Water Hist (2010) 2:91–114

DOI 10.1007/s12685-010-0029-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

Conquest of new lands and water systems in the western

Fertile Crescent (Central and Southern Syria)

Frank Braemer • Bernard Geyer • Corinne Castel •

Maamoun Abdulkarim

Received: 4 August 2010 / Accepted: 12 November 2010 / Published online: 1 December 2010
 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2010

Abstract Apart from hydraulic systems linked to major perennial rivers, the control of
water in the Near East passes by the exploitation of complementary seasonal resources:
springs, water table, river floods, flash floods. It is particularly the case in the areas of
contact between plains and mountains and in steppe transition zones. The water is managed
through technical installations (springs capture, diversion dams, canals, cisterns, qanats)
which need to be understood within historically contingent situations. The results of three
French fields research programs covering the area spreading from the Aleppo plateau to the
Yarmuk drainage basin shed new lights on development of water systems and the conquest
of new agricultural and breeding areas during the third millennium, the roman–byzantine
times and the 19th century AD.

Keywords Springs capture
Diversion dam
Canal
Cistern
Qanat
Syria

Early Bronze Age
Roman–byzantine period
19th century AD

Introduction

For a long period of time, historians of Antiquity have studied the questions of water
management in the entire ancient Middle East almost exclusively having in mind the
theoretical models of fluvial irrigation of Lower Mesopotamia. Since the end of the 1970s,
new archaeological fieldwork and historical studies in Western Syria made it possible to
diversify the approaches and the models. Observations at the local scale and based upon
micro-historic interpretations (Durand 2002; Lafont 2009) are renewing an approach

F. Braemer (&)
University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, Nice, France
e-mail: frank.braemer@cepam.cnrs.fr

B. Geyer
C. Castel
Université Lumière Lyon 2, CNRS, Lyon, France

M. Abdulkarim
Damascus University, Damascus, Syria

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established in the 1930s by geographers and hydraulic engineers. These researchers were
often responsible for making proposals to the mandatory governments on the questions of
water management. They developed detailed inquiries on the technical and social func-
tioning of the hydraulic systems in Syria for the oasis of Damascus and the river Barada,
for the river Orontes, then for Southern Syria (Thoumin 1934; Latron 1936; Weulersse
1940; Dufourg 1955).
Researchers then insisted on the importance of focussing on water management at a
local scale: Weulersse (1946, p. 41) emphasizes the fact that ‘‘the irrigation is under the
control of the individual or the restricted community: perfect on the scale of the village, it
has difficulty to exceed this narrow frame’’. At the same time, within the specific geo-
graphical frame of the early 20th century Levant, the legal and practical concept of the
‘‘hydraulic community of irrigation’’ was formulated (Latron 1936, pp. 141–181; Métral
and Métral 1990). This concept made it possible to describe a system which exceeds those
of individual water management: ‘‘as soon as the flow of a spring is higher than the needs
of a definite property, several users overlap… and form a community.’’ If water is plentiful,
the community is structured around maintenance and common labour. It is not necessary to
formulate regulations of use. If water is scarce, regulation is required, and can lead to a
very sophisticated organization. Between these two extremes, are a multitude of inter-
mediate forms.
Several inquiries and field surveys conducted in similar regions during the last 20 years
have renewed the documentation by bringing new chronological control and technical
descriptions of hydraulic systems (Geyer 1990; al-Dbiyat and Mouton 2009; Bienert and
Häser 2004; Kaptijn 2009).
Most of the systems described in Western Syria contradict the so called Mesopotamian
model which considers water control by a managerial bureaucracy as the start for the
ancient state-level societies—but see amongst others the critical view in Davies 2009.
Indeed, field data provide examples of village-based and local management of these
structures, in contrast with urban or large estate developments (aqueducts, fountains,
gardens and baths), often conceived and financed by the royal or imperial power (Gene-
quand 2009 on Omayyad estates; Balty 1987; Blanc and Gazagne 2010 on Roman aque-
ducts). Finally, those studies also show that water use (management, allocation and
appropriation) as well as the size of the hydraulic community are strictly connected to the
social organization and to the structure of the farm or livestock breeding system. However,
oral enquiries on traditional systems show that there are no direct links in village-based
systems between the physical and material structure of a hydraulic system, and the
organization of the hydraulic community which implements and exploits it (Métral and
Métral 1990). Thus, archaeologists focusing only on material features are limited in the
interpretation of the social functions of the structures they identify.
This presentation focuses on Northern and Southern Syria. First, we make a synthetic
description of the main hydrological characteristics of the region, as well as the main
hydraulic systems and their dating. Then, we shall present three regional studies (Fig. 1) that
show (1) the role of the hydraulic developments in the conquest of new territories for
agriculture and husbandry in the steppe area during the Early Bronze Age (fourth to third
millennia BC) and the Roman–Byzantine period (first millennium AD), and (2) the phe-
nomena of re-use of hydraulic systems after long periods of abandonment. We emphasize
these two periods because of their importance in the development of state structures. The
‘‘urban revolution’’ emerged during the Early Bronze Age (fourth and third millennia)
giving way to the establishment of kingdoms and empires in Mesopotamia and Syria; the
Roman and Byzantine empires form the first truly global system. Our Syrian case studies are

