Archaeologists have uncovered irrigation networks dating back nearly 6,000 years near Eridu, the ancient Sumerian city long regarded in Mesopotamian tradition as the world’s first city, according to a study published this month in the journal IRAQ.
The research was led by Louise Rayne of Newcastle University, working with colleagues from Iraq’s University of Al-Qadisiyah and University of Thi-Qar. The team combined satellite imagery, ground surveys and radiocarbon dating to trace the history of ancient water systems on the dry plains of southern Iraq.
Irrigation networks mapped across the ancient Sumerian city of Eridu
The work focused on a stretch of land near the dried-up course of the Euphrates River, close to Eridu, where fan-shaped channels known as crevasse splays sit alongside straighter, man-made canals across the landscape.
Using high-resolution satellite pictures, including images from the VISION-1 satellite and Google Earth, researchers mapped dozens of overlapping channels before heading into the field in October 2020 to dig trenches and collect samples.
Freshwater shells recovered from the channel beds were sent to the University of Oxford for radiocarbon dating, producing results that ranged from the fifth to the second millennium B.C.
Radiocarbon dating traces canals back to ancient Eridu
The oldest sample, dated to between 4540 and 4443 B.C., came from a feature that appeared to be shifting from a natural crevasse splay into a built canal. Researchers said this supports the idea that early farmers in the region gradually reshaped natural water channels into more organized irrigation systems.
Other samples, taken from a more clearly defined grid of canals, dated to the third millennium B.C., a period when written records describe more formal canal management across southern Mesopotamia.
Rayne and her colleagues said the findings show these irrigation networks were active while Eridu, an early Sumerian city, was still inhabited, meaning the canals likely watered farmland that helped feed the city and its people.
Eridu was first settled around the sixth millennium B.C. and remained occupied for thousands of years afterward. It held a sacred place in Mesopotamian tradition, remembered as the very first city and temple, set close to marshland and water.
Field systems reveal population size and eventual decline
By measuring the size of the ancient field systems visible in the images, researchers estimated how many people each irrigation system could have supported, drawing on established figures for land needed per person and typical grain yields from the period. The study suggests farmland tied to the canals near Eridu could have supported a sizable local population beyond the city itself.
Researchers said the irrigation systems were likely abandoned after the Euphrates shifted course over time, a common occurrence on the flat, shifting floodplains of southern Iraq. The team plans further fieldwork south of the old river channel to build a fuller picture of how water management developed in the region.
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