ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to demonstrate that Arabian populations were able to adapt over time to their changing environment by developing hydraulic technologies that allowed them to take the best advantage possible of available water resources. It argues that population adapted their environment in order to make it more favorable and suitable to their needs. The chapter reviews archaeological evidence of water management systems in Arabia, from the Neolithic to the end of the Iron Age. Regarding Arabia, the oldest evidence of hydraulic activity was found in the Jordan desert, at the northern edge of the peninsula. In the interior regions of Southwest Arabia, unlike the western mountains, rainfalls were already probably too low and irrigation was necessary. In the second half of the Holocene, Southwest Arabia was a favored spot in term of precipitation thanks to the summer rains brought by the monsoon. Water is the most precious resource to humankind, both for consumption and for agriculture in arid regions.