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 93

Fig. 1 Map of Syria showing the location of recent field studies: (A) Dry oriental steppe of Northern Syria;
(B) ‘‘Massif Calcaire’’; (C) Basaltic Southern Syria

good examples for measuring the difference between state and local water management at
those times. We assume that managerial water governance did not exist during the Early
Bronze Age Syria, and that the Roman and Byzantine powers controlled the water supply in
two ways, direct technical control and management or control of self organised populations.

Major hydrological characteristics of Western Syria

Diversified hydrological resources, exploitable in complementary ways within small

regions (Sanlaville 1990) characterize Central and Southern Syria. Only two perennial
rivers exist today: the Orontes and the Wadi Barada, but the Wadi Koueik and the Nahr al-
Dahab had probable permanent water flow until the beginning of the 20th century (Tefnin
1977–1978). However, the main water resources, which are more widespread, are the
numerous temporary rivers characterized by winter floods, piedmont springs in the cal-
careous and basalt massifs, groundwater and karstic systems, and surface runoff which
occurs frequently in areas weakly protected by vegetation. A Mediterranean climate
dominates the zone, and this becomes more and more degraded eastward. Average pre-
cipitation ranges from 100 to 500 mm. The 200 mm isohyets can fluctuate dozens of
kilometres from east to west due to strong variations in inter annual precipitation
(Traboulsi-Makké 2004). This Mediterranean climate experienced only minor fluctuations

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during the Holocene, which had major consequences for living conditions in the driest
areas. This climate makes rain-fed farming of cereals and vegetables possible on most of
this area. Field work conducted in northern Syria showed that both the climatic and
edaphic constraints (nature and qualities of soils, geological substratum) have to be taken
into account when estimating the agrarian capacity of a region (Besançon and Geyer 2006).
Despite climatic variations, water is available during a large part of the year.

The hydraulic systems

Remains of hydraulic installations are often inconspicuous, but difficult to interpret indi-
vidually. Only an understanding of the whole system and the role of each constituent part
allows diachronic and synchronic comparisons to be made.
To describe the systems that operated in this region, we will distinguish between areas
in which water is scarce from those which receive more permanent water. When water is
plentiful and flow is long-lasting, its management is essentially centred on its diversion for
irrigation purposes, the human and animal consumption being secondary. In areas where
water is scarce and flow irregular, its management is centred on its accessibility, storage
and redistribution being mainly for domestic and pastoral consumption, and additionally,
when there is surplus, for irrigation. Between these two extremes, are intermediate situ-
ations characterized by the implementation of several additional resources.
We also have to distinguish sectors that, according to their hydrology and topography:
springs, groundwater, karstic systems, runoff, perennial or intermittent rivers, can be
exploited only with specific techniques which allow the diversion of water out of its natural
flow and its use for irrigation or storage. The list of such technical constructions is long. A
typology of these works according to their major functions shows (Figs. 2, 3) that, more
than each hydraulic installation, it is the system within which they are integrated, that is
significant. The dating of construction and the period of use of such systems has made
tremendous progress in the last 20 years (Braemer et al. 2009, p. 41).

The conquest of new agro pastoral lands in the dry zone: three regional studies

Three extensive surveys of the dry oriental steppe (Geyer et al. 2004–2005), and the karstic
the so called Massif Calcaire of Northern Syria (Tate 1992), and of basaltic steppe of
Southern Syria (Braemer 1988, 1993; Criaud and Rohmer 2010) (Fig. 1) provide a his-
torical framework and a spatial distribution of land use and its numerous ‘‘variations’’ since
the Neolithic. In particular, the relation between expansion of permanent settlement and
hydraulic developments was addressed. The techniques employed do not necessarily
explain the causes of the expansion, but they underline its modalities (Geyer 2009). The
common feature of all these pioneers’ settlements is the creation of a specific hydraulic
system that requires an understanding of the hydrological regime of the settlement area,
and a global technical solution adapted both to the specific hydrological regime and to the
future needs of agro-pastoral land use.

