A History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen: Material Remains and Textual Foundations (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East, 129) (Arabic Edition)

In A History of Water Engineering and Management in Yemen, Ingrid Hehmeyer describes the three-way relationship between water, land, and humans from ancient to medieval and premodern times. As illustrated in case studies from four sites, individual ecosystems necessitated different engineering and management approaches in order to make good use of the scarce water resources for both irrigated agriculture and domestic consumption. Material remains and written sources provide the evidence for a comprehensive examination of continuity and change; technical and managerial struggles, failures, and successes; the question of technology transfer; the impact of the religion of Islam on water use and allocation; and people’s reactions in times of severe crisis.

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).