Canal irrigation

What it is

Canals diverting water from streams at the foot of the Zagros to the fields, allowing cultivation where rainfall is insufficient. It opens the Mesopotamian alluvial plain to agriculture and, with it, to the city.

Independent irrigation in New Guinea (Kuk, ditches), in the Zaña Valley (Peru, c. 4700 BCE), at Mehrgarh, and in Egypt (the Scorpion King macehead, c. 3100 BCE).

What it led to

• Colonisation of the irrigated plain of southern Mesopotamia (Ubaid, Uruk)
• High, predictable yields sustaining temples, cities and the state
• Collective water management, disputes over its allocation and long-term salinisation

Built on

• Barley domesticationc. 8500 BCE
• Wetland drainage horticulture (taro, banana)c. 8000 BCE
• Dug water wellc. 8000 BCE
• Polished stone hoec. 7000 BCE

Made possible

• Platform temple (proto-ziggurat)c. 5300 BCE
• Irrigated paddy fieldc. 4200 BCE
• City and urbanismc. 3700 BCE
• Gravity dam and water harvesting systemc. 3500 BCE
• Great Dam of Maribc. 700 BCE
• Persian four-part garden (Pasargadae)c. 546 BCE
• Andean agricultural terraces (andenes)c. 500 BCE
• Kyaukse irrigation systemc. siglos IX-XI
• Karakum Canal1954-1988
• Water dam
• Urban platform temple

Links

Sources✓ verified 2026-09-25

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choga_Mami