DOI article:
Meyer, Jørgen Christian: City and Hinterland: villages and estates north of Palmyra, new perspectives
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26423#0275
City and htnterland. Yillages and estates north of Palmyra. New perspeciwes
all the fertile soil from being washed away. Instead, some of the moist soil settles between the
walls ready for sowing.
Water management is also found in much drier areas such as the Egyptian desert between the
Nile and the Red Sea (Sidebotham 2003; Sidebotham et alii 2008: 21-25, 303-324), but the yearly
precipitation is extremely Iow (4-5 mm) and heavy rains are very unpredictable. Wells dug in or
close to the wadi beds, very often connected to a system of pipelines and cisterns, are the main
source of water for settlements, road stations and mining communities. They cannot sustain morę
permanent settlements based on agriculture or horticulture, which presuppose a much morę reli-
able and abundant rainfall.
Agriculture and horticulture in semi-desert areas, the bddiya, based on proper water manage-
ment, are much morę resistant to drought than their counterparts in regions with higher precipi-
tation, for example, the region around Aleppo mentioned above (Wilkinson 2003:172; Rosen 2007:
45). By this linę of thought, the dry steppe is not an agriculturally marginal area. Smaller variations
in the rainfall do not make a difference between a successful harvest and failed crop, as with dry-
farming, but they do affect the volume of the harvest.
The soil in Palmyrene territory is of very good ąuality, and if the runoff is led to ploughed
fields as a supplement to the rain, the dry steppe has great potential for agriculture (Jabbur 1995:
63) ,4 During heavy showers, some of the water will penetrate the ground, but most of the surface
is a hard impervious crust, baked by the sun, very often reinforced by a thin layer of grass-roots,
running the water into smaller wadis and ultimately into the larger ones, where it can gain
a tremendous momentum, washing away earth and Stones, removing not only tracks, but also
modern roads. If you are caught in a wadi, it is in fact possible to drown in the 'Syrian Desert'.
Water Management north of Palmyra
What is the evidence for water management north of Palmyra so far? Only a few sites in the eastern
part of Jebel Abyad depended on springs with aąueducts or wells with deep shafts dug into the
bank of the larger wadis, where geological features deep in the wadi bed create subsoil reservoirs
or lakes with water accumulated over a very long period. Surface runoff and water from smaller
wadis fed into cisterns seem to be the main source of supply at most of the settlements and military
installations, and Schlumberger briefly mentions cisterns in connection with the settlements in
Jebel Chaar (PNO: 131-132).
Most cisterns look like wells with stone lining at the top, but at a certain depth they widen up
and create bottle-shaped reservoirs. In Jebel Merah there is an example of a larger well-constructed
rectangular cistern with vaulted roof [Fig. 9], The capacity of a cistern is of course dependent on
the catch area and the actual yearly precipitation, but also the layout of the catch-arm system is of
great importance. The catch-arms, some of them over 100 m long, run diagonally up the slopes,
cutting across all the smaller wadis coming down from the summits, which can be embraced by
several overlapping Systems ensuring that all the rainwater is available for consumption [Fig. 8]
(Meyer 2008:10-16; 2009: 36-44,89-98). Water catching systems are not only found close to hilltops
and steep mountainsides, but also in the undulating landscape. Even smali differences in height
can be exploited with a difference of less than 2 m between the catch-area and the cisterns (Meyer
2009: 52-56). Many of the systems are still in use and maintained by the local Bedouins. High con-
centrations of ancient pottery around the cisterns with dug up debris from the underground reser-
voir reveal their ancient origin even if the catch-arms and the opening have been reinforced with
concrete in recent times (Meyer 2009:128).
So far the surveys north of Palmyra have not revealed any water management systems which
can be compared in sophistication with sites in North Africa, Negev or Hauran. It is very difficult
to find traces of ancient walls and dams across the wadis, if they have not been maintained up
through the ages after the heavy showers, and at other sites excavations are needed to reveal the
4 "I have seen lands subject to flooding by torrential streams that benefit some people engaged in agriculture by making
their lands morę productive than any irrigated lands of the finest agricultural districts".
