ALN logo; link to Arid Lands Newsletter Home page ALN No. 57, May/June 2005
Water efficiency II: Rural areas and agriculture

Addison, Figures 5a, b and c: Ancient Nabataean agricultural infrastructure

The Nabataeans were skilled in managing water resources for their city and the agriculture that sustained it. The photos at right and below right show a rock dam and a water channel carved in rock that were part of the city's water harvesting and irrigation system. Below, one of the many ancient rock walls with which the local farmers terraced their fields, allowing maximum efficiency of irrigation for each field. photo of ancient Nabatean check dam
photo of ancient rock terraces constructed by Nabataean farmers photo of Nabataean irrigation channel

[Back to the article text]

Link to ALN home page Link to index page for back web issues Link to index page for pre-web issue archive Link to ALN No. 57 table of contents