Athens Journal of History 2024, 10: 1-16

https://doi.org/10.30958/ajhis.X-Y-Z

Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

By Dilman Mohammed Sabir∗

Hunter-gatherer groups first began agriculture in Mesopotamia more than 12000 years
ago. Over time, these groups learned how to plant crops in Mesopotamia to produce their
own food. Each year, the floods of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates brought silt to the land,
a mixture of rich soil and tiny rocks. The fertile silt has made the region ideal for farming.
Though there was fertile soil in Mesopotamia, farming was not easy there. There was little
rain in the area. This meant that the levels of water in the rivers Tigris and Euphrates
depended on how much rain fell in the east, where the two rivers fell. Water levels were
very high after a significant amount of rain fell there. The floods damaged crops, killed
animals, and washed away houses, and the crops dried up when the water levels became
too low. The farmers realized that they needed a way to regulate the flow of the rivers.
Thus, in both the rainy and dry seasons, early farmers faced the difficulties of learning
how to regulate the flow of river water to their fields, and early settlements in
Mesopotamia were situated near rivers. They could not regulate the water, and flooding
was a big issue. Later, people constructed canals to safeguard houses from floods and pass
water to their fields. Mesopotamians used irrigation, a method of providing water to a
region of land, to solve their problems. They dug out large storage basins to carry water
sources to irrigate their property. Then they dug canals, rivers created by humans, linking
these basins to a network of ditches. These ditches supplied the fields with water. The
farmers constructed the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates in order to protect their fields
from flooding. Even when river levels were heavily irrigated, these built-up banks held
back flood waters, raising the amount of food farmers were able to produce. Farmers may
potentially generate a food surplus, or more than they need. Farmers have also used
irrigation for cattle and sheep to water grazing areas. Mesopotamians consumed a
number of foods as a result. There was abundant fish, meat, wheat, barley, and dates since
irrigation made farmers more productive, farming required fewer individuals. Some
individuals have been free to do other work. As a consequence, new occupations have
grown. People became crafters, religious figures, and government employees for the first
time. A division of labor is called the type of arrangement in which each worker specializes
in a specific assignment or task.

Introduction

The control of irrigation has been of classical interest to historians and

archaeologist in early complex societies Large-scale irrigation (construction/
operation, water distribution, dispute resolution) management requirements were
considered to be necessary for state development, as most early civilizations in the

∗
Teacher, Sulaimani University, Department of Social Sciences - College of Basic Education,
Iraq- Kurdstan.

1
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

Old World were located in river valleys. This study assumes that for the management
of large-scale irrigation systems, centralized control is needed, as claimed.
Irrigation was of great economic significance to many early states, as it played
a key role in agricultural intensification and surplus production.
Agricultural surpluses were the main source of wealth in early state societies,
and political power was largely based on the exploitation of these surpluses by a
small centralized party. In addition, agricultural surpluses were required to maintain
the very features of statehood, such as urbanism, full-time labor specialization, state
institutions, and status hierarchy.
Scholarly interest in the cross-cultural study of ancient irrigation has declined
considerably over the last few decades. As a result, several critical questions were
only partly answered. The study of ancient irrigation presents great opportunities
to understand the early states' socio-political and economic organization. We do
not know how states can presume or abstain from assuming control over irrigation
management, and even more importantly, why. Furthermore, in a cross-cultural
contrast, the implications of either option were not systematically explored.
Therefore, the object of this paper is to create an early Mesopotamian irrigation
system. The research is organized into certain parts, each discussing one of the key
elements of irrigation. The climate under which they occur, the source of water they
regulate, the kinds of crops they irrigate, the length of their use, and how they are
handled. The case studies discussed in this paper discuss the relationships between
water flow, the atmosphere and the agency of humans.
The control of irrigation has been of classical interest to historians and
archaeologist in early complex societies Large-scale irrigation (construction/
operation, water distribution, dispute resolution) management requirements were
considered to be necessary for state development, as most early civilizations in the
Old World were located in river valleys. Irrigation was of great economic
significance to many early states, as it played a key role in agricultural intensification
and surplus production.
Agricultural surpluses were the main source of wealth in early state societies,
and political power was largely based on the exploitation of these surpluses by a
small centralized party. In addition, agricultural surpluses were required to
maintain the very features of statehood, such as urbanism, full-time labor
specialization, state institutions, and status hierarchy.
Scholarly interest in the cross-cultural study of ancient irrigation has declined
considerably over the last few decades. As a result, several critical questions were
only partly answered. The study of ancient irrigation presents great opportunities
to understand the early states' socio-political and economic organization. We do
not know how states can presume or abstain from assuming control over irrigation
management, and even more importantly, why. Furthermore, in a cross-cultural
contrast, the implications of either option were not systematically explored.
The research is organized into certain parts, each discussing one of the key
elements of irrigation.

