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The ancient Mesopotamians created a massive , advanced internet of canal to water their harvest more than 3,000 year ago , a new study has revealed .
Researchers discover one thousand of ancient irrigation canals up to 5.6 miles ( 9 kilometers ) long carved into the landscape near Basra in Iraq , which at the time was the Eridu region ofMesopotamia . Mesopotamians occupy this region along the huge Euphrates river from the 6th millenary B.C. ( 8,000 to 7,000 age ago ) to the other first millennium B.C. ( 3,000 to 2,000 year ago ) .
A Digital Globe satellite image showing part of the ancient Eridu canal network..
The canals provide researchers with rare perceptivity into the ancient practices of Mesopotamians , according to astatementreleased by Durham University in the U.K. , one of the universities involved in the inquiry .
" This priming coat - break find not only enhances our understanding of ancient irrigation systems but also highlight the ingenuity and adaptability of early Farmer , " Durham University said in the statement .
The researchers published their findings Feb. 18 in the journalAntiquity .
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Mesopotamia was a historical region that included portion of modern - day Iraq , Syria , Turkey , Iran and Kuwait . " Mesopotamia " is an ancient Greek word that can be translated to " the land between two river . " Those rivers were the Tigris and the Euphrates , which flowed from easterly Turkey to the Persian Gulf .
Along the Euphrates river wasAncient Babylon , which pose at the sum of the Mesopotamian civilization around 2000 B.C. to 540 B.C. , and the even more ancient city of Eridu , plant closer to the Persian Gulf around 5,400 B.C. The freshly distinguish canals were carve out of the side of the Euphrates and supplied farm in the Eridu realm . That was until the river shifted course , drying out the region and leave the canal trenches behind , harmonise to the study .
" A shift in the ancient course of the Euphrates River impart this region dry and therefore unoccupied after the former first millenary BC until now , " the study author publish . " This has tolerate the archaeological landscape of this region to remain intact and thus we were capable to name and map a vast , intensive and well - developed web of irrigation canals that pre - go out the early first millennium BC . "
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The researchers trace these canals using satellite imagery , geologic maps , drone footage and other technique . In total , they found more than 200 primary and lowly duct and more than 4,000 pocket-size canal connected to the primary channels . They also identified more than 700 farms , which typically had small duct around their perimeters , fit in to the report .
The bailiwick authors noted that though the connection is vast , the channel were in all likelihood not in use at the same time .
" This reconstructed internet of irrigation canal represents the combined agricultural activity for all the catamenia of occupation in the neighborhood and it is unlikely that all of the canals were running at the same time during the entire business period ( i.e. from the sixth until the former first millennium BC ) , " the subject field authors write .
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