WaMStrIn · Water management strategies and climate change in the Indus Civilisation
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2018-01-02 → 2020-01-01
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Water management strategies and climate change in the Indus Civilisation
The WaMStrIn project has explored the relationship between human settlement and the changing hydrological network of the Indus River Basin in Pakistan during the time of the emergence of first urban centres in ancient South Asia (2500-1900 BC) and in later historical periods. The ancient Indus was the most extensive of the three so-called cradles of Old World civilizations and a number of attempts have been made to trace the network of palaeorivers that watered this region and sustained its ancient population and later historical cultures. Water management and availability are relevant to a range of current archaeological debates, particularly those related to food security, sustainability and resilience. These issues are also directly relevant to current investigation into the impact of climate change on modern populations in regions that are becoming increasingly arid. The case of the Indus civilization is particularly significant in that aspect, being the earliest large-scale, urban, and interconnected society in South Asia. The shrinking of Indus urban centers have been a long puzzle for archaeologists and it is discussed how the weakening of the Indian Summer Monsoon around 4200 years ago could have impacted this process. The objectives of the action were directed to exploiting the capacities of historical cartography, series of satellite imagery and archaeological databases to reconstruct aspects of the historical river network and long-term settlement patterns of the alluvial plains of Pakistani Punjab. Studying the relation of those two elements with the help of geostatistics, network analysis and landscape analysis has provided clues to understanding the complex relationship of human societies with the changes on water availability, the management of risks such inundations or droughts and the resilience to long-term climate change processes.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
WaMStrIn will re-evaluate the relationship between human settlement and the changing hydrological network of the Indus area of Pakistan during the emergence of first urban centres in ancient South Asia (2500-1900 BC). The ancient Indus was the most extensive of the three so-called cradles of Old World civilisation and a number of attempts have been made to trace the network of palaeorivers that watered this region and sustained its ancient population. Using a novel combination of multi-temporal satellite remote sensing, GIS-based topographic analysis, geostatistics and network analysis WaMStrIn will overcome previous problems in the detection of ancient rivers and associated archaeological sites. In doing so WaMStrIn will provide new hypotheses and quantifiable open access data on (1) past water management, (2) the mechanism employed to cope with changing water availability and (3) the consequences of a long-term shift towards more arid conditions for South Asia's earliest large-scale, urban, and interconnected society.Water management and availability are relevant to a range of current archaeological debates, particularly those related to food security, sustainability and resilience. These issues are also directly relevant to current investigation into the impact of climate change on modern populations in regions that are becoming increasingly arid. WaMStrIn study area is core to this debate as it was intensely occupied by an urban society that was affected by a dramatic weakening of the Indian Summer Monsoon around 4200 years ago. The successful development of WaMStrIn will provide relevant new methods for the study of water management in the past and important new data for a sustainable planning and management of water in the current context of climate change towards more arid conditions.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- THE CHANCELLOR MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE · CAMBRIDGECoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union