2
 Athens Journal of History XY

The climate under which they occur, the source of water they regulate, the
kinds of crops they irrigate, the length of their use, and how they are handled. The
case studies discussed in this paper discuss the relationships between water flow,
the atmosphere and the agency of humans.

Geography of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is a triangle that occupies an area of around 240,000 square

kilometers, so our study area is limited by arbitrary lines drawn between Aleppo,
Lake Urmiah and Shatt-el-Arab mouth. Cities such as Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Agade,
Babylon, Assur and Nineveh, all situated on or near the Tigris or the Euphrates,
within the boundaries of modern Iraq, are called Chaldaean, Assyria-Babylonia,
Summero-Akkadian or Mesopotamian civilization, according to the system of the
day, a culture that flourished within our triangle that was only equal to the
civilization of Egypt in quality and meaning. 1
Babylonia, the area between the Persian Gulf and modern-day Bagdad seems
an area with little diversity that relied on irrigation by the Euphrates and Tigris
rivers for its survival. The north was a desert plateau where agriculture was only
possible in the narrow river valleys, and downstream the rivers entered flat
alluvium, still had clearly defined channels, allowing for irrigation agriculture in
square. 2
Mesopotamia is the southwestern Asian region where the earliest known
civilization in the world developed. The term 'Mesopotamia' derives from the
Greek word meaning between rivers that refer to the land between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers, but the area can be broadly defined to include eastern Syria,
southeast Turkey, and much of the region that is now eastern Syria, Around Iraq.
This region was the center of culture in the Indian subcontinent, Egypt, and the
Mediterranean as the Indus Valley. 3
With hills and undulating plains in the north where wheat growing and cattle-
rearing could be practiced, the area is very diverse. The rivers are abundant in fish
further south, and the river banks, full of wild animals and birds, were once forests
of vegetation where lions roamed and wild boars could be caught. The rich
biodiversity may have drawn humans first to the Mesopotamian plain, the
southern plain is beyond the zone of rain-fed agriculture, but over the centuries,
the rivers have laid dense deposits of very fertile silt, and once this soil is brought
into ditches and canals, it proves to be a very desirable place for farmers for
materials including wood, stone, and metals. As far as archaeologists can say,

1. Roux G., (1992) ancient Iraq, third edition, penguin books, London, p.4.
2. Van De Mieroop, M. (2024). A history of the ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC. John
Wiley & Sons., p49.
3. Kuiper, K. (Ed.). (2010). Mesopotamia: the world's earliest civilization. Britannica Educational
Publishing, p18

3
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

farmers and fishermen began to settle the southern Mesopotamian plain around
5500 B.C. However, people have to look north and east, to the mountains. Over
time, some of their tiny villages have grown into large settlements. The cornerstone
of these classes was the temple of the town's patron god or goddess in menu-
mental buildings such as those found at Erode, Uric and Ur, the rich farmland
provided an extra amount of agricultural property and some of the wealth
produced was invested. Using the reeds and mud that line the river banks, temples
and regular households have been constructed. Centuries of renewal using sun-
dried mud bricks culminated in the high mounds, or the arenas and canals rising
overhead. It was ancient Greek explorers and historians who first gave the land the
name by which we It's known. Mesopotamia there was no name for the entire land
for the early Mesopotamians; instead, their conceptual horizons were limited to the
names of the towns and kingdoms where they lived. Today, much of the earliest
Mesopotamia lies within the boundaries of modern Iraq, with some parts of Syrian
and Turkish territories to the west and north. 4
There were many floods in Mesopotamia every year, Mud and clay deposited
by two great rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, made up the land. These twin
rivers descend from the northern mountains, cut through hilly grasslands to the
southeast, and finally cross the plain they formed to enter the Persian Gulf. 5
The Tigris and Euphrates both have their bases in mountains of eastern
Turkey and when they appear from the Taurus Mountains, the two rivers are
separated by some 400 kilometers of open plain from each other. 6
There were two primary rivers in Ancient Mesopotamia. These were the Tigris
and the Rivers of the Euphrates. In that part of the world, much of the land was
very dry. There, plants could not grow. But the land was fertile and rich between
these two rivers. It had brilliant soil for plant growth. People settled down and
founded towns there. For travel, rivers were also important. The inhabitants of
ancient Mesopotamia were able to get to other parts of the land using vessels. They
could buy and sell food with other people from other cities. 7