273
Studia Palmyreńskie XII
all the fertile soil from being washed away. Instead, some of the moist soil settles between the
walls ready for sowing.
Water management is also found in much drier areas such as the Egyptian desert between the
Nile and the Red Sea (Sidebotham 2003; Sidebotham et alii 2008: 21-25, 303-324), but the yearly
precipitation is extremely Iow (4-5 mm) and heavy rains are very unpredictable. Wells dug in or
close to the wadi beds, very often connected to a system of pipelines and cisterns, are the main
source of water for settlements, road stations and mining communities. They cannot sustain morę
permanent settlements based on agriculture or horticulture, which presuppose a much morę reli-
able and abundant rainfall.
Agriculture and horticulture in semi-desert areas, the bddiya, based on proper water manage-
ment, are much morę resistant to drought than their counterparts in regions with higher precipi-
tation, for example, the region around Aleppo mentioned above (Wilkinson 2003:172; Rosen 2007:
45). By this linę of thought, the dry steppe is not an agriculturally marginal area. Smaller variations
in the rainfall do not make a difference between a successful harvest and failed crop, as with dry-
farming, but they do affect the volume of the harvest.
The soil in Palmyrene territory is of very good ąuality, and if the runoff is led to ploughed
fields as a supplement to the rain, the dry steppe has great potential for agriculture (Jabbur 1995:
63) ,4 During heavy showers, some of the water will penetrate the ground, but most of the surface
is a hard impervious crust, baked by the sun, very often reinforced by a thin layer of grass-roots,
running the water into smaller wadis and ultimately into the larger ones, where it can gain
a tremendous momentum, washing away earth and Stones, removing not only tracks, but also
modern roads. If you are caught in a wadi, it is in fact possible to drown in the 'Syrian Desert'.
Water Management north of Palmyra
What is the evidence for water management north of Palmyra so far? Only a few sites in the eastern
part of Jebel Abyad depended on springs with aąueducts or wells with deep shafts dug into the
bank of the larger wadis, where geological features deep in the wadi bed create subsoil reservoirs
or lakes with water accumulated over a very long period. Surface runoff and water from smaller
wadis fed into cisterns seem to be the main source of supply at most of the settlements and military
installations, and Schlumberger briefly mentions cisterns in connection with the settlements in
Jebel Chaar (PNO: 131-132).
Most cisterns look like wells with stone lining at the top, but at a certain depth they widen up
and create bottle-shaped reservoirs. In Jebel Merah there is an example of a larger well-constructed
rectangular cistern with vaulted roof [Fig. 9], The capacity of a cistern is of course dependent on
the catch area and the actual yearly precipitation, but also the layout of the catch-arm system is of
great importance. The catch-arms, some of them over 100 m long, run diagonally up the slopes,
cutting across all the smaller wadis coming down from the summits, which can be embraced by
several overlapping Systems ensuring that all the rainwater is available for consumption [Fig. 8]
(Meyer 2008:10-16; 2009: 36-44,89-98). Water catching systems are not only found close to hilltops
and steep mountainsides, but also in the undulating landscape. Even smali differences in height
can be exploited with a difference of less than 2 m between the catch-area and the cisterns (Meyer
2009: 52-56). Many of the systems are still in use and maintained by the local Bedouins. High con-
centrations of ancient pottery around the cisterns with dug up debris from the underground reser-
voir reveal their ancient origin even if the catch-arms and the opening have been reinforced with
concrete in recent times (Meyer 2009:128).
So far the surveys north of Palmyra have not revealed any water management systems which
can be compared in sophistication with sites in North Africa, Negev or Hauran. It is very difficult
to find traces of ancient walls and dams across the wadis, if they have not been maintained up
through the ages after the heavy showers, and at other sites excavations are needed to reveal the
4 "I have seen lands subject to flooding by torrential streams that benefit some people engaged in agriculture by making
their lands morę productive than any irrigated lands of the finest agricultural districts".
273
Studia Palmyreńskie XII