Hydraulic Hypothesis Research Articles

Civilizing the Past: Egyptian Irrigation in the Colonial Imagination

Abstract Reviews of the historiography of irrigation regularly single out Karl August Wittfogel’s “hydraulic hypothesis” as a uniquely deleterious contribution to the study of ancient water management. His errors notwithstanding, this article argues that the ideological misshaping of Western scholarship on irrigation instead emerged from Egypt’s long colonial experience. First articulated in the Napoleonic Description de l’Égypte, the theory of a centralized, ancient Egyptian “hydraulic state” was crafted to justify French attempts to reshape Egypt’s irrigated landscape. British hydraulic engineers later received and refined this narrative during the British colonial period. Their popularizing discourse retrojected the technocratic character of modern irrigation into antiquity, defining the Egyptian “irrigation system” as a static and unchanging fusion of hydraulic expertise and state power. Widely disseminated in specialist and popular fora, this tendentious argument had become received wisdom by the beginning of the twentieth century and subtly shaped early Egyptological descriptions of irrigation in antiquity.

Research of the Reasons of Frost Destruction of Road Concrete

The article analyzes the causes of the destruction of road concrete in the winter. The basic theories of concrete failure during freezing are presented. Hypothesis of R. Collins according to which the destruction occurs as a result of the pressure of ice, which is formed when water freezes onto the pore walls. The hydraulic pressure hypothesis of T. Powers, according to which the main cause of concrete destruction during cyclic freezing and thawing, is the hydraulic pressure that creates water in the pores and capillaries of concrete under the action of ice. The hypothesis of thermal destruction of concrete due to the difference in the coefficients of linear thermal expansion of its components. In winter, sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions are most often used to combat ice on the surface of road surfaces. Therefore, an important consequence of this may be osmotic pressure. To calculate the osmotic pressure, the Vant-Hoff formula for true solutions was used. The maximum values of the osmotic pressure were determined at temperatures of 255...293 K. The critical concentrations of sodium chloride solutions at which concrete was destroyed were calculated. It was established that at the initial stage of freezing-thawing of concrete with the simultaneous action of an aqueous NaCl solution, the structure of concrete is densified and its strength is increased.

Sociopolitical organization, landscape change, and hydraulic engineering in the Teotihuacan Valley, Mexico: 1250 B.C.–A.D. 1810

The Teotihuacan Valley has witnessed the rise and fall of various civilizations since it was first inhabited by sedentary societies 3,500 years ago. Given its location in a semi‐arid environment, Teotihuacan has featured prominently in debates about the role of water and water management in the development of sedentism, culture, primary states, and large, complex societies. While many previous discussions tended to echo Wittfogel's “hydraulic hypothesis,” focusing on the ability of an elite few to monopolize water resources, we instead turn to a growing corpus of research showing varied water management strategies through time potentially resulting in distinct patterns of social organization. In this palimpsest landscape hydraulic and agricultural strategies were constrained not merely by present environmental conditions, but also by very real and material legacies of previous behavior. We discuss the state of research regarding these adaptations (and social responses) to water scarcity from the Early‐to‐Middle Formative Period (1250–650 B.C.) through the independence of Mexico (A.D. 1810), noting how previous fundamental assumptions about agriculture and hydraulic management in the Teotihuacan Valley have led to a significant number of neglected concepts and potential adaptations. If we are to address the current destruction of the Teotihuacan Valley's ecological and cultural resources in response to national development and climate change, a historical‐ecological perspective is necessary to disentangle the relevant processes that have shaped the landscape—and the cultures residing within it—to this day.This article is categorized under: Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change Human Water > Water as Imagined and Represented Engineering Water > Planning Water

The USSR as a hydraulic society: Wittfogel, the Aral Sea and the (post-)Soviet state

