The domestication of water: the Neolithic well at Sha'ar Hagolan, Jordan Valley, Israel

Garfınkel, Yosef; Vered, Ariel; Bar‐Yosef, Ofer

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00094138

Cited by 44 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…The earliest known evidence of water management in the Jordan Valley is the Pottery Neolithic well at Sha'ar Hagolan, Israel (Garfinkel et al 2006), dated to 6400-6200 BC, although pre-Pottery Neolithic B wells dating to c. 8000 BC and to c. 7000 BC are known from, respectively, Cyprus (Peltenburg et al 2000) and the coast of Israel at 'Atlit Yam (Galili et al 2002). Garfinkel et al (2006) believe that the Shar'ar Hagolan well had been used to provide water for human and animal consumption alone, rather than for the irrigation of crops.…”

Section: The Challenge Of Inferring Water Management From Structural mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Garfinkel et al (2006) believe that the Shar'ar Hagolan well had been used to provide water for human and animal consumption alone, rather than for the irrigation of crops. The earliest potential evidence for such water management in the Jordan Valley is the set of small terrace walls at the Neolithic site of Dhra', dated to 6000 BC by association with Jericho IX ceramics (Kuijt et al 2007).…”

Section: The Challenge Of Inferring Water Management From Structural mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental crop growing in Jordan to develop methodology for the identification of ancient crop irrigation

Mithen¹,

Jenkins²,

Jamjoum³

et al. 2008

World Archaeology

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Crop irrigation has long been recognized as having been important for the evolution of social complexity in several parts of the world. Structural evidence for water management, as in the form of wells, ditches and dams, is often difficult to interpret and may be a poor indicator of past irrigation that may have had no need for such constructions. It would be of considerable value, therefore, to be able to infer past irrigation directly from archaeo-botanical remains, and especially the type of archaeo-botanical remains that are relatively abundant in the archaeological record, such as phytoliths. Building on the pioneering work of Rosen and Wiener (1994), this paper describes a cropgrowing experiment designed to explore the impact of irrigation on the formation of phytoliths within cereals. If it can be shown that a systemic and consistent relationship exists between phytolith size, structure and the intensity of irrigation, and if various taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental processes can be controlled for, then the presence of past irrigation can feasibly be inferred from the phytoliths recovered from the archaeological record.

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Section: The Challenge Of Inferring Water Management From Structural mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Challenge Of Inferring Water Management From Structural mentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental crop growing in Jordan to develop methodology for the identification of ancient crop irrigation

Mithen¹,

Jenkins²,

Jamjoum³

et al. 2008

World Archaeology

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“…The most striking is found at the Neolithic site of Sha'ar Hagolan located in the northern reaches of the Jordan Valley: a well, dating to 8300 years ago, excavated by Garfinkel et al (2006). This is not the earliest known well.…”

Section: (E) Water Management In the Pottery Neolithicmentioning

confidence: 99%

The domestication of water: water management in the ancient world and its prehistoric origins in the Jordan Valley

Mithen

2010

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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The ancient civilizations were dependent upon sophisticated systems of water management. The hydraulic engineering works found in ancient Angkor (ninth to thirteenth century AD), the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan (thirteenth to fifteenth century AD), Byzantine Constantinople (fourth to sixth century AD) and Nabatean Petra (sixth century BC to AD 106) are particularly striking because each of these is in localities of the world that are once again facing a water crisis. Without water management, such ancient cities would never have emerged, nor would the urban communities and towns from which they developed. Indeed, the 'domestication' of water marked a key turning point in the cultural trajectory of each region of the world where state societies developed. This is illustrated by examining the prehistory of water management in the Jordan Valley, identifying the later Neolithic (approx. 8300-6500 years ago) as a key period when significant investment in water management occurred, laying the foundation for the development of the first urban communities of the Early Bronze Age.

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“…Although there is evidence of water supply structures during the early Neolithic in southwest Asia (i.e., during the period when agriculture was gradually adopted ca. 10,000-6000 BCE), this is primarily in the form of wells, such as at Sha'ar Hagolan, located in the State of Israel [43], whose placement has been attributed to "accidents of local geography" [21] (334) or otherwise attributed to "ritual uses" [20] due to the evidence of the intentional deposition of human bodies within the well.…”

Section: Water and Storage Intensification In The Mediterranean And Wmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainably Managing Reservoir Storage: Ancient Roots of a Modern Challenge

Kondolf

Farahani

2018

Water

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Sedimentation is a major issue for water systems worldwide, but the need for sustainable sediment management is rarely addressed. This article surveys the problem of sedimentation in the contemporary sphere in addition to drawing on archaeological evidence of past unsustainable and sustainable sedimentation management practices. A compact characterization scheme is presented for identifying the scale of sedimentation management, both past and present. The results of the research illustrate that communities have grappled with issues of sedimentation for as long as water storage has existed. System failure from sedimentation is therefore not inevitable, but arises from a combination of social and biophysical factors.

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The domestication of water: the Neolithic well at Sha'ar Hagolan, Jordan Valley, Israel

Abstract: A well in the Jordan Valley shows that the Neolithic revolution included an understanding of underground water and how to access it. The excavation of the well in longtitudinal cross-section is also something of a revolution in fieldwork.

Cited by 44 publications

References 7 publications

Experimental crop growing in Jordan to develop methodology for the identification of ancient crop irrigation

Experimental crop growing in Jordan to develop methodology for the identification of ancient crop irrigation

The domestication of water: water management in the ancient world and its prehistoric origins in the Jordan Valley

Sustainably Managing Reservoir Storage: Ancient Roots of a Modern Challenge

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