Season 5 Episode 2: Fossil Water Farming

 

An image of a farm irritated by a qanat/fouggara

Brought to the Sahara following the Persian conquest of Egypt, the spread of a new irrigation technology allowed Garamantian civilization to expand dramatically

An archaeological map of Zinkekra

The earliest evidence of a unique Garamantian culture comes from the settlement of Zinkekra, located at the top of a rocky plateau near the Wadi al Ajal. However, settlements gradually drifted further down the valley.

The location at the bottom of these valleys allowed new Garamantian settlements to better take advantage of a technology recently brought to North Africa with the Persian conquest of Egypt. Known as Qanats, or Fouggaras in North Africa, this advanced irrigation technology allowed Garamantian settlements to tap into groundwater reserves without the labor intensive practice of extracting water from wells with buckets. Instead, gravity brought water through the slightly inclined channel and delivered it to the irrigated outlet.

A fouggara seen from the surface, visible in the form of the round access tunnels created for construction and maintainence

Fouggaras were very labor intensive to produce, indicating that Garamantian cities were combined in some form of larger state, which allowed them to leverage a more robust labor pool. Additionally, the newly abundant sources of groundwater allowed the population of Garamantian settlements to expand dramatically.