Northern Syria

In the steppe of Northern Syria, the average precipitation ranges from 100 to 300 mm. The
second half of the third millennium BC and the Byzantine period, and in some degree the

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 95

Fig. 2 Functional classification of technical water works in Western Syria (Atlas of Southern Syria pre- and
protohistoric sites)

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Fig. 3 Map of the main hydraulic systems in Western Syria

Omayyad period, faced a considerable expansion of permanent settlements in dry eastern

areas (Geyer and Rousset 2011), whilst the fourth millennium BC and the period between
the mid second to the last quarter of the first millennium BC, are marked by clustering of
settlements to the west (Geyer et al. 2006). Two micro-regional studies on the third
millennium site of Tell al-Rawda (Castel 2007) and the Byzantine site of al-Andarin
(Geyer and Rousset 2001; Mango 2004–2005) complete the global picture of the regional
settlement pattern. Besides, a study of Jebel Zawiyeh, part of the ‘‘Massif Calcaire’’ located
more to the west (average precipitation from 300 to 500 mm), highlights the development
of settlements in these karstic highlands during the Roman and Byzantine periods
(Abdulkarim et al. 2002).

An agro pastoral settlement in the eastern area during the third millennium BC

By the middle of the third millennium BC, corresponding to the time of the Ebla
kingdom—the first identified in Western Syria—the entire dry eastern sector was occupied
by a large number of newly established settlements, ranging from the isolated house to the
structured and fortified agglomeration. This expansion lasted for three or four centuries
even in the most marginal areas. To the west, the water is captured in the cracks of the
basaltic mesa of Jebel ‘Ala whilst to the east, on the fringes of the ‘‘desert’’, superficial
calcareous tabular strata dominate the northern piedmont of Palmyrenides hills.

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 97

On Jebel ‘Ala (Geyer 2009), the first pioneer villages relied on the digging of deep wells
(up to 40 m) which reached the groundwater level within limestone beneath the basalt.
Until the Mongol invasion in the 13th century AD, permanent agricultural settlements
relied upon wells and agriculture was based upon rain-fed farming up.
On the northern piedmont of the Palmyrenides hills (Geyer and Calvet 2001; Moulin
and Barge 2005; Castel and Peltenburg 2007), large thalwegs are punctuated by faydas,
areas benefiting from soils supplied by well fed streams. Recently, a third millennium BC
small subterranean cistern dug in the rock up to the wadi’s subterranean flow was exca-
vated in the town of Tell al-Rawda, immediately outside the town walls (Castel et al.
2008). Another well was found in the sacred area of the site main sanctuary and its
construction might be related to the settlement foundation (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Third millennium BC well/cistern at al-Rawda (from Castel et al. 2008, Fig. 11)

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Fig. 5 The fayda of al-Rawda and its hydraulic management system (from Moulin and Barge 2005)

The systematic mapping of the hydraulic structures around the town of Tell al-Rawda
has revealed the presence of agricultural terraces in the secondary small thalwegs, a dike
on the main thalweg which diverts water from the wadi and a series of walls diverting
floodwater and protecting the ramparts of the town. A graphic restoration of the missing
parts of the wall and a flood computer simulation enabled us to identify what is perhaps a
system of irrigation canals. Well-stratified palaeobotanical evidence of vines, peas and
olive trees whose presence would be inconceivable without irrigation, have also been
discovered (Castel et al. 2011) (Figs. 5, 6).
In an area of 100 km2 around Tell al-Rawda, dispersed smaller villages often contain
cisterns probably built during the third millennium BC. The latter, located under the tabular
calcareous beds were built for domestic and animal purposes. Thus, the economy was
reliant upon both farming and pastoralism which developed during that period. The
agricultural economy makes use of all the hydraulic resources linked to the control of
runoff. The driest zone was abandoned towards the end of the third millennium BC and
was used afterwards only by mobile herding groups. However, a new episode of land
acquisition took place during the Byzantine period, during which numerous cisterns were
dug (Fig. 7) (Geyer 2009).