Wittfogel’s Oriental Despotism is not only a scholarly exposition of the ‘hydraulic hypothesis’ but also a political polemic about Soviet ‘totalitarianism’. Wittfogel does not mention that these two themes are connected: the USSR itself may be construed as a hydraulic state, especially in the Central Asian periphery, where expansion of irrigation depended on and cemented the power of the apparatus. The environmental consequences famously include the regression of the Aral Sea. This article first explores irrigation in Soviet Central Asia: while there was a connection between the centralizing tendency of Soviet bureaucracy and water’s susceptibility to political control, environmental problems were exacerbated by relatively weak control from the centre and by material qualities of water which escaped control. I then draw on my ethnographic research in Aral’sk, Kazakhstan, to examine the role of hydraulic infrastructure in imagining the strong, centralized state. I take Wittfogel’s particular constellation of connections between water, infrastructure and power as a Cold War artefact, which I compare with accounts of Soviet hydraulic projects from inhabitants of the Aral region today. Finally, I examine post-Soviet projections of statehood through a recent dam which has restored part of the Aral and mixed local reactions to it. Hydraulic infrastructure may project centralized authority, but I show that readings of the relationship between the two depend on contextual factors.

Successful Aging, Social Support, and Ownership of a Companion Animal

ABSTRACTStudies consistently find that higher levels of social support improve the psychological and physiological health of older people, but findings from empirical research are mixed regarding the presence of a “pet effect”— the idea that living with an animal can improve human health, psychological wellbeing, and longevity. We examined the assocations among social support, dog and cat ownership, and successful aging in a panel of 5,688 people between the ages of 50 and 74 years. Utilizing GLM, we tested for the presence of a complement (independent or additive effects) and/or hydraulic (interactive effect) association of pets and human support on four indicators of successful aging (pain, functional ability, chronic illnesses, and subjective successful aging). Supporting the hydraulic hypothesis, we found that having a dog was associated with fewer chronic illnesses, higher functional ability, and higher levels of subjective success when people lack human support. Similarly, having both a dog and a cat was associated with higher functional ability, less pain, and higher levels of subjective success when people lack human support. Supporting the complement hypothesis, we found that having a cat was associated with more chronic illnesses and lower levels of subjective successful aging. Findings carry practical implications for supporting pet ownership of older people, suggesting that dogs have a positive association with successful aging.

Origin of honeycombs: Testing the hydraulic and case hardening hypotheses

Cavernous weathering (cavernous rock decay) is a global phenomenon, which occurs in porous rocks around the world. Although honeycombs and tafoni are considered to be the most common products of this complex process, their origin and evolution are as yet not fully understood. The two commonly assumed formation hypotheses – hydraulic and case hardening – were tested to elucidate the origin of honeycombs on sandstone outcrops in a humid climate. Mechanical and hydraulic properties of the lips (walls between adjacent pits) and backwalls (bottoms of pits) of the honeycombs were determined via a set of established and novel approaches. While the case hardening hypothesis was not supported by the determinations of either tensile strength, drilling resistance or porosity, the hydraulic hypothesis was clearly supported by field measurements and laboratory tests. Fluorescein dye visualization of capillary zone, vapor zone, and evaporation front upon their contact, demonstrated that the evaporation front reaches the honeycomb backwalls under low water flow rate, while the honeycomb lips remain dry. During occasional excessive water flow events, however, the evaporation front may shift to the lips, while the backwalls become moist as a part of the capillary zone. As the zone of evaporation corresponds to the zone of potential salt weathering, it is the spatial distribution of the capillary and vapor zones which dictates whether honeycombs are created or the rock surface is smoothed. A hierarchical model of factors related to the hydraulic field was introduced to obtain better insights into the process of cavernous weathering.

