History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen

Ingrid Hehmeyer, associate professor of history of science and technology at Ryerson University, Toronto (Canada), received her doctorate in agriculture in 1988 and a master of science degree (equivalent) in pharmacy in 1990, both from the University of Bonn (Germany). Amongst her numerous publications on water use and medicine is Herbal Medicine in Yemen: Traditional Knowledge and Practice, and Their Value for Today’s World (ed., with H. Schönig, Leiden, Brill, 2012).

“This dissertation publication illuminates more than just Old South Arabian names of animals, plants, stones and metals. It also is an excellent source for zoological, botanical and ethnographic data [...] It is well-conceived, the product of discipline and years of research.” Paul A. Yule in Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes 110 (2020) “A History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen offers interesting insights into ancient, medieval, and premodern water access practices and various imaginaries of forms of water. Water integrates into people’s lives and fuses with people’s sociocultural and religious norms. It is a stimulating and elaborative read that brings out the totality of water as a resource and its political, economic, and sociocultural facets both in their simple and complex forms. Hehmeyer’s work is valuable for bolstering global studies of technology and puts people as users at the center of STS.” Jethron Ayumbah Akallah, Technology and Culture 63 (2022)

• AcknowledgementsA Note on TransliterationList of Figures and Tables Photo Credits and Permissions for Reproduction Introduction PART I Irrigated Agriculture in Ancient South Arabia: The Oasis of MāribIntroduction to Part I Case Study 1: Agricultural Practices in the Controlled Irrigation Network of Ancient Mārib PART IIThe City of Zabīd (Founded 820 ce) and its Agricultural Hinterland before the First Ottoman Conquest in 1539Introduction to Part IICase Study 2: Sayl Irrigation in the Wādī Zabīd Case Study 3: The Importance of the Agricultural Hinterland to Pre-Ottoman Zabīd Case Study 4: Engineered Water Systems in the Wādī Zabīd Case Study 5: Water and Waste in the City of Zabīd PART III Water and Settlement on the Coastal Plain of Southern Yemen: The Example of Ghayl Bā WazīrIntroduction to Part III Case Study 6: Tapping Underground Water: The Maʿyān System of Ghayl Bā WazīrPART IVWater-Storage Systems in the Western Highlands of Yemen: The Cisterns of al-JabīnIntroduction to Part IVCase Study 7: The Study and Restoration of Birkat ʿĀṭif, a Public Cistern in al-Jabīn PART VWater and Religious MagicIntroduction to Part V Case Study 8: Water and Religious Magic Concluding RemarksGlossaryWorks CitedIndex