Table Of ContentWATER ENGINEERING IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
To my brother, Walter H. and parents Walter C. and Johanna
E. Ortloff—your unbounded encouragement to explore man’s
engineering creations in my early years ultimately led to this book.
Water Engineering in the
Ancient World
Archaeological and Climate Perspectives on
Societies of Ancient South America,
the Middle East, and South-East Asia
CHARLES R. ORTLOFF
1
3
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Contents
Introduction 1
1. Ancientpre-ColumbianPeru,Bolivia andMesoamerica 11
1.1 Canalsystemsofpre-ColumbianPeru:theChicama–Moche
IntervalleyCanalandtheMocheintravalley
irrigationsystem,800–1450ce 11
1.2 TiwanakuraisedWeldagricultureonthePampaKoani,
Bolivia,600–1100ce 84
1.3 FlooddefensivesystemsoftheHoyaHondadaaqueduct
intheJequetepequeValley 111
1.4 Thecanalandterraceagriculturalsystemofthe
Tiwanaku–WaricoloniesintheMoqueguaValley,
Peru,300–1000ce 124
1.5 TheagriculturalsystemofCaral—theoldestcityof
Peru,3000bce 133
1.6 AmathematicalmodelofhydraulicsocietiesinAncientPeru 151
1.7 Agriculturalstrategiesandsustainability inpre-Columbian
SouthAmerica 184
1.8 TheMayaCanalandagriculturalsystematKaminalJuyu,
Guatemala,300bce–900ce 223
1.9 Technicaltransferconsiderations 237
2. TheAncientMiddleEast 244
2.1 ThewatersupplyanddistributionsystemoftheNabataean
CityofPetra(Jordan),300bce–300ce 244
2.2 TheinvertedsiphonatAspendos,Turkey 278
2.3 ThewatersupplyanddistributionsystemofEphesos,Turkey 295
2.4 WatercontroldevicesintheHellenisticcityofPriene
(Turkey),300bce–100ce 338
2.5 Thereservoirandmultiplesluicegatewaterreleasesystem
atRomanCaesarea(Israel),6bce–300ce 350
3. AncientSouth-EastAsia 358
3.1 TheBaraysofAngkorWat,Cambodia,800–1432ce 358
3.2 TheirrigationandterracericecultivationsystemsofBali,
Indonesia,1500–2005ce 376
vi Contents
4. HydraulicEngineeringandWaterManagementStrategiesof
AncientSocieties 383
4.1 OldWorld,NewWorld,andSouth-EastAsiancomparisons 383
5. EnvironmentalandClimatePerspectivesonNewWorld,Old
World,andSouth-EastAsianSocieties’Achievementsin
theHydraulicSciences 394
5.1 FinalreXections 394
5.2 Lessonsfor themodernworld 400
Bibliography 406
Index 421
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank his many colleagues who shared explorations,
inspirations,ideas,anddiscoveriesatWeldsitesaroundtheworldtoproduce
thenarrativesandconclusionsinterwovenintothechaptersinthisbook.For
archaeological work in Peru and Bolivia over the past 25 years, Dr Michael
MoseleyoftheUniversityofFloridaandDrAlanKolataoftheUniversityof
Chicago played major discovery and collaborative roles in Moche, Casma,
Jequetepeque, and Moquegua Valley projects on coastal Peru and the high-
land altiplano site of Tiwanaku in Bolivia. Dr Ruth Shady de Sol´ıs provided
site access and valuable background information for work done at Caral in
Peru.DrsM.BinfordandM.BrenneroftheUniversityofFloridainGaines-
ville provided valuable research insights related to raised Weld agriculture of
the Tiwanaku civilization in Bolivia. Dr Adonis Kassinos of BAE Systems
deservesthanksforhiscontributionstoanalysisandmodellingworkdoneon
the water systems of the Jequetepeque Valley in Peru as well as the Roman
siphon system located at Aspendos in Turkey. Dr P. Kessener also shared his
measurement data of the Aspendos siphon, whichwas vital to the construc-
tion of computer models. Dr Lonnie Thompson of the Byrd Polar Research
InstituteattheOhioStateUniversity providedpre-publicationdatarelevant
to Peru’s long-term climate history, which proved invaluable to understand
developments in Peruvian prehistory. Drs Stephan Karweise and Fritz
Krinzinger, formerdirectors of the Austrian Archaeological Institute’s Ephe-
sosprojectinTurkey,providedaccesstothesiteofEphesosinTurkeyaswell