Tigris River

The watercourses that joint to form the Tigris River arise in high mountains
that rim Lake Van in northern Kurdistan. Separation Turkey, the Tigris touches the
northeastern border of Syria and then streams southeastward across Iraq. In Iraq it
is joined by branches from the east—principally the Great Zab, Little Zab, and

4. Bertman, S. (2003) Handbook to life in ancient Mesopotamia. Infobase Publishing, P4.

5. Loria, L. (2016) Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Beliefs, the Rosen Publishing
Group, Inc, p11.
6. Roux, G. op. ct. p5.
7. Klingel, C. F., & Noyed, R. B. (2003), Ancient Mesopotamia, Capstone, P.16.

4
 Athens Journal of History XY

Diyala. The Euphrates, west of the Tigris, runs in the same overall direction. In
ancient times the two rivers had distinct mouths. Now they meet in a swamp in
southern Iraq and form a single stream, the Shatt al ’Arab, which flows into the
head of the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, 1,180 miles (1,900 kilometers) long, is shorter
than the Euphrates, but it is more important commercially because its channel is
deeper. The Tigris was the great river of the kingdom of Assyria. The earliest city
of Assur, which gave its name to Assyria, stood on its banks, as did Nineveh,
Assyria’s splendid capital. 8

Euphrates River

Maps of the 3rd millennium B.C. channels show some Euphrates branches,
with the main channel probably passing through the Mesopotamia region during
the 3rd and 2nd millennia B.C., these channels formed the Irnina and Zubi
branches to the north and the Kish branch to the south. Although the history of
these channels is not known in detail, their presence is recorded from Akkadian
place names on clay tablets. It has, therefore, been possible to relate these place
names and their associated named channels to ancient levees evident on large-scale
topographic maps beginning about the first half of the 2nd millennium and ending
about 900 B.C., a gradual of these multiple channel networks took place. during the
Isin-Larsa and Old Babylonian periods in the earlier half of the 2nd millennium
B.C. a previously insignificant Babylonian branch became the most important of
the Euphrates courses, indicating further westward shift in flow Beginning in the
3rd millennium B.C., repetitive avulsions took place near Sippar/Fallujah, where
the Euphrates, called Purattum in Sumerian and Akkadian vocabularies, emerges
from its incised valley. From the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C., another
branch of the Euphrates, called Pallukkatu existed west of the Babylonian branch,
its position closely approximating that of the Hindiya branch of the modern
Euphrates. 9
The 1700-mile (2,700-kilometer) Euphrates is Western Asia's longest river. It
starts in eastern Turkey's high mountains, crosses eastern Syria, and then flows
through Iraq to the southeast. Much of the river's water is lost by evaporation and
use for irrigation due to Iraq's hot, dry climate. From the winter rains and snowfall,
the river gets most of its water. Only flat bottom edriverboats can navigate it. The
Tigris runs almost parallel to the Euphrates and together they form a broad,

8. Ali, A. A., Al-Ansari, N. A., & Knutsson, S. (2012), morphology of Tigris River within
Baghdad city Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16(10), P379.
9. Morozoya, G. (2005), A review Holocene Avulsions of the Tigris and Euphrates and
possible effects on the evolution of civilizations in lower Mesopotamia, Article in
Geoarchaeology pp402-423. April 2005, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 230035623

