
During my graduate studies, I was awarded a Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant that funded ethnoarchaeological research for my dissertation in Northern Oman. That research has been published in various mediums. Some of my findings on water management were part of a co-authored book chapter. This post takes you behind-the-scenes of that publication by giving you a glimpse of 25 pictures of water management in Northern Oman.
The Publication
I co-authored a book chapter comparing ancient water management in Southern Arabia, specifically in Yemen and Oman. My co-author, Michael Harrower, and I examined the archaeological evidence and discussed our own ethnoarchaeological work in each region.
The full citation is below:
- Harrower, M. J., & Nathan, S. (2018). Ancient water management in Southern Arabia: Creativity, resilience, and sustainability in Yemen and Oman. In F. Sulas & I. Pikirayi (Eds.), Water and Society from Ancient Times to the Present: Resilience, Decline, and Revival (pp. 201–218). Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis/Routledge.
If you are having an issue finding our chapter, feel free to contact me.
25 Pictures of Water Management in Northern Oman
I took a lot of pictures as part of my ethnoarchaeological fieldwork. The images documented some of my findings and helped me remember what I encountered. I still look back at them to brainstorm and write publications, including the book chapter that inspired this post.
Here is a behind-the-scenes look at 25 pictures of water management in Northern Oman from my fieldwork archive.

























Closing Thoughts
There are a variety of water management strategies in northern Oman. The 25 pictures above depict some of the management methods currently used in the region. They inspired our book chapter’s discussion of the creativity, resilience, sustainability of these strategies in the past, present, and, potentially, the future.
Have you encountered a water management strategy, used in the past or present, that stood out to you? Let me know in the comments below!