Safety-efficiency trade-offs in the cotton xylem: acclimatization to different soil textures

The acclimatization of plant xylem to altered environmental conditions has attracted considerable attention from researchers over several decades. Plants growing in natural environments must seek a balance between water uptake and the water loss of leaves from evaporation. Thus, the adaptation of xylem to different soil textures is important in maintaining plant water balance. In this study, we investigated the xylem changes of cotton (Gossypium herbaceum L.) xylem in sandy, clay and mixed soils. Results showed that soil texture had a significant effect on xylem vessel diameter and length of stems and roots. Compared with G. herbaceum growing in the clay soil, those plants growing in the sandy soil developed narrower and shorter xylem vessels in their roots, and had a higher percentage of narrow vessels in their stems. These changes resulted in a safer (i.e. less vulnerable to cavitation), but less-efficient water transport system when soil water availability was low, supporting the hydraulic safety versus efficiency trade-off hypothesis. Furthermore, in sandy and mixed soils, the root: shoot ratio of G. herbaceum increased twofold, which ensures the same efficiency of leaves. In summary, our finding indicates that the morphological plasticity of xylem structure in G. herbaceum has a major role in the acclimatization of this plant species to different soil textures.

A hydraulic model is compatible with rapid changes in leaf elongation under fluctuating evaporative demand and soil water status.

Plants are constantly facing rapid changes in evaporative demand and soil water content, which affect their water status and growth. In apparent contradiction to a hydraulic hypothesis, leaf elongation rate (LER) declined in the morning and recovered upon soil rehydration considerably quicker than transpiration rate and leaf water potential (typical half-times of 30 min versus 1-2 h). The morning decline of LER began at very low light and transpiration and closely followed the stomatal opening of leaves receiving direct light, which represent a small fraction of leaf area. A simulation model in maize (Zea mays) suggests that these findings are still compatible with a hydraulic hypothesis. The small water flux linked to stomatal aperture would be sufficient to decrease water potentials of the xylem and growing tissues, thereby causing a rapid decline of simulated LER, while the simulated water potential of mature tissues declines more slowly due to a high hydraulic capacitance. The model also captured growth patterns in the evening or upon soil rehydration. Changes in plant hydraulic conductance partly counteracted those of transpiration. Root hydraulic conductivity increased continuously in the morning, consistent with the transcript abundance of Zea maize Plasma Membrane Intrinsic Protein aquaporins. Transgenic lines underproducing abscisic acid, with lower hydraulic conductivity and higher stomatal conductance, had a LER declining more rapidly than wild-type plants. Whole-genome transcriptome and phosphoproteome analyses suggested that the hydraulic processes proposed here might be associated with other rapidly occurring mechanisms. Overall, the mechanisms and model presented here may be an essential component of drought tolerance in naturally fluctuating evaporative demand and soil moisture.

Pathophysiology of increased cerebrospinal fluid pressure associated to brain arteriovenous malformations: The hydraulic hypothesis

Background:Brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) produce circulatory and functional disturbances in adjacent as well as in remote areas of the brain, but their physiological effect on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure is not well known.Methods:The hypothesis of an intrinsic disease mechanism leading to increased CSF pressure in all patients with brain AVM is outlined, based on a theory of hemodynamic control of intracranial pressure that asserts that CSF pressure is a fraction of the systemic arterial pressure as predicted by a two-resistor series circuit hydraulic model. The resistors are the arteriolar resistance (that is regulated by vasomotor tonus), and the venous resistance (which is mechanically passive as a Starling resistor). This theory is discussed and compared with the knowledge accumulated by now on intravasal pressures and CSF pressure measured in patients with brain AVM.Results:The theory provides a basis for understanding the occurrence of pseudotumor cerebri syndrome in patients with nonhemorrhagic brain AVMs, for the occurrence of local mass effect and brain edema bordering unruptured AVMs, and for the development of hydrocephalus in patients with unruptured AVMs. The theory also contributes to a better appreciation of the pathophysiology of dural arteriovenous fistulas, of vein of Galen aneurismal malformation, and of autoregulation-related disorders in AVM patients.Conclusions:The hydraulic hypothesis provides a comprehensive frame to understand brain AVM hemodynamics and its effect on the CSF dynamics.