Extension and irrigation of farming in dry areas during the Byzantine period

Again on the northern piedmont of the Palmyrenides hills, within a 20 km wide strip of
land parallel to the area previously described, rain-fed cultivation of cereals and to some

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Fig. 6 Water catchment area at al-Rawda and storage capacity after the rainfall event on 3rd October 2003
(from Moulin and Barge 2005)

Fig. 7 Cistern under the superficial calcareous tabular strata at Rasm al-Ahmar near Ithriya (survey Mission
Marges Arides)

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Fig. 8 Map of qanats in the al-Andarin area (survey Mission Marges Arides)

extent arboriculture has always been possible. However, during the Byzantine period, an
economy based upon income generated partially by the cultivation of olive trees, and the
production of oil was developed. Large-scale irrigation qanats were built and maintained
up until the middle of the 10th century AD (Fig. 8) (Geyer 2009; Geyer and Rousset 2001;
Mango 2004–2005).

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 101

It is first necessary to underline the use of the word ‘‘qanat’’ for different systems. The
major difference lays in the hydrological structure
– Either the qanat catches the wadi subterranean flow in the thalwegs of the meridian
valleys fed by water flow in the upper valley (Geyer 2009). Short qanats of local
interest irrigate segments of alluvial floors or small faydas which end in small
reservoirs (birkeh): they use the upper layer of the subterranean flow. Longer and
deeper developments (8–12 km) also occupied meridian valleys, and were sometimes
equipped with large pond distributors that irrigated the large central fayda for the
benefit of al-Andarin city and its gardens (Geyer and Rousset 2001). The dating of the
reservoirs and ponds of this city indicate that construction took place during the fifth to
seventh centuries AD (Mango 2004–2005). Similar systems dating of the 19th and 20th
centuries AD were described in the mountains of Qalamoun to the North of Damascus
(Haj Ibrahim 1990).
– Or the qanat exploits the piedmont water table. In such cases, it is excavated at the limit
between the mountain or hill massif and the plain (system of Palmyra and Taibe, Kobori
1990). It can also exploit artesian springs to the east of the big Al-Andarin fayda.

Agro pastoral settlement in karstic areas during the Romano–Byzantine periods

Until recently, researchers thought that the only exploitable water resource in the calcar-
eous massifs of northern Syria was the rainwater collected in tanks and mainly dedicated to
human consumption. Rainfall is sufficient to allow the dominant olive tree cultivation. In
the last decade, the importance of cereal cultivation, and thus the need for punctual
irrigation, was re-evaluated. Numerous karstic resurgences, wells and cisterns were sur-
veyed. This led to a global interpretation of geology and tectonic system and their evo-
lution (Abdulkarim et al. 2002). The flow could have been sufficient in antiquity to allow
permanent irrigation thanks to climatic contingencies as well as supplies derived from
mainly along the main geological fault system (Fig. 9). Two karstic conduits fitting
techniques explain the localization of villages. On the higher plateau or promontories,
limestone layers slope gently, and shallow wells tap springs located at the head of small
thalwegs. In the villages located in the main valleys and along the main geological faults,
where the geological layers are more folded, natural or artificial wells reach the main
karstic channels. They are often integrated within a complex system of man-made or
natural lateral underground conduits which connect the wells to underground cisterns in
order to store water in case of shortage (Fig. 10). All these subterranean hydraulic systems
produce waters which overflow on to the surface and can be diverted for irrigation when
water table level is high. These systems are therefore very close to the concept of qanat,
and the difference lays only in the complexity of the geological and tectonic setting.
The demographic explosion that occurred in these massifs during Roman and Byzantine
times was associated with the systematic exploitation of water resources produced by wells
(Fig. 11), tanks and resurgences. The study of the village of Sergilla shows the association
between cisterns and resurgences as well as both collective and individual management
within the village (Abdulkarim and Charpentier 2009). Indeed, after an initial Roman
phase of water diversion for a collective use of the natural resurgences, the system became
much more complex during the Byzantine period. Cisterns were fed both by rainwater
collected from the roof of every house and also by karstic water as shown by the presence
of conduits which discharged into the base of the cisterns. Thus, these installations were
conceived for individual house consumption. A large part of the karstic water conduits are

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Fig. 9 Wells, cisterns and geological faults at Sergilla–Jebel Zawiyeh (Mission Syrie du Nord)

Fig. 10 Opening of an underground karstic conduit in the cistern of the Church at Sergilla (Mission Syrie
du Nord)

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Fig. 11 Wells at Mari’an and Tell Dinit (Mission Syrie du Nord)

blocked today as a result of natural erosion, and the general elevation of the water table is
actually lower than during the Byzantine times as a result of tectonic activity.

