Ancient Water Technologies
Ancient Water Technologies

Author: L. Mays

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-05-19

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9048186323

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There is no more fundamental resource than water. The basis of all life, water is fast becoming a key issue in today’s world, as well as a source of conflict. This fascinating book, which sets out many of the ingenious methods by which ancient societies gathered, transported and stored water, is a timely publication as overextraction and profligacy threaten the existence of aquifers and watercourses that have supplied our needs for millennia. It provides an overview of the water technologies developed by a number of ancient civilizations, from those of Mesopotamia and the Indus valley to later societies such as the Mycenaeans, Minoans, Persians, and the ancient Egyptians. Of course, no book on ancient water technologies would be complete without discussing the engineering feats of the Romans and Greeks, yet as well as covering these key civilizations, it also examines how ancient American societies from the Hohokams to the Mayans and Incas husbanded their water supplies. This unusually wide-ranging text could offer today’s parched world some solutions to the impending crisis in our water supply. "This book provides valuable insights into the water technologies developed in ancient civilizations which are the underpinning of modern achievements in water engineering and management practices. It is the best proof that "the past is the key for the future." Andreas N. Angelakis, Hellenic Water Supply and Sewerage Systems Association, Greece "This book makes a fundamental contribution to what will become the most important challenge of our civilization facing the global crisis: the problem of water. Ancient Water Technologies provides a complete panorama of how ancient societies confronted themselves with the management of water. The role of this volume is to provide, for the first time on this issue, an extensive historical and scientific reconstruction and an indication of how traditional knowledge may be employed to ensure a sustainable future for all." Pietro Laureano, UNESCO expert for ecosystems at risk, Director of IPOGEA-Institute of Traditional Knowledge, Italy

Handbook of Ancient Water Technology
Handbook of Ancient Water Technology

Author: Örjan Wikander

Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 741

ISBN-13: 9789004111233

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A magisterial handbook on water use and water technology in an area from Mesopotamia to the Atlantic Ocean, from the beginning of the Neolithic period up to ca. A.D. 600. Based on the archaeological and written evidence, it discusses the socio-economic background, irrigation and drainage, water supply, water in recreation (fountains, baths, etc.), larger hydraulic works (canals and sluices, dams, drainage), water-power, water legislation and the administration of water resources.

Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present
Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present

Author: Mark Altaweel

Publisher: UCL Press

Published: 2018-11-26

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1911576712

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Today our societies face great challenges with water, in terms of both quantity and quality, but many of these challenges have already existed in the past. Focusing on Asia, Water Societies and Technologies from the Past and Present seeks to highlight the issues that emerge or re-emerge across different societies and periods, and asks what they can tell us about water sustainability. Incorporating cutting-edge research and pioneering field surveys on past and present water management practices, the interdisciplinary contributors together identify how societies managed water resource challenges and utilised water in ways that allowed them to evolve, persist, or drastically alter their environment. The case studies, from different periods, ancient and modern, and from different regions, including Egypt, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Southwest United States, the Indus Basin, the Yangtze River, the Mesopotamian floodplain, the early Islamic city of Sultan Kala in Turkmenistan, and ancient Korea, offer crucial empirical data to readers interested in comparing the dynamics of water management practices across time and space, and to those who wish to understand water-related issues through conceptual and quantitative models of water use. The case studies also challenge classical theories on water management and social evolution, examine and establish the deep historical roots and ecological foundations of water sustainability issues, and contribute new grounds for innovations in sustainable urban planning and ecological resilience.