Tree transpiration varies spatially in response to atmospheric but not edaphic conditions

Summary1. Measuring transpiration simultaneously in time and space can establish a better understanding of how to mechanistically scale spatiotemporal values.2. This study tested the following predictions to falsify a tree hydraulic hypothesis of spatial variation in transpiration: (i) stands with larger trees will a have longer range and greater sill and nugget at a given vapour pressure deficit (D); (ii) the range, sill and nugget will decline faster with increasingDwith larger trees; and (iii) soil moisture, texture and/or N levels will be correlated with transpiration.3. We used cyclic sampling to efficiently collect spatial sap flux data from 144 trees in two forested stands in northern Wisconsin: an Aspen‐dominated stand with small trees and a Maple–Pine‐dominated stand with larger trees.4. In the Maple stand, the range of spatial autocorrelation in half‐hourly transpiration dropped from 80 to 20 m with increasedD, whereas in the Aspen stand the range dropped from 55 to 35 m with a similar increase inD.5. Differences in the range of spatial autocorrelation at a givenDwere driven by sapwood area, which is a function of tree size.6. These results show that species and tree size as well as individual tree hydraulics drive spatial variability in transpiration with little additional variation explained by the measured edaphic conditions.7. Scaling from individual tree transpiration to the landscape in time and space should incorporate atmospheric drivers in time and investigate other potential drivers of tree size in space such as light competition.

Improvement of water treatment pilot plant with Moringa oleifera extract as flocculant agent

Moringa oleifera extract is a high‐capacity flocculant agent for turbidity removal in surface water treatment. A complete study of a pilot‐plant installation has been carried out. Because of flocculent sedimentability of treated water, a residual turbidity occured in the pilot plant (around 30 NTU), which could not be reduced just by a coagulation‐flocculation‐sedimentation process. Because of this limitation, the pilot plant (excluded filtration) achieved a turbidity removal up to 70%. A slow sand filter was put in as a complement to installation. A clogging process was characterized, according to Carman‐Kozeny’s hydraulic hypothesis. Kozeny’s k parameter was found to be 4.18. Through fouling stages, this k parameter was found to be up to 6.36. The obtained data are relevant for the design of a real filter in a continuous‐feeding pilot plant. Slow sand filtration is highly recommended owing to its low cost, easy‐handling and low maintenance, so it is a very good complement to Moringa water treatment in developing countries.

Engineered highlands: the social organization of water in the ancient north-central Andes (AD 1000–1480)

Recent research in the Late Intermediate Period (ad 1000–1480) north-central Andes has emphasized the segmentary and egalitarian nature of late prehispanic Huaylas communities in the region. This form of devolved power nevertheless conceals investiture of authority in a person or group, albeit temporarily. Given the ubiquitous importance of water in the Andes, I suggest that this type of power could well have rested on special ‘managers’ closely involved in the organization of water and its concomitant hydrological infrastructure, working for the wider community and its leaders. Centring on archaeological evidence from the Cordillera Negra in the Ancash highlands the area demonstrates the development of a complex suite of hydraulic technology. It is this unique setting, including previously sparsely recorded structures such as silt dams and silt reservoirs, which provides the technological suite necessary to test these preliminary ideas. The approach taken here is an attempt to revisit some of Karl Wittfogel's concepts, adapting them to include a community-based bottom-up perspective to the ‘hydraulic hypothesis’.

Is the hydraulic hypothesis dead yet? Irrigation and social change in ancient Yemen

Irrigation played an important role throughout ancient Southwest Arabian histories. Irrigation structures provide some of the earliest evidence of crop agriculture and large-scale flash floodwater irrigation systems sustained ancient states; the region thus offers important potential for reconsidering links between irrigation and social change. This paper examines millennia-long connections between social relations and the increasing technological and organizational complexity of irrigation in ancient Yemen. While the hydraulic hypothesis in its original deterministic formulation does not adequately account for the complexity and diversity of regional histories, large centrally managed irrigation systems played an indisputably significant role in Southwest Arabian state formation. Irrigation not only generated the food to sustain burgeoning populations but, just as importantly, afforded ancient kings the ideological prestige of commanding transformation of hyper-arid areas into lush, bountiful oases.