Southern Syria

In Southern Syria, the largest geographical expansion of permanent settlements took place
during the fourth to the mid second millennia BC and the Roman to Omayyad periods in

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the first millennium AD. Here, the hydraulic installations are designed primarily to create
stored drinking water for men and animals (Miller 1980, p. 333; Braemer and Davtian
2009; Braemer et al. 2009). The rainfall season being short, the system is conceived to
divert floodwaters into medium-term storage. Thereafter, the general economy of water
consumption must be seen as the management of a non-renewable supply. The Hawran is a
dry farming area both in the plain (cultivation of cereals and vegetables) and on the
mountains (vines and fruit trees). Fields are mainly watered by the rain and from time to
time by the seasonal overflow of wadis (Braemer 1990), which carry the greatest volume of
water. Water must be diverted from the rivers into lateral reservoirs. The system therefore
always comprises a dam on the river, a diversion channel and one or more reservoirs. The
overflow is generally used for the irrigation of fields and gardens around the villages.
The structures dedicated to seasonal storage for delayed water distribution can be:
(1) natural,
(2) man-made with the construction of pools (which requires technical investment such
as dams) or
(3) catchment channels, conduits and storage facilities.
The real mastery of the river floods system is based on the construction of walls which
filter and raise the water level by nearly 1 m to facilitate its diversion without obstructing
the principal water course. These light and adaptable constructions are much less vul-
nerable and easier to maintain than a reservoir dam.
The global evaluation of the Hawran derivation system can then be measured:
• More than 130 villages, from the fourth millennium BC onward, most of which are still
occupied. These villages are located less than 1 km from temporary water sources and
are supplied by short diversion channels, in some cases supplemented by wells tapping
the groundwater supply, in particular along the eastern-most wadis.
• The longer diversion channels, conducting water from the wadis and from some
springs, account for over 200 km of installations all over the Hawran. A total length of
160 km of channels in the area of the Sacaea and on the Nuqra plains supply 70
villages.
• Almost the entire network of canals was still active at the beginning of the 20th
century. Parts of it were abandoned, without any doubt, during medieval times when
villages were devalued. However, the revitalization of village networks from the 18th
century AD onwards, particularly with the settling of the Druze, entailed a renovation
of the water supply network.

Pastoralist settlements on the desert frontier during the fourth to the mid second
millennia BC

In Hawran, we were able to observe the construction of reservoirs in desert area at the sites
of Jawa and Khirbet al-Umbashi from the fourth millennium BC onward. These devel-
opments were probably linked to the increasing importance of a new type of intensive
animal breeding. During the second millennium BC, canals and reservoirs were associated
with the installation of dwellings and storage facilities in Leja. Similar techniques were
used during Roman times with the conquest and exploitation of the Nuqrah plain
interfluves.
These techniques were implemented on sites built on the fringes of the eastern desert
along the lower course of wadis coming from the heights of nearby Jebel el-’Arab massif.

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Fig. 12 Khirbet al-Umbashi: the third millennium BC dam and the cistern to the south, and the flash-flood
water collecting canal to the north

They have been attested since the middle of the fourth millennium BC at Jawa (Helms
1981) and from the end of the same millennium at Khirbet al-Umbashi. Several hundred
metres upstream of those sites, a filtering dam raised the water level to a bypass channel
leading to one or several artificial reservoirs (Fig. 12). At Khirbet al-Umbashi there is only
one big reservoir whose overflow feeds two secondary ponds, whilst at Jawa there are three
systems of dams staged along the wadi. The total amount of stored water was nearly
40,000 m3 at both sites. At Khirbet al-Umbashi, the diversion installation was preceded by
the creation of a real dam reservoir in the wadi bed. The wall of the dam was integrated
into the fortification system (Fig. 13) (Braemer et al. 2004).

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106 F. Braemer et al.

Fig. 13 Khirbet al-Umbashi: the third millennium BC storage dam built within the fortification system

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 107

During the third millennium BC, the water system was enlarged at Khirbet al-
Umbashi and the nearby site of Hebariyeh, with the construction of a 1 km canal
collecting flash flood water along the northern hills slopes. The region is totally ded-
icated to herding, as the agricultural capacity of the soils is weak. Both sites could have
been places for large periodic gatherings of mobile populations until the middle of the
second millennium BC. It is ascertained that the long-lasting occupation of these sites
was made possible by this exceptional water development which allowed consumption
for most of the year.
A similar situation took place during the second millennium BC in the southeastern Leja
lava flow (Braemer 1993, p. 151). A single canal diverted water from the Wadi al-Liwa
which branches out into three sub basins and brings water into at least eight reservoirs.
There is no doubt that this signals a major change in the capacity and durability of water
storage at each of these sites, and is likely to have enabled land use over a greater part of
the year and/or support a larger population. All these installations are devoted to the
storage of water mainly for human and animal consumption.

