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A History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen
Material Remains and Textual Foundations
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In A History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen, Ingrid Hehmeyer describes the three-way relationship between water, land, and humans from ancient to medieval and premodern times. As illustrated in case studies from four sites, individual ecosystems necessitated different engineering and management approaches in order to make good use of the scarce water resources for both irrigated agriculture and domestic consumption. Material remains and written sources provide the evidence for a comprehensive examination of continuity and change; technical and managerial struggles, failures, and successes; the question of technology transfer; the impact of the religion of Islam on water use and allocation; and peopleâs reactions in times of severe crisis.
Ingrid Hehmeyer, associate professor of history of science and technology at Ryerson University, Toronto (Canada), received her doctorate in agriculture in 1988 and a master of science degree (equivalent) in pharmacy in 1990, both from the University of Bonn (Germany). Amongst her numerous publications on water use and medicine is Herbal Medicine in Yemen: Traditional Knowledge and Practice, and Their Value for Todayâs World (ed., with H. Schönig, Leiden, Brill, 2012).
âThis dissertation publication illuminates more than just Old South Arabian names of animals, plants, stones and metals. It also is an excellent source for zoological, botanical and ethnographic data [...] It is well-conceived, the product of discipline and years of research.â
Paul A. Yule in Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes 110 (2020)
âA History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen offers interesting insights into ancient, medieval, and premodern water access practices and various imaginaries of forms of water. Water integrates into peopleâs lives and fuses with peopleâs sociocultural and religious norms. It is a stimulating and elaborative read that brings out the totality of water as a resource and its political, economic, and sociocultural facets both in their simple and complex forms. Hehmeyerâs work is valuable for bolstering global studies of technology and puts people as users at the center of STS.â
Jethron Ayumbah Akallah, Technology and Culture 63 (2022)
Paul A. Yule in Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes 110 (2020)
âA History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen offers interesting insights into ancient, medieval, and premodern water access practices and various imaginaries of forms of water. Water integrates into peopleâs lives and fuses with peopleâs sociocultural and religious norms. It is a stimulating and elaborative read that brings out the totality of water as a resource and its political, economic, and sociocultural facets both in their simple and complex forms. Hehmeyerâs work is valuable for bolstering global studies of technology and puts people as users at the center of STS.â
Jethron Ayumbah Akallah, Technology and Culture 63 (2022)
Acknowledgements
A Note on Transliteration
List of Figures and Tables
Photo Credits and Permissions for Reproduction
Introduction
âPART I
Irrigated Agriculture in Ancient South Arabia: The Oasis of MÄrib
Introduction to Part I
Case Study 1: Agricultural Practices in the Controlled Irrigation Network of Ancient MÄrib
âPART II
The City of Zabīd (Founded 820 ce) and its Agricultural Hinterland before the First Ottoman Conquest in 1539
Introduction to Part II
Case Study 2: Sayl Irrigation in the WÄdÄ« ZabÄ«d
Case Study 3: The Importance of the Agricultural Hinterland to Pre-Ottoman Zabīd
Case Study 4: Engineered Water Systems in the WÄdÄ« ZabÄ«d
Case Study 5: Water and Waste in the City of Zabīd
âPART III
Water and Settlement on the Coastal Plain of Southern Yemen: The Example of Ghayl BÄ WazÄ«r
Introduction to Part III
Case Study 6: Tapping Underground Water: The MaÊ¿yÄn System of Ghayl BÄ WazÄ«r
âPART IV
Water-Storage Systems in the Western Highlands of Yemen: The Cisterns of al-Jabīn
Introduction to Part IV
Case Study 7: The Study and Restoration of Birkat Ê¿Äá¹if, a Public Cistern in al-JabÄ«n
âPART V
Water and Religious Magic
Introduction to Part V
Case Study 8: Water and Religious Magic
Concluding Remarks
Glossary
Works Cited
Index
A Note on Transliteration
List of Figures and Tables
Photo Credits and Permissions for Reproduction
Introduction
âPART I
Irrigated Agriculture in Ancient South Arabia: The Oasis of MÄrib
Introduction to Part I
Case Study 1: Agricultural Practices in the Controlled Irrigation Network of Ancient MÄrib
âPART II
The City of Zabīd (Founded 820 ce) and its Agricultural Hinterland before the First Ottoman Conquest in 1539
Introduction to Part II
Case Study 2: Sayl Irrigation in the WÄdÄ« ZabÄ«d
Case Study 3: The Importance of the Agricultural Hinterland to Pre-Ottoman Zabīd
Case Study 4: Engineered Water Systems in the WÄdÄ« ZabÄ«d
Case Study 5: Water and Waste in the City of Zabīd
âPART III
Water and Settlement on the Coastal Plain of Southern Yemen: The Example of Ghayl BÄ WazÄ«r
Introduction to Part III
Case Study 6: Tapping Underground Water: The MaÊ¿yÄn System of Ghayl BÄ WazÄ«r
âPART IV
Water-Storage Systems in the Western Highlands of Yemen: The Cisterns of al-Jabīn
Introduction to Part IV
Case Study 7: The Study and Restoration of Birkat Ê¿Äá¹if, a Public Cistern in al-JabÄ«n
âPART V
Water and Religious Magic
Introduction to Part V
Case Study 8: Water and Religious Magic
Concluding Remarks
Glossary
Works Cited
Index
All interested in the history and archaeology of Arabia from ancient to premodern times, history of technology, environmental history, and anyone concerned with water and sustainability in the Middle East.