5
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

agriculturally fertile alluvial plain, a plain made of rivers deposited silt, sand, clay,
and gravel. Each year, there are two flood cycles. 10
The rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates begin in the Kurdistan Mountains and
flow southeast across the plains of Iraq. They joined together to build the Shatt-al-
Arab River there. Through the Persian Gulf, this channel stands on the banks of the
Tigris often referred to as "a civilization cradle." Civilization originated in the
valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers because this region offered abundant
resources, such as plants that grew well there and game to hunt. These rivers
would flood their banks in spring, and, as the floodwaters receded, the soil left
behind was rich in many nutrients required by plants to grow as more permanent
settlements were developed for religious and social reasons, changes in farming
methods and the growth of settlements were encouraged by rich soil and water
supply. The floodwaters enriched the soil often, but whether they were too high or
too low, they often disrupted agriculture. Over time, farmers have learned to
construct drainage ditches to direct the river's water to the fields, as well as dikes
to hold back the floodwaters and channel them to reservoirs for later use This was
very important because year after year the floods varied, so farmers learned to
monitor the unpredictable flooding and store food for potential use. It is necessary
to structure dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation ditches that individuals work together,
not only inside villages, but from village to village. This was the start of centralized
power.11
Mesopotamia region bounded by mountains in the north and east and desert
in the west and restricted in the south by the Persian Gulf. These provided water
for agriculture and daily life and were the main highways for communication.
Major environmental differences divided Mesopotamia into two diverse regions,
the northern plains of Assyria and the southern Babylonian alluvium. Further
differences split Babylonia into a northern river plain (Akkad) and southerly delta
plain. These geographical contrasts were mirrored by cultural, political, and
economic differences. Marshes separated Babylonia from Elam, the eastern alluvial
plain and head-to-head Zagros Mountains, a land whose history regularly
intertwined with that of Mesopotamia. At times, cities and states beyond the desert
and the mountains were also involved with Mesopotamia, while mountain and
desert fringes were home to tribal groups who regularly raided their settled
neighbors. 12

10. Sherman Holer, op.ct, 11.

11. E.D Hirsch E.D. (2019), Mesopotamia History and Geography, core Knowledge
programs, London, p.18.
12. McIntosh, J. R. (2005). Ancient Mesopotamia: new perspectives. Bloomsbury
Publishing USA, p9.

6
 Athens Journal of History XY

Temperate and Climate Change

One of the clear parallels is the atmosphere of the Mesopotamian plains. While
the winters are cold, often even freezing, with strong winds and rain, the summers
are so warm and dry. In order to explain these contrasts, the monthly mean
temperature in summer is about 95p and the temperature can rise to 50°C (120°F)
in July. The temperature can drop as low as -5°C in December and January, with a
monthly average of around 10°C (50°P). Monthly mean temperature in the north
in the summer is not quite as high as south, but the winters are not as high Since
November, frosts have been common and small falls of snow occur very regularly
in the northern plains. Every winter, the Kurdish and Zagros mountains are
covered in snow. As of November, frosts are common and small falls of snow occur
very frequently in the northern plains. 13
As far as the climate of Mesopotamia is concerned, it should be noted that there
has been no significant shift since very early times, according to geologists'
findings. When the melting snows in the mountains of Taurus and Zagros feed
their tributaries. Paradoxically, this also occurs between April and June, which is
also late for watering the main crop, normally harvested in April from an
agricultural point of view This was the climate regime and seasonal variations with
which, at the wrong time, the ancient farmers of southern Mesopotamia encountered
rain in insufficient quantities; river water, even at the wrong time, accumulated in
almost unmanageable quantities along the river beds. In the end, water had to be
supplied to the nation, simply through the objects of human ingenuity: a
complicated system of canals, reservoirs, dykes and regulator-sluices. 14

Water Resources

The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers would fill the mountains with water from
melting snow, so that the rivers would overflow. The floods have brought fertile
land to the province. However, the weather in the region was very hot and dry.
The ancient Greek historian Herodotus considered the gift of the Nile to Egypt, the
gift of the Tigris and the Euphrates to Mesopotamia; this was particularly true of
the alluvial plain to the south, where such staples of the human diet as barley,
sesame, and dates were nurtured by the well-watered fertility of the soil. Southern
Mesopotamia's alluvial and deltaic plains occupy part of the Mesopotamian
depression, a foreland basin confined to the northeast by the Zagros Mountains,
and a fine-grained alluvium underlies the Arabian platform to the southwest plain,
up to 200 km wide. Of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, Active channels, natural

13. Ibid.
14. Lloyd, S. (1978). The archaeology of Mesopotamia from the old stone age to the Persian
conquest Thames and Hudson, P, 17.