Conquest of new lands during the Roman period

In the Hawran, the floodwaters’ diversion into medium-term storage is used over short
distances (up to 1 km) since the second millennium BC onward by all the villages
established along the wadis. The same design is used in larger installations which require a
higher technical and topographic mastery. Canals several kilometres long diverted water
from the wadi to more distant reservoirs (Fig. 14).
These canals are designed to supply at least 20 new villages settled on the interfluves
areas of the Nuqra plain (Braemer 1988, p. 108). From the Wadi Abu Dhahab, two villages
are fed through canals 11.7 and 19.5-km long. In the interfluve area between Wadi Zeidi
and Wadi Dhahab, four villages, which are built along the basins divide line, are supplied
by canals diverting water from the Wadi al-Zeidi. These canals are 10–20-km long and
must cross a tributary, which they do using the bed of wadi for few hundred metres. One
canal has two branches, each supplying one of the villages. Another canal supplies water
for five villages in the Sacaea.
The inscriptions recovered in the villages are dated for the most part from the fourth
century AD and are for the time being the only termini ante quem for their occupation
(M. Sartre, personal communication). One can therefore confirm that these villages were
occupied at that time period and that the major phase of canal construction occurred at a
slightly earlier date.
The examples of Jawa and Khirbet al-Umbashi demonstrate that the continuous occu-
pation of sites in the rocky Harra desert was only possible through the installation of
extensive hydraulic works. These installations are linked to a phase of the Early Bronze
Age during which groups established new and permanent settlements, and are clear evi-
dence of the conquest of new territories for occupation. The investment made in the
building of such installations was fruitful over the following two millennia. The wave of
development of new villages in Roman times signals a similar trend. The goal appears to
increase the possibilities for newcomers to settle near drinking water facilities, and to
develop either rain fed agriculture or animal husbandry. Irrigation is not the aim of this
system.

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Fig. 14 Map of the new Roman villages and canals in the Southern Syria plain

System sustainability and reuse of hydraulic installations in modern times

Most of these installations have lasted for a long time and very often their existence
favoured the occupation of a site or of a locality over an extended period of time. The
investment made by a group in the construction of water supply infrastructure at a given
period in time is therefore a significant factor in the duration and resilience of the occu-
pation of a geographical area. Once a hydraulic system has been built, its continuous use
depends, very largely, on its maintenance. Clearly, the technical and social competence of
a group, which affect its ability to master both the overall concept of the technology and
the organization necessary to maintain the installations (rebuilding the water intakes,
repairing the canals, dredging the reservoirs, preventing the fouling of water access points
etc.), are paramount.
These regions were abandoned for diverse reasons: wars, epidemics, change of eco-
nomic system, loss of the adequate knowledge to maintain those structures, etc. In a few
cases, they have been reused after several centuries of abandonment.

The qanats in Northern Syria

The whole region of the dry margins of Northern Syria was occupied by nomadic tribes
from the 10–11th centuries AD onward. In the middle of the 19th century AD, the Ottoman

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power decided to settle displaced populations in this area—Ismaelians, Tcherkes, Alaou-

ites—to develop agriculture in new areas (al-Dbiyat and Jaubert 2006; al-Dbiyat 2009).
The first nucleus of population settled in Salamya city. Once the qanats of the Byzantine
period were re-established, few new ones were dug. Then gradually the entire range of
antique structures were rebuilt and exploited for irrigation and domestic purposes. Since
the 1930s, the eastern limits of the maximum extension of this colonized agrarian land
defined the administrative border separating registered farmlands and lands devoted
exclusively to pastoralism.

The diversion canals and the spring catchments in Southern Syria

The diversion canals built during Roman times often following Middle Bronze Age pat-
terns which themselves were partly reused during the Iron Age (Criaud and Rohmer 2010;
Dufourg 1955). These canals were in use at least until the Omayyad period in the Jebel al-
’Arab, until the 13th century AD in the Leja, and until the present days along the main
wadis of the Nuqra plain. In the eastern part of the Leja and in the Jebel, the systems were
redeveloped by Druze settlers in the 18th century AD and are still in use for a part of them.
The intakes, channels and reservoirs at Jawa, at Rimet el-Lohf and at Bosra amongst
others, have been renovated by municipalities during the last 15 years as a complement to
the water pipes built in 1930.

