Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

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Journal of Archaeological Science

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) hydrological modeling in archaeology:

an example from the origins of irrigation in Southwest Arabia (Yemen)
Michael J. Harrower*
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 8 July 2009
Received in revised form
28 December 2009
Accepted 4 January 2010

From small bands of foragers, pastoralists, and village agriculturists, to states and civilizations water
accessibility and management played a crucial role in sustenance and social life throughout the ancient
world. Recent advances in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and related remote sensing technologies offer powerful means of analyzing water ow that are well-suited to clarify design and operational
requirements of different irrigation and water management systems. Ancient Southwest Arabian irrigation technologies developed over thousands of years culminating in some the ancient worlds most
advanced ashood water systems. This paper describes satellite imagery Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
extraction and GIS hydrological modeling procedures conducted for the Wadi Sana watershed of
Hadramawt Governate, Yemen. Results help illustrate one of the local contexts in which small-scale
irrigation originated in Southwest Arabia and additionally serve as an example for those interested in
applying similar methods in other regions.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Geographic Information Systems
Hydrology
Irrigation
Ancient near east
Remote sensing

1. Introduction
Archaeologists have long noted the importance of access to and
management of water among ancient societies (Raikes, 1967;
Steward, 1930; Wittfogel, 1957). Indeed, the spatial distribution of
precipitation and water ow have been identied as factors
important to the movements of foragers (Kelly, 1995), the settlement choices of agriculturists (Byrd, 2005), and the food producing
economies of ancient states (Marcus and Stanish, 2006). While air
photos and topographic maps have traditionally provided qualitative means of evaluating the role of water, recent advances in
remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) technologies allow a far wider breadth analyses poised to generate
signicant new understanding of ancient human use of water
resources. Such analyses not only assist in characterizing physical
environments but additionally help reveal how ancient peoples
conceptualized and manipulated their surroundings.
Irrigation was important from crop agricultures beginnings in
Yemen at least as early as the 4th millennium BC through the rise of
states more than 2000 years later. Early small-scale systems
diverted water from springs, hillslopes, or captured soil and water
in terraces (Harrower, 2008a, b; Wilkinson, 1999). A wide diversity

* Tel.: 1 310 206 1390.

E-mail address: mharrower@ucla.edu
0305-4403/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.004

of types including spring ow, surface runoff, well, and ash

oodwater technologies increased in size and complexity over
subsequent millennia (Varisco, 1996; Wilkinson, 2006). By the 1st
millennium BC, elaborate networks of diversion dams, canals, and
banked elds captured ashood waters to sustain ancient states,
namely Main, Saba, Qataban, Awsan and Hadramawt along the
margins of Yemens interior Ramlat as-Sabatayn Desert (Fig. 1).
Investigations of ancient irrigation have traditionally included
considerable attention to hydrology and geomorphology (e.g.,
Bowen, 1958; Brunner, 1997a, b, 2000; Caton-Thompson and
Gardner, 1939; Coque-Delhuille and Gentelle, 1998; Francaviglia,
2002; Gentelle, 1991) but researchers have yet to make extensive
use of GIS. Hydrological modeling tools designed for use within GIS
software are well-suited to contribute a more explicitly spatial
dimension that helps clarify the operational requirements
and long-term development of different water management
technologies.
This paper summarizes Digital Elevation Model (DEM) extraction and GIS hydrological analyses that examine small-scale irrigation along the Wadi Sana drainage of Hadramawt Governate,
Yemen. The Wadi Sana, a northward owing tributary of Wadi
Hadramawt/Masila (Fig. 1), drains 3691 square kilometers that
today receives approximately 70 mm of precipitation per annum,
predominantly from April to September. Over six eld-seasons
since 1998, the Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA)
Research Project documented a multitude of remains that span

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M.J. Harrower / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

Fig. 1. MODIS satellite image map of Southwest Arabia showing locations of ancient
states and the Wadi Sana watershed study area.