7
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

levees, crevasse splays, and flood basins compose the latest flood plain, as well as
regions now removed by avulsion or channel migration from active fluvial
deposition. Elian landforms, including sand dunes and deflation basins, often
show such areas and undergo intense salinization. The southern portion of the
plain, called "Ahwar," consists of fresh- and salt-water lakes surrounded by reed
marshes along with large levees and inland delta lobes. Natural levees stand up to
3-4 m above the surrounding flood basins, these marshlands currently occupy only
about one tenth of their former territory, drastically reduced in response to
irrigation practices, global warming, and different petroleum-related and other
industrial practices activities. 15
In the mountains of southern Turkey, the Euphrates and Tigris rise, flow along
the Mesopotamian depression, and join near its southeastern end, where they form
the Shatt al-Arab estuary of the Persian Gulf, together with the Karun River. The
Euphrates is an exotic, lower land Mesopotamia stream, while four major tributaries
are accepted by the Tigris. The Euphrates divides between Hindiya and Samawah
into two branches: Hindiya, the main channel, and Hill The desert area in the
western part of the lower Mesopotamian plain is characterized by relict alluvial
fans produced during a wetter climate mid-Holocene period.
In general, several ephemeral streams are perpendicular to the flow of the
Euphrates. 16 Fan piedmont stretches along the front of the Zagros Mountains along
the northeast edge of the plains. The climate is arid, with about 100-150 mm of
average annual rainfall. In January, temperatures range from 10 to 12.5°C to 34-
35.5°C in July. Winds blow from the north and northwest much of the year, with
some southeasterly winds from April to mid-June and from September to November.
Low-pressure areas and cold fronts are migrating carrying.
Most of the rainfall falls in winter and spring. Lower Mesopotamia was
primarily irrigated by water from the Euphrates rather than the Tigrist the annual
rainfall numbers above provide a rough indication of the variation that can be
expected between locations. In order to give a picture of the rainfall settings in their
region at the present time, the conditions of important excavated archaeological
sites nearest to these rainfall stations were involved. The reliability of the rain and
the time of year in which it falls is much more significant, although the amount of
rainfall per year is imperative. A region in Mesopotamia may have heavy rain for
one year, but the next may be very slight. 17

15. Morozoya, G. op. ct. pp402-423

16. Ellison, E. R. (1978) A study of diet in Mesopotamia 3000-600 BC and associated
agricultural techniques and methods of food preparation, University of London, P.7.
17. Ibid.

8
 Athens Journal of History XY

Agricultural Revolution

By the end of the Pal Neolithic, around 12,000 years ago, after hundreds of
thousands of biological and cultural advances, human communities were able to
build increasingly complex, sophisticated and specialized instruments by which
they evolved distinct modes of hunting, fishing, gathering, and improving predation
to the most diverse environments. 18
Was no coincidence that the first major civilizations in the world grew up
along broad river banks, The vital waterways were the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
in ancient Mesopotamia, what is now Iraq. The culture that emerged more than six
thousand years ago in the huge Tigris-Euphrates valley was more than just one of
the four great ancient river civilizations. It was also the first to spring into being
among them. In the valley, farms and villages appeared as early as 75 hundred
years ago. The inhabitants of Mesopotamia depended on the local rivers for life-
giving water, including the Chinese, Egyptians, and Harappans. Agriculture first
started about 9000 BC, or around eleven thousand years ago, in the northern
reaches of this region. Residents discover how maize, barley, lentils, cucumbers,
cabbage, grapes, and other crops can be produced. Livestock, sheep, goats, pigs,
and other livestock are also raised and bred. Together, these crops and animals
established such a broad and stable food system.
The source is that the Fertile Crescent people abandoned the lifestyle of
hunter-gatherers, they settled and founded tiny villages alongside their fields. A
few dozen huts made of thatch and other natural materials were present in each of
these tiny villages. the new agricultural lifestyle has proven so successful that the
number and size of the small villages in the northern sector of the Fertile Crescent
has gradually increased this population increase, in turn, encouraged society's
more restless members to migrate southward onto the plains of the great rivers.
They became the first of many waves of colonists who remained permanently in
the Tigris-Euphrates valley around 5500 BC. 19

Agricultural Techniques

For their many inventions, or new ways of doing things, the people of
Mesopotamia, especially the Sumerians, are remembered. For instance, new
agricultural techniques, such as irrigation, were created by early farmers, leading
to economic surpluses. The Mesopotamians used only basic farming technologies
at first. Early instruments were made of clay and copper, such as sickles and hoes.

