LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ERIDU REGION: DISCOVERING THE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS OF ANCIENT FARMS

This paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary study of water management around the site of Eridu in southern Iraq, using remote sensing, field survey and scientific dating to investigate the chronology of irrigation technologies. Our area of interest (AOI) encompasses several crevasse splays and canals fanning out from the relict Euphrates close to Eridu. On satellite imagery, some channels appear to overlay others, representing a sequence of irrigation over time. These were mapped using high resolution satellite imagery including VISION-1 and imagery available via Google Earth. Fieldwork was then conducted in 2020, and samples were recovered from canals and the relict course of the Euphrates for AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) dating. The results span from the fifth to the second millennium B.C., and therefore are consistent with the occupation of Eridu, showing that the irrigation and field systems may have been part of the agricultural hinterland of the site.