Ancient Water Technologies

286 Pages·2010·13.315 MB·English

by  Larry W. Mays (auth.), L. Mays (eds.)

Ancient Water Technologies
Ancient Water Technologies
Larry W. Mays
Editor
123
Editor
LarryW.Mays
SchoolofSustainableEngineeringandthe
BuiltEnvironment
ArizonaStateUniversity
Tempe,AZ85287-5306
USA
[email protected]
ISBN978-90-481-8631-0 e-ISBN978-90-481-8632-7
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-8632-7
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010922811
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2010
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ofbeingenteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.
Coverillustration:AqueductnearMilas,TurkeyforsupplyingwatertoancientMylasa,photobyLarry
W.Mays,takenMay2009.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
Preface
Watertechnologybeganduringantiquitylongbeforethegreatworksofinvestiga-
tors such as Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Daniel Bernoulli (1700–1782).
ThehistoryofwatertechnologystartedevenbeforeArchimedes(287–212B.C.).
Moreover, great water projects were already built thousands of years before
the development of the concepts of conservation of mass, energy and momentum,
(whichareusedinpresent-daywaterprojectdesigns)evenexisted.
This book presents an introduction to ancient water technology. It is different
fromotherbooksrelatedtoancientwatertechnologiesandconcentratedonspecific
ancient civilizations, in that it presents a more universal picture of ancient water
technology.Itiswrittenbyauthorsfrommultidisciplinaryfieldsrangingfromengi-
neering, water resources engineering, hydrology to archaeology, architecture and
geology.
The entire spectrum of ancient water technologies can never be covered in
one book, let alone by one author, however, this volume provides an excellent
overview of the water technologies of many ancient civilizations. These include
the very earliest civilizations such as the Mesopotamians and the Indus Valley
Civilization,latercivilizationssuchastheMycenaeans,theMinoans,thePersians,
andtheEgyptians,followedbywatertechnologiesoftheGreeks,theRomans,the
Urartians,andtheNabataeans.Furthermore,watertechnologiesofancientciviliza-
tionsintheAmericas,includingtheHohokams,theAnasazis,theTeotihuacans,the
Xochicalcoans,theMayans,theAztecs,andtheIncasarealsocovered.
Each of the chapters presents a detailed discussion on various topics, one can
read for example about ancient Greek Lavatories, an analysis of the water system
ofaRomancity,effectsongroundwaterresourcesfromearthquakesinantiquityor,
thewatermanagementofacomplexinancientIran.
This book has grown out of a sincere passion to learn about water technol-
ogy developed by ancient civilizations. This has driven me to visit many ancient
locations,particularlyinItaly,France,Greece,Spain,andTurkeytostudyandpho-
tograph remains of the ancient water systems. Combined with this passion is my
interestinsustainabilityissues,inparticularwaterresourcessustainability,andhow
wemayusetechnologies(traditionalknowledge)developedbytheancientstohelp
alleviateandsolvesomeofourpresentdaywaterresourcesproblems.
v
vi Preface
Water resources sustainability is the ability to use water in sufficient quantities
and quality from the local to the global scale to meet the needs of humans and
ecosystems for the present and the future to sustain life, and to protect humans
fromthedamagesbroughtaboutbynaturalandhuman-causeddisastersthataffect
sustaining life. The success and/or failure of the ancient civilizations depended
upontheirawarenessandabilitytoworkwithwaterresourcessustainabilityissues.
Ourpresentdayfuturealsodependsuponsimilarissuesrelatedtowaterresources
sustainability. Studying ancient water technologies may provide answers for our
future.
Abookisacompanionalongthepathwayoflearning.Haveagoodjourney.
Tempe,Arizona LarryW.Mays
Contents
1 ABriefHistoryofWaterTechnologyDuringAntiquity:
BeforetheRomans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
LarryW.Mays
2 WaterTechnologyinAncientMesopotamia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
AldoTamburrino
3 WaterTechnologyinAncientEgypt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
LarryW.Mays
4 AncientGreekLavatories:OperationwithReusedWater . . . . . 67
GeorgiosP.Antoniou
5 WaterResourceManagementforIran’sPersepolisComplex . . . . 87
MahdiMoradi-Jalal,SiamakArianfar,BryanKarney,
andAndrewColombo
6 A Web Based Information System for the Inspection
oftheHydraulicWorks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
NikosMamassisandDemetrisKoutsoyiannis
7 ABriefHistoryofRomanWaterTechnology . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
LarryW.Mays
8 AnalysisoftheWaterSystemoftheAncientRoman
CityofApamea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
BenoîtHautandDidierViviers
9 WaterTechnologyintheAncientAmericanSocieties . . . . . . . . 171
LarryW.MaysandYuriGorokhovich
10 Ground Water Resources and Earthquake Hazards:
AncientandModernPerspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
YuriGorokhovichandLeeUllmann
vii
viii Contents
11 LessonsfromtheAncientsonWaterResourcesSustainability . . . 217
LarryW.Mays
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Contributors
GeorgiosAntonio ArchitectEngineer,Hellas,44IoannouSoutsou,11474
Athens,Greece,[email protected]
SiamakArianfar DepartmentofHistory,IslamicAzadUniversity,Sharhr-Ray
Branch,Tehran,Iran,[email protected]
AndrewColombo DepartmentofCivilEngineering,UniversityofToronto,35St.
GeorgeSt.,Toronto,ON,Canada,[email protected]
MahdiMoradi-Jalal DepartmentofCivilEngineering,UniversityofToronto,35
St.GeorgeSt.,Toronto,ON,Canada,[email protected]
YuriGorokhovich DepartmentofEnvironmental,Geographic,andGeological
Sciences,LehmanCollege,CUNY,250BedfordParkBlvd.,WestBronx,NY
10468-1589,USA,[email protected]
BenoîtHaut UniversitéLibredeBruxelles,Transfers,InterfacesandProcesses
(TIPs),ChemicalEngineeringUnit,Av.F.D.Roosevelt50,C.P.165/67,1050
Brussels,Belgium,[email protected]
BryanKarney DepartmentofCivilEngineering,UniversityofToronto,35St.
GeorgeSt.,Toronto,ON,Canada,[email protected]
DemetrisKoutsoyiannis DepartmentofWaterResources,SchoolofCivil
Engineering,NationalTechnicalUniversityofAthens,HeroonPolytechneiou5,
GR15780Zographou,Greece,[email protected]
NikosMamassis DepartmentofWaterResources,SchoolofCivilEngineering,
NationalTechnicalUniversityofAthen,HeroonPolytechneiou5,GR15780
Zographou,Greece,[email protected]
LarryW.Mays SchoolofSustainableEngineeringandtheBuiltEnvironment,
ArizonaStateUniversity,85287-5306Tempe,AZ,USA,[email protected]
AldoTamburrino DepartmentofCivilEngineering,UniversityofChile,Casilla
228-3,Santiago,Chile,[email protected]
ix
x Contributors
LeeUllmann DepartmentofArtHistoryandArchaeology,ColumbiaUniversity,
1190AmsterdamAvenue,NewYork,NY1002,USA,[email protected]
DidierViviers UniversitéLibredeBruxelles,ArchaeologicalResearchCentre
(CReA),Av.F.D.Roosevelt50,C.P.175/01,1050Brussels,Belgium,
[email protected]