major – the largest so far documented in Arabia – flood protection and surface water harvesting system (SWHS) was developed already during the Early Bronze Age (2900–2600 calBCE) onto the relict late Pleistocene playa landscape. This sophisticated anthropogenic hydraulic infrastructure enabled the foundation of the river oasis and construction of the permanent walled settlement. Since different components of the SWHS erected on the site (dam, inlet, canals, weirs, outlet, etc.) resulted being synchronic, they are understood as functional elements of one and the same system. A test of the functionality of the identified SWHS for different rainfall scenarios has confirmed that the volume of its catchment’s surface-water supply was sufficient for irrigation, productive and drinking needs of the large oasis since its Early Bronze Age creation.

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Exploitation of groundwater in the oasis of Masāfī (UAE): A diachronic perspective

Charbonnier

Crépy

Régagnon³

et al. 2020

Arab Archaeol Epigr

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In order to understand the role of water resources in the establishment and long‐term evolution of settlements investigated by the French Archaeological Mission in the UAE in the oasis of Masāfī, wells and springs of all periods, identified at the surface and in stratified contexts, were mapped and studied thanks to a multidisciplinary approach combining archaeology, geomorphology, geoarchaeology and ethnography. Our study demonstrates that: –The Masāfī oasis was located in a specific geological setting entailing the accumulation of groundwater resources at reachable depth. –The groundwater resources remained rather stable from the mid‐second millennium BC to the second half of the twentieth century AD. In this respect, the apparent abandonment of the oasis during some periods cannot be explained by water depletion. –The groundwater resources have decreased sharply since the second half of the twentieth century AD, due to the introduction of new water extraction technologies, motor pumps and then drillings, as a result of the modernisation and industrialisation of UAE economy. Our study also stresses the importance of well and spring irrigation in the development of the sedentary settlements in south‐eastern Arabia, technologies that have often been neglected in the regional archaeological literature in favour of the qanāt.

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Hydraulic Cultures and Hydrology under Climatic Change

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

Marking the sacral landscape of a north Arabian oasis: a sixth-millennium BC monumental stone platform and surrounding burials

Watering the desert: Oasis hydroarchaeology, geochronology and functionality in Northern Arabia

Exploitation of groundwater in the oasis of Masāfī (UAE): A diachronic perspective

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