{"id":7050,"date":"2025-04-24T07:59:41","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T07:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/?page_id=7050"},"modified":"2025-04-25T03:35:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T03:35:29","slug":"t23-s02-papers","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/t23-s02-papers\/","title":{"rendered":"T23\/S02: Water, Technology, and its Meanings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Format: Paper presentations with discussion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convenors:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Alexander Herrera, Dept de Historia del Arte, Universidad del los Andes, Colombia, alherrer@uniandes.edu.co<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Manuel Arroyo-Kalin, Dept of Archaeology, University College London, UK, m.arroyo-kalin@ucl.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water is fundamental to life on Earth and holds a central place in all human societies. Archaeological approaches have tended to foreshadow water management in terms of hydraulic technology through its material correlates, such as dams, reservoirs and canals. The symbolism and meaning of springs, lakes, wetlands and rivers underlying specific cultural understandings or\u00a0logos<\/em>\u00a0animating each and every aspect of\u00a0techn\u00e9,\u00a0<\/em>ranging from labour investment to landscape emplacement, however, are usually considered separately. This session aims to move beyond the divide between economics and religion, as well as the modern fetish of technology. We will reflect on practices of water use for food production in hand with the place of water in past cosmologies as reflected in ritual practices and iconography, including all aspects of water care across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papers:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hydrography and Water Resource Management in Ancient India<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diksha Bharti, Dept of History, Pataliputra University, Patna, India\u00a0<\/em>
Dr Ratna Amrit, Dept of History, A.N. College, Patilputra University, Patna, India<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s hydrologic knowledge has a historical footprint spreading over several millennia through the Indus – Saraswati Civilisation (3000-1500 BCE) and Vedic Period (1500-500 BCE). In other civilisations like Mesopotamia, Chinese, and Egypt, water management drove the progress of hydrologic science in ancient times. However, most of the former hydrologic knowledge has recently remained hidden and unfamiliar to the world. In this paper, the study would like to provide some captivating glimpses regarding the hydrological, hydraulic, and related engineering knowledge of Ancient India, which has been discussed in contemporary literature. We are gaining ample information from recent explorations, findings, and studies. The Vedas, notably the Rigveda, Yajurveda, and Atharvaveda, have many references to the water cycle and associated processes, including hydraulic machines, quality of water, hydrologic structure, and Nature Based Solutions (NBS) for the management of water. The Indus – Saraswati Civilisation symbolises a level of development of water sciences in ancient India that also includes water-purpose structures, wastewater disposal systems based on centralised and decentralised concepts, and sewage treatment methods. The Mauryan Empire is known as the first \u2018hydraulic empire\u2019 which centralised control over water in various forms and is characterised by the construction of dams with spillways, reservoirs, and channels equipped with spillways (Ahars n Pynes); they knew water balance too, they developed technologies regarding the measurement of rainfall and knowledge of multiple hydrological processes. The paper will draw attention to various facets of water management, water technologies, and works that explore history, archaeology, hydrology, and hydrologic engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technological Advancements in Ancient Sri Lanka: A Study of Innovations in Irrigation Engineering<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandana Rohana Withanachchi, Dept of Archaeology and Heritage Management, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ancient irrigation systems of Sri Lanka’s dry zone showcase advanced technical expertise, blending innovative engineering with sustainable practices. Extensive archaeological research reveals an intricate understanding of past hydrological and topographical conditions. Vertically networked cascade tank systems demonstrate precision in design, gradient control, water storage, and sediment management, ensuring sustainable agriculture and resilience to natural challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key innovations include the Bisokotuwa (sluice), which ensures efficient water and sediment management, as well as the Rallapanawa (wave breaker) and Pitawana (spillway), which protect ancient tanks. Studies reveal that advanced techniques were employed in the construction of tank embankments. Extensive canal networks enabled equitable water distribution, mitigating floods and droughts, while supporting year-round agricultural productivity. The large-scale reservoirs, constructed under the guidance of ancient monarchs, stand as enduring monuments to this ingenuity, integrating functionality with environmental harmony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archaeological findings highlight the interplay of engineering, environmental awareness, and socio-economic foresight underlying these systems. These ancient innovations, such as gradient control and water distribution strategies, remain relevant to modern water management and sustainable development. They provide valuable lessons for contemporary hydropower engineering and underscore the enduring significance of Sri Lanka\u2019s ancient irrigation heritage in addressing global water challenges<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Ancestor the Water Magnet: The Interplay of Hydraulic and Mortuary Landscapes in the Central Andes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Alexander Herrera, Dept de Historia del Arte, Universidad del los Andes, Colombia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chullpa mortuary monuments constitute the most salient type of architecture built during later Andean prehistory. This paper considers their spatial and temporal distribution in the Ancash Andes of northern Peru to address the evolving role of ancestor veneration in social reproduction generally and water management in particular. Studying the location of major necropolis at the head of catchments and the distribution of collective tombs allows consideration of the linkages between the social organisation of irrigation farming, mortuary practices and cosmology. The placement and stratigraphy of tombs\u2014invariably loote\u2014is argued to map ritualscapes of water management in which viewsheds and soundscapes played a major role. Analysis of chullpa tomb orientations and sizes, point to relationships between mortuary communities, as well as a ranked social differentiation. Bringing these strands of archaeological data together with ethnohistoric accounts reveals profound relations between hydraulic and mortuary landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storying Indigenous Engineering Ingenuity in the Aquaculture Systems of the Gunditjmara at the UNESCO World Heritage Budj Bim Cultural Landscape<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Bell, Adam Black, Tyson Lovett-Murray and Evelyn Nicholson, Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC), Australia<\/em>