Discussion

Reasons for the establishing new hydraulic systems

The construction of hydraulic systems in dry areas made possible the installation of
populations for various durations, often several centuries. These areas were also abandoned
for diverse reasons. How can we describe the initial movement which leads to the building
of hydraulic systems?
In the case of the pioneer conquest of new lands for farming or animal breeding, the
construction of a hydraulic system is always complex. This consists of the exploitation of a
scarce and irregular water resource needing high-level engineering (dams, reservoirs,
surface or subterranean canals) which, in turn require:
– a good understanding of the local hydrology and sedimentary dynamics if they were
newcomers. We also have to understand who were these ‘‘newcomers’’? Perhaps they
were mobile groups using the same area and settling in a more sedentary establishment,
and who therefore know the places and the resources. Or were they real newcomers?
– the concept and building of a long-lasting, and therefore well-fitted technical solution.
The fourth and third millennia BC are the period during which those systems were built
in inland Syria. Those systems used in the Syrian domain did not exist elsewhere at a large
scale. We are therefore able to formulate two interpretations. Either an outside authority
implanted solutions which also come from outside, although we have no attestation of their
existence outside. Either it was the collective strength and the engineering skills of the
group that moved in and settled down that produced these solutions, in a process of self-
organization. This process led to the establishment of a ‘‘hydraulic community’’. However,
it is evident that this process of technical self-organization is totally linked to the process of
social transformation: at Jawa and Khirbet al-Umbashi herding groups structured

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themselves probably in the form of periodic gatherings in these monumentalized places. At

Tell al-Rawda and Jebel ‘Ala it was a settlement movement of large populations which
allowed the development of agriculture along with the practice of stockbreeding. The
question is similar to that of the models of urbanization process.
During the Roman, Byzantine and Omayyad periods, the implemented technical solu-
tions were not new, and we can suggest the occurrence of a dual phenomenon:
– the creation of agricultural domains with an extensive production for urban needs. This
would result from the investment of large owners who could mobilize specialists to
organize the irrigation of their lands: the qanats of the sector of al-Andarin could be
interpreted in this way. These owners generally also had a political authority, in which
mastering of the production would be part of state functioning, but not its origin.
– The settling of villages in new areas because of demographic pressure (or migration) on
one hand and the increase of the urban food requirement on the other. The political
authorities authorized, and doubtless encouraged, the settlement, but the installation
and construction or the extension of the hydraulic systems was made at the scale of the
group and of the village.
The reoccupation of some of these areas during modern times was made possible under
the authority and stimulus of the Ottoman administration (the Druze in Southern Syria or
Ismaelites in the Salamiyeh area) and then under those of the ‘‘French Mandate’’, but the
initiative of re-using ancient systems has always relied on the technical competence of
local communities. There has been a collective capacity to analyze the hydrological
resources and to integrate the abandoned installations. This seems generally to have been
made ‘‘in a natural way’’ (Geyer 2009), although it is not always so ‘‘natural’’: there is first
of all a collective definition of a land use project, then a capacity to maintain complex
installations in order for them to be efficient. The recent re-use of the reservoirs at Jawa
and Umbashi and their quick infilling with sediment shows that maintenance is not always
evident!
To summarize, since the time of Roman-Byzantine hegemony, it appears that there were
two kinds of state control: either a direct technical control of water installation in large
estates and cities or a political control of the population and a free local management of
hydraulic installations under the collective authority of the ‘‘hydraulic community’’.

The social organization of hydraulic communities

In the absence of explicit texts, our social interpretation of the hydraulic structures will be
schematic. Water resources are very often managed by a social group whose structure is
more or less complex depending on the number and hierarchical relationship of its
members. This requires a water management policy at several levels. These various social
and spatial groupings, like the different types of installations, constitute interdependent
communities that were not necessarily organized into a hierarchy.
In dry areas at the level of the village and its territory, the system of reservoirs required
agreement on the distribution of stored water over the course of the year, as well as on who
should maintain those structures.
When a group of villages or a group of nomads used the same wadi, the same canal, or
the same well, management was performed by controlling access to the channelled water,
and limiting the amount of water diverted by upstream settlements, in order to assure water
supply to downstream settlements. It is therefore possible to suggest the existence of a self-
regulated system similarly to that in the Upper Orontes, for the management of irrigation