18. Griffon, M. (2008), Marcel Mazoyer and Laurence Roudart: A History of World
Agriculture from the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis: London: Earthscan, 2007. P71.
19. Nardo, D., (2014) Life in ancient Mesopotamia, reference point press, San diago,
p.10.

9
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

Metalworkers began combining copper and tin over time to create bronze, which
is much stronger than copper alone, by 2500 B.C.E., bronze instruments such as
bronze-tipped plows were used by many farmers. Farmers could transform the soil
more quickly with stronger plows, which led to larger fields that yielded larger
crops. Next, by adding a funnel filled with seeds to the plow, farmers found a way
to plow and plant at the same time. The seeds were freed from the funnel as the
plow moved along each row. This agricultural technique has allowed more crops
to be planted by fewer farmers. The Sumerians also wrote farmers' advice. 20
Mesopotamia is in the Near East sub-desert region, with low rainfall and low
precipitation. High temperatures mean that irrigation is a must for farming to take
place on a reliable basis. Base the region we are concerned with is far beyond the
dry land cultivation limits proposed. 21 Irrigation can be described by all average
dictionaries as "the artificial application of water to land to assist in crop production."
That is exactly how it was used by the Mesopotamians, 7000 years ago. It is still
used in the majority of the world today, in a similar way. The techniques did not
really need to be improved by humans, since the irrigation method was effective
and simple from the beginning. Basically, it was necessary for large-scale farming,
especially in the middle of the desert. The only drawback was that, at least when
the Mesopotamians used it, it had to be used close to a water source. Irrigation, in
fact, was the first engineering spectacle that the Pulled off by the Mesopotamians.22
Mesopotamian developed irrigation to make agriculture. The earliest settlers
of the region drained the swampy land and constructed canals through the dry
areas in order to irrigate the land. This was achieved in other areas before the time
of Mesopotamia. What made Mesopotamia the home of the first culture of
irrigation is that the irrigation systems were constructed according to a schedule,
and to sustain the system, an organized workforce was required. The irrigation
system started on a small-scale basis and grew into a large-scale project that gained
more control from the government. Originally, Mesopotamia was swampy in some
places and dry in others the climate in most areas was too hot and dry to grow
crops without any assistance. Archaeologists have discovered 3,300-year-old plow
furrows lying near Ur in southern Iraq with water jars still lying by small feeder
canals. To keep it maintained, it also required a large amount of labor Water
distribution was developed by government and legislation to ensure that the
process was run smoothly. 23

20. Woolley,C. L. (1962)Mesopotamian Achievements, The Sumerians. W.W. Norton

& Company, P2.
21. Postgate, J. N., & Powell, M. A,(1988) Irrigation and cultivation in Mesopotamia,
Sumerian Agriculture Group, p1.
22. Mays, L. W., Irrigation Systems, Ancient Water Encyclopedia, JRank, www.wate
rencyclopedia.com/Hy-La/Irrigation-System-Ancient.ht.
23. Merle, S. (1991) Agriculture, crops, irrigation and livestock in Mesopotamia,
Geograhic, Smithsonian Magaznien, http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub363/item1
513.html

