A UNIQUE PREHISTORIC IRRIGATION PROJECT 1 



By Henry C. Shetkonb 



Director, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society 

 Columbus, Ohio 



[With 5 plates] 



Intentional diversion of water from its natural channels, for the 

 purpose of irrigating regions of inadequate rainfall, is widespread 

 in time and space. Usually, however, it is thought of as something 

 of an innovation and as of more or less local significance. 



Inhabitants of humid areas are likely to underestimate the very 

 considerable portion of the earth's surface where the natural supply 

 of moisture is insufficient to meet the needs of agriculture and other 

 human economic requirements. In the United States alone virtually 

 one-half the land area, westward from its longitudinal center, is 

 arid or semi arid, as are vast areas in Mexico and South America. 



Much of the Old World, particularly those countries adjacent to the 

 Mediterranean and in the Near East, where ancient civilizations orig- 

 inated and flourished, are arid and desertlike. The valleys of the 

 Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Nile are classical examples of the 

 dependence of life on the natural or induced overflow of these great 

 river systems. 



The importance of water — and the tragedy of too much or too 

 little — are reflected in the early literature, both sacred and profane, 

 from the time of the Babylonian poet-philosophers downward through 

 the centuries. An outstanding record of excessive rainfall is that 

 of the Noachian flood ; a minor example may be found today in the rain 

 belt where someone, perhaps with a picnic in prospect, hopes that 

 tomorrow may be fair! In between, the annals of virtually every 

 people contain legends of floods and consequent devastation. Because 

 of insufficient rainfall Moses, leading the Children of Israel back 

 to the homeland, smites the rock, that they may drink ; and the Arab 



1 Address of the retiring president of the Ohio Academy of Science, delivered at the 

 annual meeting of the Academy held in Columbus, Ohio, May 5, 1944. Reprinted by 

 permission from The Ohio Journal of Science, vol. 44, No. 5, September 1944. 



379 