Ignorance is bliss: Or seven reasons not to use uncertainty analysis

Uncertainty analysis of models has received increasing attention over the last two decades in water resources research. However, a significant part of the community is still reluctant to embrace the estimation of uncertainty in hydrological and hydraulic modeling. In this paper, we summarize and explore seven common arguments: uncertainty analysis is not necessary given physically realistic models; uncertainty analysis cannot be used in hydrological and hydraulic hypothesis testing; uncertainty (probability) distributions cannot be understood by policy makers and the public; uncertainty analysis cannot be incorporated into the decision‐making process; uncertainty analysis is too subjective; uncertainty analysis is too difficult to perform; uncertainty does not really matter in making the final decision. We will argue that none of the arguments against uncertainty analysis rehearsed are, in the end, tenable. Moreover, we suggest that one reason why the application of uncertainty analysis is not normal and expected part of modeling practice is that mature guidance on methods and applications does not exist. The paper concludes with suggesting that a Code of Practice is needed as a way of formalizing such guidance.

Irrigation and the Rise of the State in Hunza: A Case for the Hydraulic Hypothesis

The former princely state of Hunza (now part of Pakistan's Northern Areas District) commands one of the largest and most complex irrigation systems in the whole of the western Karakoram mountain range. Built during the 18th century, Hunza's hydraulic works contributed significantly to the emergence of this small Central Asian state. Few writers, however, have explored the role of irrigation in Hunza's political evolution. Müller-Stellrecht (1981:55) has made some passing observations about the economic importance of irrigation in her paper on traditional Hunzakut society, Kreutzmann (1988) has provided some historical facts concerning the building of the canals and the present-day water distribution system in Hunza, while the French geographer Charles (1985) presents a significant body of data on Hunza's hydraulic works, but entirely from a physical perspective. In this paper, which is based on ethnohistorical data gathered during field research in Hunza, in 1990 and 1991, I examine the role of irrigation in the process of state formation in Hunza.

The Hydraulic Hypothesis Revisited: Lake Titicaca Basin Raised Fields in Theoretical Perspective

Archaeological research over several decades has documented extensive areas of relict raised fields throughout the Americas. The existence of huge tracts of fields utilized in a context of complex political evolution has fostered a debate similar to the “hydraulic hypothesis” controversy, originated by Julian Steward and Karl Wittfogel over a generation ago. In this paper I assess recent research and offer a model that is tested with settlement and demographic data from the Juli-Pomata area of Lake Titicaca in southern Peru. The key variables of the model are differential levels of surplus production, the control of domestic labor by elite groups, and opportunistic economic strategies by the elite. The Juli-Pomata data support a causal link between complex political organization and the existence of labor-intensive raised-field systems. The simplistic explanations of the hydraulic hypothesis remain untenable, but I argue that more subtle causal relationships exist between political centralization and agricultural intensification.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Chayanov's Theory