Thirst
Thirst

Author: Steven Mithen

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2012-11-26

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 0674072197

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Water is an endangered resource, imperiled by population growth, mega-urbanization, and climate change. Scientists project that by 2050, freshwater shortages will affect 75 percent of the global population. Steven Mithen puts our current crisis in historical context by exploring 10,000 years of humankind’s management of water. Thirst offers cautionary tales of civilizations defeated by the challenges of water control, as well as inspirational stories about how technological ingenuity has sustained communities in hostile environments. As in his acclaimed, genre-defying After the Ice and The Singing Neanderthals, Mithen blends archaeology, current science, and ancient literature to give us a rich new picture of how our ancestors lived. Since the Neolithic Revolution, people have recognized water as a commodity and source of economic power and have manipulated its flow. History abounds with examples of ambitious water management projects and hydraulic engineering—from the Sumerians, whose mastery of canal building and irrigation led to their status as the first civilization, to the Nabataeans, who created a watery paradise in the desert city of Petra, to the Khmer, who built a massive inland sea at Angkor, visible from space. As we search for modern solutions to today’s water crises, from the American Southwest to China, Mithen also looks for lessons in the past. He suggests that we follow one of the most unheeded pieces of advice to come down from ancient times. In the words of Li Bing, whose waterworks have irrigated the Sichuan Basin since 256 BC, “Work with nature, not against it.”

Water Engineering inAncient Civilizations
Water Engineering inAncient Civilizations

Author: Pierre-Louis Viollet

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 0203375319

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This new book offers an engineer's perspective on the history of water technology and its impact on the development of civilisation. A Second Edition and translation into English of the French book "L'Hydraulique dans les Civilisations Anciennes".Water professionals, engineers, scientists, and students will find this book fascinating and invaluable

Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation
Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

Author: Saeid Eslamian

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-04-19

Total Pages: 62

ISBN-13: 1119775981

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Water harvesting is gaining more and more recognition as the sustainable and resilient alternative to other water supply options. It is economically viable, socially compatible and environmentally friendly. Water harvesting has proven to be a robust solution to overcome or reduce water shortages all over the world. To apply this in a sustainable and effective way, it is important to understand exactly where it can be applied to make full use of its potential. The Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation: Case Studies and Application Examples is the most comprehensive, up-to-date and applied casebook on water harvesting and conservation yet published. The editors bring together the many perspectives into a synthesis that is both academically-based and practical in its potential applications. The Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation: Case Studies and Application Examples will be an important tool for education, research and technical works in the soil, water and watershed management area, and will be highly useful for drought strategy planning, flood management and adaptation to climate change in all urban, agricultural, forest, rangeland areas.

Water Engineering in the Ancient World
Water Engineering in the Ancient World

Author: Charles R. Ortloff

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0199239096

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Charles Ortloff provides a new perspective on archaeological studies of the urban and agricultural water supply and distribution systems of the major ancient civilizations of South America, the Middle East, and South-East Asia, by using modern computer analysis methods to extract the true hydraulic/hydrological knowledge base available to these peoples. His many new revelations about the capabilities and innovations of ancient water engineers force us to re-evaluate what was knownand practised in the hydraulic sciences in ancient times. Given our current concerns about global warming and its effect on economic stability, it is fascinating to observe how some ancient civilizations successfully coped with major climate change events by devising defensive agricultural survivalstrategies, while others, which did not innovate, failed to survive.

Ancient Computing Technology
Ancient Computing Technology

Author: Mary B. Woods

Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 0761372717

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Did you know . . . • Ancient cultures measured time accurately with water clocks? • An engineer in the first century B.C. designed an odometer to calculate distance traveled? • People computed the first values of pi about four thousand years ago? Computing technology is as old as human society itself. The first humans on Earth used basic computing skills. They counted by carving tally marks in bone. They used body parts and basic tools to measure. Over the centuries, ancient peoples learned more about computing. People in the ancient Middle East used scales to measure goods for trading. The ancient Egyptians wrote textbooks including multiplication and division problems. The ancient Chinese developed an abacus for speedy calculations. Ancient Greeks made advances in geometry. What kinds of tools and techniques did ancient mathematicians use? Which of their inventions and discoveries have stood the test of time? And how did the ancients set the stage for our own modern computing? Learn more in Ancient Computing Technology.