The Hydraulic State: Science and Society in the Ancient World

by Charles R. Ortloff

Overview

The Hydraulic State explores the hydraulic engineering technology underlying water system constructions of many of the ancient World Heritage sites in South America, the Middle East and Asia as used in their urban and agricultural water supply systems.

Using a range of methods and techniques, some new to archaeology, Ortloff analyzes various ancient water systems such as agricultural field system designs known in ancient Peruvian and Bolivian Andean societies, water management at Nabataean Petra, the Roman Pont du Garde water distribution castellum, the Minoan site of Knossos and the water systems of dynastic (and modern) China, particularly the Grand Canal and early water systems designed to control flood episodes. In doing so the book greatly increases our understanding of the hydraulic/hydrological engineering of ancient societies through the application of Complexity Theory, Similitude Theory and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis, as well as traditional archaeological analysis methods.

Serving to highlight the engineering science behind water structures of the ancient World Heritage sites discussed, this book will be of interest to archaeologists working on landscape archaeology, urbanism, agriculture and water management.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367858087
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	08/07/2020
Series:	Routledge Studies in Archaeology
Pages:	414
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Charles R. Ortloff is the director of CFD Consultants International and Research Associate in Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

Table of Contents

I Hydraulic engineering in pre-Columbian Peru and Bolivia

1. Origins and development of water science in the Andean world and societal development according to Modern Complexity Theory

2. Similitude in archaeology: examining agricultural system science in pre-Columbian Peru and Bolivia

3. Hydraulic engineering strategies in ancient Peru and Bolivia to manage water supplies for agriculture and urban centers

4. Climate change effects on sustainability of ancient Andean societies

5. New discoveries and perspectives on water management and state structure at AD 300-1100 Tiwanaku's Urban Center (Bolivia)

6. Inka hydraulic engineering at Tipon

7. 2600-1800 BC Caral: environmental change at a Late Archaic Period site in north-central coastal Peru

II Hydraulic engineering in the ancient Mediterranean world

8. Hydraulic engineering at 100 BC-AD 300 Nabataean Petra (Jordan)

9. The Pont du Garde aqueduct and Nemausus (Nîmes) castellum: insight into Roman hydraulic engineering practice

10. Roman castella: Calyx Quinaria and flow rate measurements

11. Observations on Minoan water systems in Crete

III Hydraulic engineering and social structure in Asian hydraulic societies

12 Hydraulic societies of Southeast Asia: ancient to modern

13. Conclusions