asinformationregardingthesite’shistoryandexcavationresults.Ing.Gilbert
Wiplinger of the O¨AI shared his extensive Weld and excavation expertise on
Ephesian water systems derived from his many years of Weld operations at
Ephesos. Ms M. Natoli provided assistance in work related to the Ephesian
theatrewatersupplysystem.DrDoraCrouch,mypartnerandWeldcolleague
for many years on projects in Ephesos and Priene, shared her many years of
accumulated knowledge and Weld discoveries, and added valuable informa-
tion to text material derived from her profound knowledge of historical
informationonMiddleEastsites.DrsT.TsukandJ.Pelegprovidedvaluable
information regarding the dam system at Caesarea in Israel. Work done at
Kaminal Juyu in Guatemala derived from a special project with Dr Marion
Popenoe de Hatch and information sharing sessions with Dr Ed Shook in
Antigua, Guatemala. For work at Petra in Jordan, Dr P. Hammond of the
viii Acknowledgements
University of Utah and Dr M. Joukowsky of Brown University graciously
shared information regarding temple excavations in the city centre area.
Further thanks to Dr Alan Kolata for introducing me to the water systems
ofAngkorinCambodiaandforthemanyyearsofcollaborativeworkthatlie
aheadinthatareatouncoverthetruenatureoftheKhmercivilization’swater
systems and agricultural base. Further thanks for developing many of the
graphicsinthisbookareduetoSusanDingaandEdBellandi(BAESystems),
who helped process and improve many of the Wgures found within the
chaptersrelatedtoSouthAmericanandMiddleEasternsites.
While the many contributions to this work given by my colleagues and
associates over the years are well integrated into the text, and my profound
gratefulness for years of association and discovery proceeding from their
contributions is hereby acknowledged, the responsibility for any oversights
anderrorsis,ofcourse,entirely mine.
Introduction
Thepurposeofthisbookissix-fold:
. tointroducethetechnicaladvancesandhistoricaldevelopmentofselected
irrigation-based, hydraulic societies of the pre-Columbian New World
(Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala) and describe their contributions to the
history of the hydraulic sciences; to record the Wnal testament from sites
now destroyed by modern development or natural erosion processes that
containinformationontechnologyachievements
. to address open questions in the archaeological literature regarding
hydraulic and hydrological issues for Old World, New World, and South-
EastAsiansocietieswithnew informationandresearchresultsfromcom-
putational Xuid dynamics (CFD) computer modelling studies; to present
Wndingsrelevanttohydraulicsciencesfromsitesnotpreviouslyreportedin
theliterature
. to introduce new Wndings from analysis of selected water systems of
the ancient Old World and South-East Asia (speciWcally Petra, Ephesos,
Priene, Aspendos,Caesarea,AngkorWat, andBali)related toinnovations
inhydraulicstechnology
. topresentmathematicalmodelsandexamplesoftheworkingdynamicsof
NewWorldhydraulicsocietiesthat show that theirunderlyingactions are
basedonlogicaleconomicandengineering principlesthatmaximizefood
resourcescommensuratewithpopulationgrowthandclimaticchallenges
. toshowthatancientNewWorldsocietiesinstalledandmanagedurbanand
agriculturalwatersystemsbasedonsoundengineeringprinciplesthattook
into account climate variations (Xoods and droughts) and developed
defensivehydraulicstrategiestocombattheirnegativeeVects
. toprovideinsightintothethoughtprocessesofthetechnocratsofancient
societies responsible for agricultural development and use of land and
water resources through application of engineering principles (as they
understood them); to discuss facets of their administrative structure and
politicaleconomy,andshowthattechnicalinnovationalteredthehistorical
developmentofsocietiesthroughincreasedeconomicadvantages.
