The Past, Present, and Future of Water Supplies
Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)
This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "The Past, Present, and Future of Water Supplies" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
The Earth’s population has hit 8 billion people at the same time that our climate is changing. How will governments ensure adequate supplies of clean water while some regions are becoming drier and others are experiencing increased flooding? In this session, we present insights into the past, present, and future of water supplies using archaeological case studies across space and time. Supplying water to populations is often wrapped in local politics, requiring decisions as to who gets water and how much can be taken. Oftentimes the water source is far from the consumption point, requiring control of vast territories to ensure adequate supplies. The storage of water can be essential to a population’s resiliency, but capturing water for future use requires engineering as well as conservation measures. Excessive consumption of water is often a symbol of power and prestige, but it may signal that others are going thirsty. Such lessons can be part of water heritages that teach current and future generations about the dangers of overconsumption.
Other Keywords
Water Management and Irrigation •
Historic •
Urbanism •
Ethnohistory/History •
Climate •
Survey •
Landscape Archaeology •
Ancestral Pueblo •
Maya: Classic •
Environment and Climate
Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) •
United Mexican States (Country) •
Peten (State / Territory) •
Yucatan (State / Territory) •
Belize (Country) •
Orange Walk (State / Territory) •
Cayo (State / Territory) •
Corozal (State / Territory) •
Belize (State / Territory) •
Stann Creek (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-6 of 6)
- Documents (6)
- Adaptive Water Management in the American West: Utah Case Studies in Technological Innovations and Community Cooperation (2024)
- Artificial Pools at Middle Preclassic period Nixtun-Ch’ich’, Petén, Guatemala (2024)
- Hydro-Social Transformations and Economic Realities at Aventura, Belize (2024)
- Pompeii’s Pitfalls: The Vulnerability of Water Supply in the Wake of Natural Disasters (2024)
- The Sociopolitical Impacts of Agricultural Intensification and Water Management in Classic Maya Society (2024)
- Taking Their Water for New York City: Archaeology of Reservoir Communities (2024)