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The Florescence of Arid Lands in Mesopotamia, Elam,
and Central Asia:· An Historical Perspective 1
Jeffrey Zauderer
2
Abstract.--Great civilizations developed arid lands by the
extension and management of artificial riverine systems to
irrigate cereal cultivars. Areas formerly cultivated are today
unproductive, due to the collapse of riverine management.
INTRODUCTION
winter. The leguminous weed Scorpiurus was spread by
Parthian or Sassanian irrigation ( Helbaek 1969).
The broad framework for the development of urban
societies, and their blossoming into great civilizations
inarid and semi arid regions, rested upon the physical
systems and social organizations for cultivating cereals
(lrlams 1969, Wittfogell97l). Wild cereals grew in areas
receiving 400-500mm rainfall (Raikes 1965), and are
cultivated with less than lOOmm. The course of arid land
history is woven around the hydrologic and social management of artificially extended riverine systems into
fine grained alluvium, allowing for the intensive cropping
of more prolific introduced winter annuals (cereals), and
the loss of more nutritious but less prolific winter annual
legumes (Flannery 1971).
Spreading agriculture forced pastoralists to overexploit
palatable species. With the appearance of domestic wool
sheep, Stipa, a former forage plant for wild sheep, became
a noxious weed spread by clinging to wool, and shunned
because of its habit of burrowing into the sheep's skin
(Flannery 1971). This put more pressure on the winter
natural grass cover.
Salinity. --The effects of salinization and its historical
occurrence are discussed in detail by Jacobsen (1982).
The niches created by abandoned saline land greatly changed
the Mesopotamian biota; the original perhaps only visible
in pollen records (Flannery 1971).
IRRIGATED ARID LANDS
Irrigated Civilizations
Mesopotamia-Elam
Ecological Disturbance
Botanical.--Rainfed agriculture on steppes began with
the introduction of highland cereals into cleared land.
Such areas were often near marshes with Scirpus, and
posessed good drainage (Hole, Flannery, and Neely 1969).
Natural winter maturing vegetation was removed for crops,
but contaminants such as Aegilops, Lolium, and Avena
were also spread. Lolium is today a major lower Mesopotamian noxious weed (Helbaek 1963,1969, Adams 1965).
Native grass cover was replaced by Malva, Plantago,
Fumaria, Gallium, Lathyrus and vetches.
The natural cover of winter legumes on alluvium,
Astragalus, Trigonella, and Medicago, important food
sources before cultivation of cereals, were removed.
They exist on talus slope refugia sought by goats. Summer
maturing plants, such as Prosopis, spread to the steppe
and lower alluvium, becomming an important food source
(Helbaek 1969); their summer transpiration helped lower
excessive soil saturation ( Jacobsen 1982). Zizyphus
spread from upland forests after sufficient soil disturbance
and soil saturation. It produces a small fruit eaten in
1
Paper presented at the Riparian Ecosystems and
their Management conference, April 16-18, 1985 at
the University of Arizona, Tucson.
2Research Associate, Department of Arid Land
Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson.
463
Lower Mesopotamia. --The great city states of Southern
Mesopotamia depended upon canals fed by the Euphrates,
and later, the Tigris. The system of settlements followed
linear patterns formed by irrigation works. In Hammurabi 's time there were 6 major canals, used also for defense and transport (Jacobsen 1960). The canals of Mesopotamia connected the city-states into a network of international trade. Hostile relations between states existed
as a result of their efforts to accrete more land and water.
Slavery for irrigation and agricultural labor seems to have
been absent (Walters 1970).
The Neo-Assyrians.--The later Assyrian kings sought
to develope the steppe and plains north and east of the
Tigris: the Khosr system to Nineveh, along the Zab to
Calah, and the Bastura to supply Erbil. Figure 1 shows
Sennacherib 's water supply to Nineveh and the royal estate
at Khorsabad. Note the great diversion aqueducts and
canals carrying water from the Atrush River and the
waters from the Jebel al-Qosh. A storage dam above
Nineveh was tapped by qanats into the city.
1he land to the north and east of the Tigris at Nineveh receives more than 200mm rainfall, but the November rain is very unreliable. The Assyrians irrigated for
intensive development beyond its former use and natural
capacity. Sargon II (722-705 BC) writes of himself:
" He vowed to open up fallow land and plant orchards;
to gain a crop on steep rocky slopes; he set his heart
into wasteland that had known no plough under former
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Figure 1. --Sennacherib 's irrigation of Nineveh.
(lfter Oates 1968, with topographic additions)
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kings ... "(Saggs 1984). Nineveh is memorable for its
vast gardens and orchards supplied in the hot summer
by vast irrigation works. 'Vinter water supplied grain
and flax (or sesame) crops between Nineveh and Tarbisu (Oates 1968, Saggs 1984). The gardens contained
artificial mountains covered with trees from Armenia:
cypress, cedar, pistachio, stone fruit trees, mullberry,
and pleasant herbs. Sennacherib also gave plots of land
to citizens for orchard use (Luckenbill1926). Cotton,
also from the Ararat area was grown and woven into
garments (Luckenbill 1926).
