Archaeohydrology

The Deutsche Wasserhistorische Gesellschaft (DWhG), or German Water His-tory Association, is a non-commercial organisation that fosters knowledge and awareness of the history of water management and hydraulics. To do so, DWhG organises conferences and publishes books and proceedings on related topics. DWhG has roughly 400 members worldwide, all interested in the his-tory of water, and representing all scientific fields, from engineering and hy-drology to archaeology and history, as well as humanistic studies. This inter-disciplinary convergence often triggers new ideas, insights, and solutions for particular problems or questions. Since its foundation in 2002, the DWhG has published 26 volumes, most of which cover a special regional or temporal aspect. Additionally, 16 special volumes – mostly monographs – have been published. This enormous coverage indicates the need for scientific literature dealing with water history at the interface of the sciences and humanities.
This volume contains the proceedings of the 16th Cura Aquarum International Conference on the History of Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering in the Mediterranean Region, held in Athens, Greece, from the 28th to 30th of March 2015. This conference was organised jointly by Anna Androvitsanea and Henning Fahlbusch, who recruited participants conducting research on various aspects of ancient water management in Greece.
Consequently, the evolution of water management in Greece is subject of most of the contributions, which cover all phases from the Minoan and My-cenean periods to recent water supply systems. Five papers deal with the water management of particular parts of Athens, allowing for a better under-standing of the development of that city’s infrastructure. Case studies from Corinth, Olympia, Naxos, Megara, and Piraeus complement this coverage. As pointed out by Henning Fahlbusch, in both his keynote lecture in Athens and in his contribution to the proceedings, Greece can be regarded as the cradle of water management in Europe. The other reports within this volume certainly support this hypothesis.
This volume is completed by case studies from across the Mediterranean re-gion (e.g., Israel) as well as a compilation of hydraulic structures used for sewage and water supply systems in Egypt. Further contributions focus on special topics like ancient water clocks, Roman lead pipes, qanats, and other hydraulic features. This broad variety of topics reflects the importance of water-studies in very diverse disciplines across engineering, the natural and social sciences, and the humanities.
This is the first time that the conference proceedings published by DWhG have not been not edited by Christoph Ohlig. It was my great honour to work with him to learn how to do the editorial work. He taught me his diligent and thorough way of working. Editing this volume, I have gained new apprecia-tion for how much labour and time he invested in more than 15 years of pub-lishing the more than 40 volumes that precede this one. It is due to his dedica-tion that the published series of DWhG has become such a success. And it is due to the handing over of this editorship, that authors and colleagues had to wait quite a long time until these proceedings were finally finished.

In recent years, the reconstruction of water management systems found in archaeological excavations has increasingly become subject of research. Mostly those investigations focus on single items rather than considering all aspects of water management as a whole. Based on the analysis of aqueducts, often only particular elements of the water supply system are investigated whereas the sewage system seldom is subject of any investigation at all.
Due to its long research history, the comprehensive analyses of the aqueducts, and because of the extensive city excavations, Pergamum bears ideal preconditions for the reconstruction of the water management system of an ancient city considering all those aspects. The thesis therefore aims for the reconstruction of the inner-city water management system of Pergamum during Hellenistic-Roman period. Thus, the thesis combines approaches of arts, science, and engineering.
Basing on the evaluation of the original excavation documentation and a compilation of all hydro-technical findings, the evolution of the water management system is structured according to phases. Most helpful was the compilation of a clay pipe typology which helped to temporally classify single findings.
As it was shown, water supply based initially on rain water stored in cisterns. The inauguration of the first Hellenistic aqueducts had no direct impact on the water supply in the urban quarters. Only gradually, after the aqueduct system was complemented, the corresponding effects of adapting the inner-city system can be proofed. An area-wide water supply linked to a centralised distribution system only was found for the early Imperial period; therefore some 200 years after the first Hellenistic aqueducts have been put into operation. Generally, the erection and the extension of the water management system were found not to be synchronous to the urban development. 
However, the erection of the sewage system already took place during Hellenistic period in the course of an urban redevelopment. The principle of operation was investigated by means of numeric modelling. Hence the harmless drainage during storm events was ensured. This system was in operation without major adaptions until Imperial period. Only then, structural constraints required a moderate modification of the system.
The results are allowing a close look on all aspects of ancient water management: Starting with structural details of single elements up to the modification of the whole system. They indicate the actual development to be different from any predictable evolution.

Pergamon war in antiker Zeit eine blühende Metropole nahe der Westküste der heutigen Türkei in der histori-schen Landschaft Mysien. Aufgrund sehr trockener Som-mermonate war die Wasserversorgung der Stadt stets kritisch. Am Beispiel des Areals der Stadtgrabung soll aufgezeigt werden, wie sich das Wasserversorgungssys-tem von der frühhellenistischen bis in die spätrömische Zeit entwickelt hat. Mögliche Parallelen zur Stadtent-wicklung werden untersucht. In ancient times Pergamon was a thriving metropolis in the historic region of Mysia, near the west coast of modern Turkey. Because of the dry summer months, the city's water supply was particularly critical. Using the excavations of the city as an example, this article aims to illustrate how water supply systems developed from the early Hellenistic to the late Roman period. Parallels to the development of the city will also be drawn.