10
 Athens Journal of History XY

As far as the climate of Mesopotamia is concerned, it should be noted that,

according to the findings of geologists, since very early times, there has been no
perceptible change. The country has summer temperatures ranging from 130
degrees Celsius in the shade, and eight months without precipitation in the year.
Rivers are reduced to stagnant brown meanders in the waste of dried mud by the
end of the dry season. Then winter arrives, with pale midday sunshine and
freezing nights, bringing with it occasional rainstorms. But until spring, when the
melting snows of the Taurus and Zagros Mountains feed their tributaries, the rivers
do not obtain their maximum volume of water then came the spring floods that
were considered virtually uncontrollable a century earlier, and posed an ominous
danger to the inhabitants of the lower plain throughout history. Paradoxically, this
often occurs between April and June, which is too late to water the main crop,
normally harvested in April, from an agricultural point of view. This was the
climate and seasonal variations faced by the ancient farmers of southern
Mesopotamia: rain at the wrong time in insufficient amounts; river water, even at
the wrong time, concentrated in almost unmanageable quantities along the river
beds So, in the end, water had to be supplied to the country, simply through the
architecture of human ingenuity a complex system of canals, reservoirs, dykes and
regulator-sluices. This required a great deal of organization and a lot of patience as
well. The canals themselves filled their beds very quickly with silt, and required
repeated dredging as a result. And, as this process went on, the banks were too
large to throw the spoil out, and a new canal had to be excavated parallel to the
first one. 24
The first to build canals between two rivers that enclosed Mesopotamia, the
Tigris and the Euphrates, was the season. The canals brought water out of one river
and separated it into several agricultural fields, leading to another river. By digging
trench, these canals were built, then piling up soil on both sides, creating breaks in
it when necessary to water lands. Later on, their own levees were made by the
Sumer, essentially a larger canal that could hold even more water natural lives is
an embankment formed by floods, built up over time. They are perpendicular to
the surface of the sea, but then backwards arc to land The Sumer repeated this by
creating tiny walls with fir-hardening reeds, tying them together and packing mud
around them. 25
On the use of mathematics in the irrigation systems of the early civilizations
in Mesopotamia, Kazuo Muroi wrote that digging and maintaining canals was an
important activity for the rulers of Mesopotamia, as canals were not only necessary
for irrigation, but also useful for transporting goods and armies. Babylonian

24. Lloyd, S., op.ct., p11.

25. Maria, k. (2017), Ancient Sumerian Levees & Canals. Sciencing, Sciencing.com, 25
Apr. 2017, sciencing.com/ancient-sumerian-levees-canals-16874l. http://factsanddetails.com/
world/cat56/sub363/item1513.html

11
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

mathematicians may have been instructed by the rulers or high government

officials to measure the gross workers' salary expenses. 26

Difficulties in Building and Maintaining a Complex Irrigation

There were many problems facing the farmers who migrated to Sumer. The
unregulated availability of water was one of the main concerns. The rain and
melted snow poured from the mountains into the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
during the spring, causing them to flood across the plains. But no one could be sure
when the floods would arrive, exactly. If it happened after farmers planted their
crops, it would wash away their young plants. The sunbaked soil was dry and hard
as stone for most of the remainder of the year. Thick clouds of dust drifted across
the field from the heavy, powerful winds. Faced with these drastic seasonal shifts,
farmers had to work constantly to grow crops. They either had too little water, or
had too much water. They needed a way to regulate the water to succeed in
growing food, so that they would have a stable water source all year round. 27
Irrigation systems gave Sumerian farmers ample water to produce plenty of
food. But now a new issue has arisen: how to sustain the irrigation system outside
the limits of the village. As it brought water from the river to the fields, the
irrigation system went through several villages. It was important to continually
manage the system. The canals had to be frequently washed as they were clogged
with silt (very fine mud). The whole system could be spoiled by one clogged canal.
Farmers could not live separately, even in small groups, anymore. They were
connected by canals for miles around them they had to work together for the
common good. Steadily, to develop and sustain their complex irrigation system,
villagers began to rely on each other. Staff were potentially coming together from
various villages. To keep them from clogging, they cleared the silt off the canals.
To ensure the water levels were balanced, they scooped water from one reservoir
into another. 28

Conclusions

Mesopotamia, without an irrigation scheme, was not a suitable land for living
and farming. The northern portion was hilly, with rain coming in. There were small

26. Ibid.
27. Nicholas R. Magliocca & Erle C. Ellis (2016) Evolving human landscapes: a virtual
laboratory approach, Journal of Land Use Science, pp643-671, 11:6, 642-671, DOI: 10.1080/1
747423X.2016.1241314.
28. Ibid.