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Conquest of new lands and water systems 111

and fallow land (Métral and Métral 1990; Gibson 1974 for a Mesopotamian example).
Social organization often consisted of an extended family or tribal organization in which
the players were fundamentally equal, with the sheikh, whose authority was limited, being
designated as arbiter within the community and as its representative in neighbouring
communities. This hierarchical structure, necessary even though it was not formalized in
the shape of an institution attested by texts, corresponded to the size of a catchment basin
or a group of springs, and was not subject to centralized state authority.
Since medieval times, the control of field irrigation in Central Syria has been totally
governed by the structure of land property and land exploitation (Métral and Métral 1990).
Urban and outer-urban gardens are managed as urban plots of land, agricultural collective
‘‘musha’a’’ property is managed as a collective system and large estates owned their own
system and so on. The rights for water are intrinsically associated to property rights of the
land, and are generally passed on (inheritance, sale, rent, sharecropping, etc.) at the same
time and even automatically associated to the property ownership act. At the beginning of
the second millennium BC, we know the existence of collective land property at Mari
(Durand 2002). We can therefore infer the possibility of irrigation being regulated in a
similar way to the medieval ‘‘musha’a’’ system that took place along the Orontes in the
second millennium BC around the big tells and perhaps in the qanat areas during the
Roman and Byzantine periods. Today, rights for water are proportional to land surface
area; water quantity and maintenance cost is measured in fractions of the whole pipe’s flow
and not in absolute volumes. This gives to each user a known fraction of the flow whatever
the variation of the available total volume is.
When flooding occurs, there is no need for a regulation system to allocate water because
all the fields and gardens can be flooded simultaneously. Furthermore, the flood event is
never manageable! However, the large scale hydraulic systems of Jawa, Khirbet al-
Umbashi or Tell al-Rawda provide strong arguments for the existence of a collective
organization that was able to conceive, to build and to maintain the system.
We have no detailed information about systems of drinking water distribution for herds.
In general, the group who dug and maintained the wells had the exclusive property of it and
a priority access to the water, but not the exclusivity of its use which might have been
subject to agreement between tribes (Métral 2006).

Conclusion

The case study of the conquest of new lands in dry areas shows a diversity of local
situations and technical adaptations. Since the Roman period there has been a state
hydraulic policy for the city’s water allocation and large estates’ irrigation, and a hydraulic
community policy for local collective use, the local group being generally under the politic
control of the state. This leads to a re-evaluation of the general system as a co-existence
and a co-evolution: a strong state gives a relatively smaller place to the local groups in the
water management, and reciprocally a weak state allows a stronger development of local
groups. Before Roman times, and especially during the fourth and third millennia, complex
hydraulic systems were first built for irrigation and domestic purposes. The absence of
developed state system in the major part of the Levant during these early periods leads us
to emphasize the idea of an initial development of local hydraulic communities able to
collectively produce new hydraulic techniques, and then certainly to produce the social
regulation system which allowed it to function.

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Acknowledgments The results presented in this article are based on research conducted by joint teams
acting within the programs of French archaeological projects in Syria, granted by the French Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and the CNRS, the Direction générale des antiquités et des musées de Syrie, and the
Damascus University. We are grateful to Louise Purdue and Tony Wilkinson for their help in editing the
English text, and to the two unknown reviewers for their propositions.

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Author Biographies

Frank Braemer is an archaeologist, researcher at the Centre d’Etude: Préhistoire, Antiquité Moyen-Age
(University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, CNRS, France) and director of the French archaeological project in
southern Syria. His main interests are on urbanism and architecture in the Levantine Bronze Age and in the
emergence of complex societies in the Near East.

Bernard Geyer is a geographer, researcher at the Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Archéorient

(Université Lumière Lyon 2, CNRS, France) and co-director of the Syro-French survey project ‘‘Marges
arides de la Syrie du Nord’’. His main interests are on links between settlement patterns and geographical
setting in the Near East.

Corinne Castel is an archaeologist, researcher at the Maison de l’Orient et de la Méditerranée, Archéorient

(Université Lumière Lyon 2, CNRS, France) and co-director of the Syro-French archaeological mission at
Tell al-Rawda (Shamiyeh-Syria). Her main interests are on urbanism and architecture in the Levantine and
Mesopotamian Bronze Age and in the emergence of complex societies in the Near East.

Maamoun Abdulkarim is an archaeologist, professor at Damascus University (Syria) and co-director of the
Syro-French archaeological mission in Northern Syria. His main interests are on land use and settlement
patterns during the Roman and Byzantine periods in the Near East.

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