A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Water management in late antique North Africa: agricultural irrigation
Abstract In 1984 Brent Shaw looked at a number of issues connected with water management for irrigation in North Africa in his paper ‘Water and society in the ancient Maghrib: Technology, property and development.’ This study greatly improved our understanding of water management and exploitation in rural areas of Roman North Africa, but some of Shaw’s conclusions need to be reconsidered, particularly with reference to archaeological evidence. Important questions that need to be addressed are how water was exploited for agricultural production, and who was responsible for this; and whether or not there was a conscious policy to develop Africa’s agricultural potential either through the extension of an existing hydraulic technology or through the introduction of new water technologies. The paper investigates these problems by analysing archaeological evidence from the Kasserine survey and in particular the data from irrigation systems in the uplands and lowlands. The main focus is on late antiquity and the transition from the Roman to Vandal periods, tracing continuity in the exploitation of land and irrigation technologies. By combining the archaeology with ancient texts, and in particular a Vandal-period archive of private documents, the so-called ‘Albertini Tablets’, this investigation examines irrigation systems and the private use of water in the light of Roman legislation.
Water management in late antique North Africa: agricultural irrigation
Abstract In 1984 Brent Shaw looked at a number of issues connected with water management for irrigation in North Africa in his paper ‘Water and society in the ancient Maghrib: Technology, property and development.’ This study greatly improved our understanding of water management and exploitation in rural areas of Roman North Africa, but some of Shaw’s conclusions need to be reconsidered, particularly with reference to archaeological evidence. Important questions that need to be addressed are how water was exploited for agricultural production, and who was responsible for this; and whether or not there was a conscious policy to develop Africa’s agricultural potential either through the extension of an existing hydraulic technology or through the introduction of new water technologies. The paper investigates these problems by analysing archaeological evidence from the Kasserine survey and in particular the data from irrigation systems in the uplands and lowlands. The main focus is on late antiquity and the transition from the Roman to Vandal periods, tracing continuity in the exploitation of land and irrigation technologies. By combining the archaeology with ancient texts, and in particular a Vandal-period archive of private documents, the so-called ‘Albertini Tablets’, this investigation examines irrigation systems and the private use of water in the light of Roman legislation.
Water management in late antique North Africa: agricultural irrigation
Leone, Anna (author)
Water History ; 4 ; 119-133
2012-04-01
15 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
Water management in late antique North Africa: agricultural irrigation
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