12
 Athens Journal of History XY

plains in the southern portion, or flat ground. On the plains between the Tigris
River and the Euphrates River, the sun beat down brutally there was slight rain, So
the Mesopotamians were farmers, demanding water from farms. When the rivers
flooded, they carried water to the plains, but the soil remained strong and dry for
much of the year.
As the full weather have become heater, these rivers furnished the lifeline for
growing and adorning civilizations which includes Mesopotamia as they presented
get admission to transportation, smooth and health, crop irrigation, food, and
defense. As early human beings have been skilled to conform and adapt to their
environments, mainly with the aid of using the use of water to serve a community,
they made social and technical traits which can be acknowledged together because
the Neolithic Revolution.
Irrigation system that water turned into delivered to great stretches of territory
thru a wide-branching canal network. Although the soil may be very fertile and
could produce in abundance with irrigation and the considered necessary
drainage, southern Mesopotamia has end up a land of lots that would maintain a
vast population. When the humans there reacted to the project in their situation,
the cultural hegemony of northern Mesopotamia, which may also have lasted till
round 4000 BC, turned into in the end overtaken through the south.
The development of irrigation, especially was economic development, attempts
to assess the technological performance and impact of ancient Mesopotamian
water technologies reveal that the task is very complex.
How was it
Bibliography

Ali, A.A., Al-Ansari, N.A. and S. Knutsson. Morphology of Tigris River within Baghdad
city. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 16(10) (2012).
Bertman, S. Handbook to life in ancient Mesopotamia. Infobase Publishing (2003).
Ellison, E.R. A study of diet in Mesopotamia 3000-600 BC and associated agricultural
techniques and methods of food preparation, University of London (1978).
Griffon, M. Marcel Mazoyer and Laurence Roudart: A History of World Agriculture from
the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis: London: Earthscan (2008).
Hirsch E.D. Mesopotamia History and Geography, core Knowledge programs, London,
(2019).
Klingel, C.F. and R.B. Noyed, R. B. Ancient Mesopotamia, Capstone (2003).
Kuiper, K. Mesopotamia: the world's earliest civilization, Britannica Educational Publishing
(2010).
Lloyd, S. The archaeology of Mesopotamia from the old stone age to the Persian conquest
Thames and Hudson (1978).
Loria, L. Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Beliefs, the Rosen Publishing Group, Inc (2016).
Magliocca, N.R. and E.C. Ellis. Evolving human landscapes: a virtual laboratory approach,
Journal of Land Use Science, pp 643-671, 11:6, 642-671, DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2016.
1241314 (2016).

13
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

Maria, K. Ancient Sumerian Levees & Canals. Sciencing, Sciencing.com. sciencing.com/ancient-

sumerian-leeves-canals-168741. http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub363/item15
13.htm (25 Apr. 2017).
Mays, L.W. Irrigation Systems, Ancient Water Encyclopedia, JRank. www.waterencyclope
dia.com/Hy-La/Irrigation-Systems-Ancient.ht.
McIntosh, J.R. Ancient Mesopotamia: new perspectives, Bloomsbury Publishing USA (2005).
Merle, S. Agriculture, crops, irrigation and livestock in Mesopotamia, Geograhic, Smithsonian
Magaznien http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub363/item1513.html (1991).
Morozoya, G. A review Holocene Avulsions of the Tigris and Euphrates and possible effects
on the evolution of civilizations in lower Mesopotamia, Article in Geoarchaeology
pp402-423, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/230035623 (April 2005).
Nardo, D. Life in ancient Mesopotamia, reference point press, San diago (2014).
Postgate, J.N. and M.A. Powell. Irrigation and cultivation in Mesopotamia Sumerian
Agriculture Group (1988).
Roux G. Ancient Iraq, third edition, penguin books, London (1992).
Van De Mieroop, M. A history of the ancient Near East ca. 3000-323 BC, John Wiley & Sons
(2024).
Woolley, C.L. Mesopotamian Achievements, The Sumerians. W.W. Norton & Company
(1962).

14
Athens Journal of History XY

Appendix. Mesopotamia Rivers

15
 Vol. X, No. Y Sabir: Irrigation System in Ancient Mesopotamia

https://images.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=Awriitf1pktmggMmryAPxQt.;_ylu=Y29
sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3BpdnM-?p=tigris+and+euphrates+mesopotamia
&type=br110dm66bs01&hsimp=yhs-002&hspart=btbar&ei=UTF-8&fr=yhs-btbar-002#id=5
3&iurl=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.britannica.com%2F39%2F89939-050-940CABCE.gif&action
=click

16