Figure 2. --Sassanian irrigation of the Diyala Plain.
(After Adams 1965)
Wheat, barley and rice were main crops, and perhaps
sugarcane was grown close to canals. In Deh Luran,
qanats were used to tap alluvial water from the Mehmeh
and Dawairij rivers. The piedmont zone was improved
with retention dams and gabrbands. Captive Romans
may have been used and settled. With time, the nonnoble population became enserfed, leading to the Mazdakite revolts in the 580's. Reform granted varying
degrees of freedom to improve worker productivity
(Nomani 1976, 1977). The interior of Iran, with less than
50mm rainfall was opened to agriculture by the use of
qanats. Yazd until about 1960 was still completely dependent upon the management of qanats-underground
riverine systems (cf Bonine 1980).
Sennacherib undertook similar works for Erbil:
rechannelization of the Bastura tributaries, conducting
spring discharge to the city, a qanat originating below
the Bastura and discharging in the city, and a qanat
from the foothills of Qala Mortka to Erbil (Safar 1947).
The Assyrian development strategy was bound to its
military policies and drive to monopolize resources.
Oates' (1968) study indicates that Assurnasirpal 's development of Calah (ca. 879 BC) exceeded the local capacity
of agriculture to support its population-orchards were
grown at expense of grain. Surprisingly, date palms were
cultivated, and oaks for the galls used in tanning. Herding was an important part of the economy, possibly extended by improved water supply. Sennacherib 's Nineveh
was similar (Oates 1968). The population was supported
by the flow of tribute from the empire's periphery. Useful persons were deported to the C:i!pital, or settled in
garrisons in buffer areas. The Assyrians deported over
a million persons, who were given rights as citizens,
although farmworkers were sold with the land they worked
(Oded 1979).
The Sassanians. -- The Sassanian development of the
Diyala Plain is shown in figure 2. Most of the land is not
cultivated today (Adams 1965). Note the canals from the
Tigris and the Jebel Hamrin, which are also pierced by
a tunnel. Note, too, the diffuse linear branching pattern
of settlement. Wenke (1978) found that in Susiana, the
strategy was to concentrate the population into a great
city, Gundishapur, thus leaving the arable land less populated, but heavily cultivated by large royal estates.
464
Central Asia
Early Irrigation Civilizations
Southern Turkmenia-Kopet Dag.-- The pattern of
urban development and agriculture follows the move downslope with increasing irrigation as seen in Mesopotamia
and Elam. Up to the I millenium BC the piedmont zone
of the Kopet Dag and the Atrek, Sumbar and Chandyr
valleys in the west were extensively irrigated with simple
irrigation systems (fig. 3). By the beginning of the I
millenium BC complex irrigation with control structures
and extensive branching extended onto the alluvial plains
of the Murghab River, and the Misserian plain of the
Atrek. Figure 3 geomorphic information from Dolukhanov (1980) and Babaev & Magtimov (1983) show
the extent of ancient agriculture on the Atrek-Sumbar
alluvial plain, which was very active in the II and I
millenium BC. The predominate vegetation at that time
was ash and elm. Irrigation, with interruption by wars
continued into Timurid times; sometime by the 15th
century AD the area became predominately saline desert (Babaev and Magtimov 1983). Qanats were in use
in the early 1 millenium BC (Lisitsenia 1980).
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Figure 3.--The Kopet Dag region
Khorezem.--Figure 4 shows that the area up to the
Syr Darya was from around the II millenium BC to the
13th Century AD populated and irrigated. Figure 5, the
inset for figure 4, sho•.vs more detail: settlements following the myriad irrigation branches of the Amu Daryn.
Khorezmian irrigation in the I millenium BC extended
as far west as the Uzboy (Frumkin 1970). The rise and
decline of its agricultural civilization follows the turns of
empire. It is probably the area referred to in the Avesta
(Masson and Sarianidi 1972). In the 6th Century BC the
·e::
Sakas and Achaemenids brought iron; irrigation expanded
greatly, possibly with slave labor. The Greco-Bactrian
period was another high. The Kushan period was very
prosperous, declining with the clashes with the Sassanians.
The Afrighid period, 4th to 5th century and the Hepthalites,
who pushed out the Sassanians in the 6th century saw prosperity, until the advent of turkish nomads. Irrigation declined during the Arab invasion, and revolts against the
caliphate. In the lOth to 13th centuries irrigation flourished, and the area of the Samannids was a world center of
philosophy, commerce, tree fruits, mellons and famous
gardens. Prosperity waxed through the Karakhanids, until
Chengis Khan raided the area, and 170 years later, Timur
devastated the region (Frumkin 1970).
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Figure 4. --Khorezem and the Syr Darya.
(After Frumkin 1970)
Figure 5.-- Inset in figure 4. Ancient irrigation
and settlement in Khorezem. (After Frumkin 1970)
465
Khorezem and Turkmenistan are now covered with
takyrs, Haloxylon, Scirpus, Artemisia, saltwort, and
dunes that sometimes disclose the loamy humic horizons
of hurried civilization (Lisitsinia 1980, Dolukhanov 1980,
Frumkin 1970).