Previous articleNext article No AccessA Cross-Cultural Examination of Chayanov's TheoryMichael ChibnikMichael Chibnik Search for more articles by this author Corrections to this articleErratumPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 25, Number 3Jun., 1984 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/203141 Views: 6Total views on this site Citations: 13Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1984 The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Carol Scott Leonard Chayanov: The Reception of an Early Soviet Agricultural Economist, (Oct 2022): 249–265.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99052-7_12James W. Wood The Biodemography of Subsistence Farming, 10 (Apr 2020).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781139519700Michael R. Coughlan, Ted L. Gragson An Event History Analysis of Parcel Extensification and Household Abandonment in Pays Basque, French Pyrenees, 1830–1958 AD, Human Ecology 44, no.11 (Jan 2016): 65–80.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9808-yWilliam A. Longacre, Taylor R. Hermes Rice farming and pottery production among the Kalinga: New ethnoarchaeological data from the Philippines, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 38 (Jun 2015): 35–45.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2014.09.005Shinsuke Tomita, Daniel M. Parker, Julia A. Jennings, James Wood, Kathleen A O'Connor Household Demography and Early Childhood Mortality in a Rice-Farming Village in Northern Laos, PLOS ONE 10, no.33 (Mar 2015): e0119191.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119191Dougald J.W. O’Reilly Increasing complexity and the political economy model; a consideration of Iron Age moated sites in Thailand, Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 35 (Sep 2014): 297–309.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2014.06.007Edward J. Hedican Ways of Knowing in Anthropology: Alexandre Chayanov and the Perils of “Dutiful Empiricism”, History and Anthropology 20, no.44 (Dec 2009): 419–433.https://doi.org/10.1080/02757200903219621Stephen G. Perz, Robert T. Walker, Marcellus M. Caldas Beyond Population and Environment: Household Demographic Life Cycles and Land Use Allocation Among Small Farms in the Amazon, Human Ecology 34, no.66 (Jul 2006): 829–849.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9039-8Edward H. Hagen, H. Clark Barrett, Michael E. Price Do human parents face a quantity-quality tradeoff?: Evidence from a Shuar community, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 130, no.33 (Jul 2006): 405–418.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.20272E. A. Hammel Chayanov revisited: A model for the economics of complex kin units, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, no.1919 (May 2005): 7043–7046.https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0501987102Charles Stanish The Hydraulic Hypothesis Revisited: Lake Titicaca Basin Raised Fields in Theoretical Perspective, Latin American Antiquity 5, no.44 (Jan 2017): 312–332.https://doi.org/10.2307/971820Michael D. Schulman, Patricia M. Garrett, Barbara A. Newman Differentiation and survival among North Carolina smallholders: An empirical perspective on the Lenin‐Chayanov debate, The Journal of Peasant Studies 16, no.44 (Feb 2008): 523–541.https://doi.org/10.1080/03066158908438405Scott Cook, Leigh Binford Petty Commodity Production, Capital Accumulation, and Peasant Differentiation: Lenin vs. Chayanov in Rural Mexico, Review of Radical Political Economics 18, no.44 (Aug 2016): 1–31.https://doi.org/10.1177/048661348601800401Related articlesErratum19 Oct 2015Current Anthropology

Did ice streams carve martian outflow channels?

Outflow channels on Mars1 are long sinuous linear depressions that occur mostly in the equatorial area (±30° lat.). They differ from small valley networks2 by being larger and arising full born from chaotic terrains. Outflow channels resemble terrestrial stream beds, and their origin has generally been attributed to water3–5 in catastrophic floods6,7 or mudflows8. The catastrophic-flood hypothesis is derived primarily from the morphological similarities of martian outflow channels and features created by the catastrophic Spokane flood that formed the Washington scablands. These similarities have been documented extensively3,6,7, but differences of scale remain a major problem: martian channel features are on the average much larger than their proposed terrestrial analogues. We examine here the problem of channel origin from the perspective of erosional characteristics and the resultant landf orms created by former and present-day ice streams and glaciers on Earth. From morphologic comparisons, an ice-stream origin seems equally well suited to explain the occurrences and form of the outflow channels on Mars, and in contrast with the hydraulic hypothesis, ice streams and ice sheets produce terrestrial features of the same scale as those observed on Mars.

Multivariate empirical test of the Leopold and Miller stream order–hydraulic geometry hypothesis

The relationship between stream order and hydraulic geometry was tested using multivariate discriminant analysis. Data on the hydraulic geometry variables were collected for 103 streams of order 3 through 6 in the Pecatonica River drainage network in southwestern Wisconsin. The results indicate that the relationship is not as strong as suggested by L. R. Leopold and J. P. Miller. Channel width, depth, and gradient appear to account for the existing strength, whereas velocity and roughness make only a negligible contribution.

Irrigation and Community in the Central Peruvian Highlands

Irrigation in Quinua is an adaptation of high altitude agriculture, and its regulation and celebration are significant aspects of the political and ritual life of the community. Comparative data suggest that similar relationships are widespread in Peru. The information from Quinua is used to illuminate the water needs of Huari, an important archaeological site located in the community. The significance of the data for the hydraulic hypothesis of Wittfogel and Steward is discussed.