Water, Life and Civilisation: Climate, Environment and Society in the Jordan Valley (International Hydrology Series)

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 4/21/2011
EAN 9780521769570, ISBN10: 0521769574

Hardcover, 520 pages, 27.7 x 21.8 x 3 cm
Language: English

A unique interdisciplinary study of the relationships between climate, hydrology and human society from 20,000 years ago to the present day within the Jordan Valley. It describes how state-of-the-art models can simulate the past, present and future climates of the Near East, reviews and provides new evidence for environmental change from geological deposits, builds hydrological models for the River Jordan and associated wadis and explains how present day urban and rural communities manage their water supply. The volume provides a new approach and new methods that can be applied for exploring the relationships between climate, hydrology and human society in arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world. It is an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students concerned with the impacts of climate change and hydrology on human society, especially in the Near East.

1. Introduction
an inter-disciplinary approach to water, life and civilisation
Part I. Past, Present and Future Climate
2. The present day climate of the Middle East
3. Past climates of the Middle East
4. Future climates of the Middle East
5. Connecting climate and hydrological models for impact studies
Part II. The Palaeoenvironmental Record
6. A review of palaeoclimates and palaeoenvironments in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean from 25,000 to 5000 years BP
7. Palaeoenvironments of the Southern Levant from 5000 BP to the present day
8. Using proxy data, historical climate data and climate models to investigate aridification during the Holocene
9. Palaeoenvironmental and limnological reconstruction of Lake Lisan and the Dead Sea
Part III. Hydrological Studies of the Jordan Valley
10. The impacts of climate change on rainfall-runoff in the upper River Jordan
methodology and first projections
11. Modelling Dead Sea levels and rainfall
past, present and future
12. The hydrology of the Wadi Faynan
13. Future projections of water availability in a semi-arid region of the eastern Mediterranean
a case study of Wadi Hasa, Jordan
Part IV. Human Settlement, Climate Change, Hydrology and Water Management
14. The archaeology of water management in the Jordan Valley, 21,000 BP (19,000 BC) – AD 900
15. From global climate change to local impact in Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan
ten millennia of human settlement in its hydrological context
16. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction at Beidha, southern Jordan (ca.18,000–8,500 BP)
implications for human occupation during the Natufian and pre-pottery Neolithic
17. The influence of water on Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age settlement patterns in the southern Levant
18. Modelling water resources and climate change at the Bronze Age site of Jawa in northern Jordan
a new approach utilising stochastic simulation techniques
19. A millennium of rainfall, settlement and water-management at Humayma, southern Jordan, 100 BC–900 AD
Part V. Palaeo-Economies and Developing Archaeological Methodologies
20. The reconstruction of diet and environment in ancient Jordan by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human and animal remains
21. Irrigation and phytolith formation
an experimental study
22. An investigation into the archaeological application of carbon stable isotope analysis used to establish crop water availability
solutions and ways forward
23. Past plant use in Jordan as revealed by archaeological and ethnoarchaeological phytolith signatures
Part VI. Society, Economy and Water Today
24. Current water demands and future strategies under changing climatic conditions
25. Water reuse for irrigated agriculture in Jordan
soil sustainability, perceptions and management
26. Social equity issues and water supply under conditions of 'water stress'
a study of low- and high-income households in Greater Amman, Jordan
27. The role of water and land management policies in contemporary socio-economic development in Wadi Faynan
28. Political discourses and public narratives on water supply issues in Amman, Jordan
Part VII. Conclusions
29. Overview and reflections
20,000 years of water and human settlement in the southern Levant
Index.