Large Scale Interactions
Helbaek, H. 1969. Plant collecting, dry farming, and
irrigation agriculture in prehistoric Deh Luran.
In Prehistory and human ecology of the Deh Luran
Plain, F. Hole, K.V.Flannery, and J. Neely.
Memoirs of the Museum of Anthropology, University
of Michigan, Number 1. Ann Arbor.
Hole, F., Flannery,K.V. and J. Neely. 1969. Prehistory
and human ecology of the Deh Luran Plain. Memoirs
of the Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
Number 1. 438p. Ann Arbor.
Irrigation Collapse
Yemenite Agriculture.-- The civilizations of Rome,
Persia and Yemen were powers in a world economy. Com- Jacobsen, T. 1960. The waters of Ur. Iraq 22:174-185.
petitive Roman shipping had drawn away the supporting
trade and capital of the caravan routes that provided the
Jacobsen, T. 1982. Salinity and irrigation: agriculture
support for agriculture and irrigation maintenance. In
in antiquity. Bibliotheca Mesqpotamica 14. 107p.
the 3rd Century AD the Marib dam failed and the resulting flood and erosion of thousands of hectares of arable
Lisitsina, G.N. 1980. The history of irrigation agricultland hastened the process of bedouinization (Caskel 1954).
ure in Southern Turkmenia. Soviet Anthropology and
The displaced tribes formed the Lakhmid and Ghassanid
Archaeology XIX (3-4) :350-358.
federations· the latter being a Sassanian vassal state,
the former 'opposed to them. The Tayy, also of Yemenite
Luckenbill, D.D. 1926. Ancient records of Assyria and
origin later became Sassanian clients. Wars between
Babylonia. Vol. II p. 160-163. University of Chicago
Rome and Persia, with increased nomadic pressure
Press, Chicago.
leading to internecine fighting and depredation, weakened
the buffer zone between Persia, Rome, and other nomads
Masson, V.M. and Sarianidi, I. 1972. Central Asia,
who in the 7th Century AD would sweep across MesopotSouth Turkmenia before the Achaemenids. London.
amia, Persia, into Central Asia, and forever change the
world political and religious configuration.
Neely, J. 1974. Sassanian and early Islamic water control
and irrigation systems on the Deh Luran Plain, Iran.
In Irrigation's impact on society, T .E. Downing and
M. Gibson editors. p. 21-42. University of Arizona
Press, Tucson.
LITERATURE CITED
Nomani, F. 1976. Notes on the origins and development
of extra-economic obligations of peasants in Iran,
Adams, R. McC. 1965. Land behind Baghdad: a history
300-1600 AD. Iranian Studies, IX(3-4):121-133.
of settlement on the Diyala Plain. University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Nomani, F. 1977. Notes on the economic obligations of
peasants in Iran, 300-1600 AD. Iranian Studies
Adams, R. McC. 1969. The study of ancient MesopotX(1-2):62-75.
amian settlement patterns and the problem of urban
origins. Sumer 25:111-123.
Oates,D. 1968. Studies in the ancient history of
Northern Iraq. 176p. Oxford University Press.
Babaev, A. and Magtimov,A. 1983. Landscape studies
London.
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Oded, B. 1979. Mass deportations and deportees in
the Neo-Assyrian Empire. 142p. Reichert,
Bonine, M. E. 1980. Yazd and its hinterland. 232p.
Wies baden.
Geographischer Instituts der Universitat Marburg,
Mar burg.
Safar, F. 1947. Sennacherib's project for supplying
Erbil with water. Sumer, 3:23-25.
Caskel, W. 1954. The bedouinization of Arabia. American Anthropological Memoirs 76:40.
Saggs,H.W. F. 1984. The might that was Assyria.
340p. Sidgwick and Jackson, London.
Dolukhanov, P.M. 1980. The ecological prerequisites
Walters, S. 1970. Water for Larsa. Yale University
for early farming in Southern Turkmenia. Soviet
Press, New Haven.
Anthropology and Archaeology XIX. (3-4) :359-385.
Watson,A. 1983. Agricultural innovation in the early
Islamic world. 260p. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge.
Flannery, K. V. 1971. Origins and ecological effects of
early domestication in Iran and the Near Es.st.
p. 50-79 In Prehistoric agriculture, S. Struever
editor. Natural History Press, New York.
Frumkin, G. 1970. Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia.
Leiden.
Wenke,R.J. 1978. Imperial investments and agricultural
developments in Parthian and Sassanian Khusestan~
150 BC to AD 640. University Microfilms International,
Ann Arbor. University of Michigan thesis, 1975.
Helbaek, H. 1963. Isin Larsin and Horian food remains
at Tell Bazmosian in the Dokan Valley. Sumer XIX:
27-35.
Wittfogel, K.A. 1971. Developmental aspects of hydraulic
societies, pp557-571 In Prehistoric Agriculture,
S. Struever editor. Natural History Press, New York.
466