In this article, the earliest evidences of water management systems have been reviewed. These are initially considered for the central and southern part of the Levant. Later they have been proved also for northern Arabia and neighbouring areas. The beginning of water management dates back as early as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, i.e. at least to the last 10,000 years. Certain steps of this evolution are elucidated regarding archaeological and palaeo-hydrologic evidence. A clear interaction between these development stages and the environmental setting during early to mid-Holocene is recognizable.

In this sense, the term ´water management´ is considered to comprise any influence exerted by humans on the natural hydrological cycle in order to enhance the available amount of water for drinking, irrigation and other purposes. Therefore, the direction of local surface runoff patterns in order to increase the agricultural yield should already be considered to be a water management method.

Finally, several sites which have been investigated by the authors are evaluated according to these developmental stages. They are depicted with regard to their hydrological setting. Thus, their dependence on a shift of the environmental setting could be revealed. Generally, one could state, that settlements which are relying on groundwater instead on surface water, are much more enduring than others. Thus, these sites do have a certain advantage with respect to a continuous occupation in times of changing climate circumstances.

Although located in one of the most arid environments of the Arabian Peninsula, the oasis of Tayma has been populated at least since the Bronze Age. In terms of standard definitions, Tayma may be regarded as an archetype of oases. Obviously, the abundance of water – i.e. the availability of groundwater having its source in one of the biggest aquifers of the region – provided the basis for the evolution of the oasis and its sub¬sequent transformations until the present-day. Besides this hydrogeological setting, the early oasis was situated adjacent to a perennial lake which was fed by the aquifer. Consequently, several interdependencies between the settlement, the aquifer and its related lake as well as to early agriculture have been observed.

Ancient aqueducts were commonly fed by large karst springs, which caused deposition of calcium carbonate in the channels. Such carbonate deposits record changes in water composition, temperature,
and microbiological activity in the source and the aqueduct. Recent studies by our group show that layering in carbonate deposits from several Roman aqueducts in the eastern Mediterranean correlates
with a strong periodicity in stable isotope values (δ 18O and δ 13C). This correlation can be attributed to temperature-dependent isotope fractionation in the aqueduct channel since the sources of the
investigated aqueducts have near constant temperature. We developed a new technique, combining down-channel multiple sample analysis with monitoring of the water sources and the abandoned
aqueduct channel, to obtain a local palaeo-environmental record for the operation time of the aqueducts. The information obtained includes information on the local climate, biological activity in the water channel, and archaeological information on maintenance, cleaning and restructuring of the aqueduct network. Archaeoseismic information may also be present. If data of neighbouring aqueducts can be combined, regional climatic variations can be reconstructed.

(2017) Revista de Glaciares y Ecosistemas de Montaña, 2(2), 41-50.
Over the past few decades there has been an increasing interest in building micro-dams across the whole of the Cordillera Negra, North-Central Andes, Peru. Given the difficulties in maintaining a regular flow of water, especially during the dry season, it is a logical response to a pressing need. Yet, lack of water is not a modern phenomenon, it is a long-standing problem that was tackled in a similar fashion in the past. Then, indigenous skill and landscape knowhow informed the selection of sites for damming. Modern engineers have followed their lead, such that present-day micro-dams often occupy the same space as the prehispanic ones. Aside from the obvious destruction of cultural heritage – usually without a proper archaeological survey – there is one other problem with this policy: not all the old dams which are now being reconstructed were built for retaining just water. With an intimate knowledge of their Andean environment, humans adapted and altered the land around them. To this end, alongside water dams, other structures were built, such as silt dams. Although outwardly like water dams, silt dams evinced a very different purpose. These structures acted as large check dams which accumulated runoff silt and other sediments, fostering a bofedal-type microclimate, while likewise trapping and purifying water within the silt. Nowadays, these unique structures are under threat from engineers with little understanding of the true purpose of these hydraulic monuments. This article describes these silt dams, using a case-study from the Upper Nepeña Valley, their form and function.

Over the past few decades there has been an increasing interest in building micro-dams across the whole of the Cordillera Negra, North-Central Andes, Peru. Given the difficulties in maintaining a regular flow of water, especially during the dry season, it is a logical response to a pressing need. Yet, lack of water is not a modern phenomenon, it is a long-standing problem that was tackled in a similar fashion in the past. Then, indigenous skill and landscape knowhow informed the selection of sites for damming. Modern engineers have followed their lead, such that present-day micro-dams often occupy the same space as the prehispanic ones. Aside from the obvious destruction of cultural heritage – usually without a proper archaeological survey – there is one other problem with this policy: not all the old dams which are now being reconstructed were built for retaining just water. With an intimate knowledge of their Andean environment, humans adapted and altered the land around them. To ...