Gabriele Marini, Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP), University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Brian Armstrong, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Aleks Michalewicz, MDAP, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Andrew Mahisa Halim, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Amanda Belton, MDAP, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Juliana Prpic, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em>
Martin Tomko, Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage site in western Victoria, Australia, lies within the traditional Country of the Gunditjmara. The landscape is characterised by volcanic geology shaped into unique ancient aquaculture systems dated to at least c.6600 cal BP. These consist of a range of different constructions and modifications, from the digging of channels, creation of water races, ponds and a wide variety of both fish and eel traps. Understanding the nature and complexity of these systems has been challenging given colonial modification to the landscape in the form of drainage schemes, channelisation and other agricultural activities. A collaboration between the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (GMTOAC) and researchers at the University of Melbourne has enabled a simulation and visualisation of water flows within some of these systems. These visualisations have been important for Community and researchers to understand how the engineering of the aquaculture systems appears to have functioned. In addition, several larger and more complex systems have been identified, enabling the Gunditjmara community to map, preserve, regenerate and story these places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fishing Kit Among the Ancient Sailors who Headed to Their Death on the Pacific Coast of South America <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lilian Brice\u00f1o, Archaeology, Flinders University, Australia<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fishing kit forms part of the mortuary offering in the funerary pre-Hispanic context of the Pacific Coast of South America, which has been documented along the Pacific Coast of southern Peru and northern Chile since 8000 years BP on the Atacama Desert, for nomad societies, sedentary societies and in contexts of European colonial contact. Some offerings were of a particular size, corresponding to miniature objects made to scale, which were found next to individuals and painted with reddish ochre. They include essential elements associated with navigation and subsistence technologies. This presentation addresses how these fishing kits, the economy and social organisation were in a symbolic relationship with the journey that the deceased made towards death. This is important as it discusses technological elements from a symbolic perspective. The symbolic elements that conform to the fishing kit and the relevance of the sea demonstrate how these communities constructed their world through mortuary performance. In this context, the fishing kit could be considered an indicator of travel, where fishing and sailor people, in a symbolic way, went seafaring beyond death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deep Indigenous History and Cultural Continuity in the Pantanal of the Upper Paraguay River (Mato Gross, Brazil)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mariano Bonomo, CONICET-Divisi\u00f3n Arqueolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina<\/em>
Fernando Ozorio de Almeida, Departamento de Arqueologia, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil<\/em>
Luciano Pereira da Silva, Departamento de Hist\u00f3ria, Universidade do Estado do Mato Grosso, Brazil<\/em>
Roc\u00edo Torino, CONICET-Divisi\u00f3n Arqueolog\u00eda, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the heart of South America lies a unique region where two major river basins converge. Here, the Guapor\u00e9-Madeira (Amazon basin) and Paraguay-Paran\u00e1 (La Plata basin) river systems originate, serving as ecological corridors that facilitated past human connections and gave rise to some of the world\u2019s greatest ecological and ethnolinguistic diversities. In 2022, we initiated a binational multidisciplinary project in the Pantanal, a vast wetland with underexplored archaeological potential. We present the first results of our fieldwork and analyses of recovered sediments, ceramics, lithics, botanical, and faunal materials. The sites are predominantly circular and elliptical mounds, where the region\u2019s biodiversity is reflected in the fauna exploited and transformed into tools and adornments. Polished lithic tools and various pots, bowls, and dishes stand out. Radiocarbon dates from 1200 to 270 BP reveal a millennium of human occupation that persisted after the European arrival. This indigenous continuity is reflected in the ongoing construction of earthmounds and the recognition of objects from the Guat\u00f3 ethnographic collections. Some mounds show historical and current occupations, confirming that they remain strategic locations within this flood-prone landscape. This paper explores how human occupation in a dynamic floodplain ecosystem has shaped this landscape for over a thousand years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water Infrastructures and Generative Power in the Lake Titicaca Basin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott C. Smith, Franklin & Marshall College, USA<\/em>
Adolfo E. P\u00e9rez Arias, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropol\u00f3gicas y Arqueol\u00f3gicas (IIAA), Universidad Mayor de San Andr\u00e9s (UMSA), La Paz, Bolivia<\/em>
Maribel P\u00e9rez Arias, The Stone Independent School, USA<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This paper traces the emergence of a particular set of dispositions, practices, materials, and ideas related to water in the southern Lake Titicaca basin of Bolivia, which emerged during the latter part of the Formative period (800 BCE – 500 CE). This water regime centred the dynamic and animating power of water in the lives of people and animals, whose histories were traced to watery places of emergence. After discussing how these ideas were materialised in Formative iconography, we shift our analysis to the architectural development of the site of Khonkho Wankane, which reveals an elaborate hydraulic infrastructure. Understanding the architecture at Khonkho requires us to shift focus from modernist assumptions about the management and control of water for engineering or economic purposes. We suggest, in contrast, that the builders of Khonkho captured, channelled, and released water as a part of a set of ritual practices that animated the archaeological site itself by indexing the generative power of nearby mountain streams and rivers. These patterns then intensified after Khonkho was abandoned and as the urban centre of Tiwanaku to the north grew in size and influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Format: Paper presentations with discussion Convenors:\u00a0 Prof. Alexander Herrera, Dept de Historia del Arte, Universidad del los Andes, Colombia, alherrer@uniandes.edu.co Prof. Manuel Arroyo-Kalin, Dept of Archaeology, University College London, UK, m.arroyo-kalin@ucl.ac.uk Water is fundamental to life on Earth and holds a central place in all human societies. Archaeological approaches have tended to foreshadow water management in terms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1157,"featured_media":276,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-7050","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"pmpro-has-access","7":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1157"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7050"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7554,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7050\/revisions\/7554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldarchaeologicalcongress.com\/wac10\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}