Conquest of new lands and water systems in the western Fertile Crescent (Central and Southern Syria)

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.