the Paleolithic through the present including lithic scatters,

hearths, rockshelter and open-air encampments, tombs, and small
habitation structures (Bin Aqil and McCorriston, 2009; Crassard,
2009; Crassard et al., 2006; Martin et al., 2009; McCorriston,
2000; McCorriston and Harrower, 2005; McCorriston and
Martin, 2009; McCorriston et al., 2002, 2005). Concentrated along
middle Wadi Sana, survey identied 174 ancient runoff irrigation
structures of two basic types: diversion channels that redirect
hillslope runoff, and check dams that slow runoff to saturate
arable sediments (Harrower, 2006). The earliest structures date to
the mid 4th millennium BC with some perhaps dating to the 1st
millennium BC and later. Since results of spatial modeling and
a review of eldwork, dating, and geomorphological context have
been published elsewhere (Harrower, 2008a, b), this paper
concentrates specically on DEM extraction and GIS water ow
modeling methodologies.
2. Data generation and modeling methods
The rapidly expanding availability of Digital Elevation Model
(DEM) data and release of software tools for GIS hydrological
modeling offer a wide range of opportunities for examining irrigation. While relatively few archaeologists have thus far used GIS to
model water ow (e.g., Bolten et al., 2006; DAndrea et al., 2008;
Gillings, 1995; Harrower, 2008a, 2009; Williams, 2003), the burgeoning range of software tools and DEM sources are rapidly alleviating obstacles to archaeological applications.
A DEM (a grid layer of square cells with associated elevation
values) is frequently a crucial source of information in GIS and is
essential for GIS hydrological modeling. Traditionally, archaeologists often used DEMs produced from topographic maps, which
involved time-consuming digitization of contour lines and subsequent conversion from lines (vectors) to square cell (raster) format.
Recent advances including on-screen digitization (rather than
digitization on a specialized table) and semi-automated feature
digitization provided by software add-ons such as ESRIs ArcScan
offer signicant improvements, but the process of creating DEMs
from contour lines remains laborious and interpolative (see Conolly
and Lake, 2006: 103107). Alternatively, DEMs can be extracted
from stereo air photographs or stereo satellite imagery such as
Corona, SPOT (Syste`me Pour lObservation de al Terre), RADARSAT,
or ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reection

Radiometer) (see Lillesand et al., 2007). A number of publications in

archaeology have highlighted the importance of NASAs Shuttle
Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which produced a global DEM
of 30 m resolution for the continental United States and (thus far)
90 m resolution elsewhere (Hritz and Wilkinson, 2006; Stanley and
Jorstad, 2006). Others have ordered 30 m ASTER DEMs from NASA
(e.g., Bolten et al., 2006; Williams, 2003), which until June 2006
offered relative rather than absolute coordinates and elevations
(unless Ground Control Points were provided when ordering).
However, the quality and availability of ASTER DEMs ordered from
NASA have recently improved substantially and user-supplied
Ground Control Points are no longer required. Moreover, in June
2009 METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan) and
NASA announced release of a global 30-m DEM produced from
ASTER imagery available for free download in seamless 1  1 degree
tiles (JPL, 2009). Weighed in terms of resolution, accessibility, and
cost this dataset is an outstanding resource likely to be widely
utilized, including by archaeologists. Casana and Cothren (2008)
also recently reported impressive results extracting DEMs from
declassied Corona satellite photographs which offer advantages
including early (19591972) coverage, yet this process requires
sophisticated and expensive photogrammetric software that can be
time consuming to master. Nevertheless, for large parts of the Near
East Casana and colleagues are preparing to release a Corona-based
Digital Archaeological Atlas with free 2-m resolution geo-rectied
satellite imagery and 10-m resolution DEMs.
2.1. DEM extraction
The process of investigating possible methods for DEM acquisition for this study began in 2000. The only topographic maps then
and now available for the study region are Soviet-produced
1:100,000 scale, not of sufcient detail for analyses of small
watersheds. Similarly, 90 m SRTM data rst released in late 2005 is
not of adequate resolution for studies of local hydrology. Although
DEM extraction from SPOT or RADARSAT stereo imagery was an
option, less complex, semi-automated methods are available for
use with ASTER (Fujisada et al., 2005; Hirano et al., 2003).
After a considerable period of initial trials, a 15-m resolution
DEM was generated from two ASTER satellite scenes covering a 60
by 120 km area that spans the entire Wadi Sana watershed (Fig. 2).
A single ASTER scene consists of 15 spectral bands from 15 to 90 m
resolution covering a 60 by 60 km area (Abrams et al., 2002;
Altaweel, 2005). Two spectrally identical 15 m bands (3N and 3B)
provide along-track stereo pairs. That is, approximately 60 s after
the primary (nadir) telescope (3N) an aft telescope (offset 27.6 )
images the same area on the ground (3B). In contrast with the
cross-track stereo imagery offered by early SPOT satellites (in
which overlapping images collected days apart must be matched)
the along-track conguration provides uniformity optimal for DEM
generation (Hirano et al., 2003).
The extraction process (in this case conducted with the
Orthoengine module of PCI Geomatica 9.0 software) requires high
accuracy spatial control to link and accurately orient stereo pair
imagery. First, sixty-four widely dispersed Ground Control Points
(collected in Yemen with a GPS receiver) assigned Cartesian coordinates to locations visually identiable on images, and 43 manually selected Tie Points connected ground locations on one image to
the same location on others. Both sets of points were carefully
adjusted to align all four images (two 3N/3B stereo pairs) and
generate epipolar images used to extract the DEM (see Toutin,
2001). The resultant 15-m resolution DEM was edited using noise
removal, Gaussian, and mean lters to remove anomalies (gaps and
spikes) and subsequently served as baseline data for GIS hydrological models.

M.J. Harrower / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

1449

Fig. 2. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) (15 m resolution) extracted from ASTER satellite imagery with PCI Geomatics software.

2.2. GIS hydrological modeling

Hydrological modeling for this study utilized terrain processing
tools of the ArcHydro module for ArcGIS produced by the University of Texas (Maidment, 2002). Surface water ow can be modeled
in GIS based on topography by dening ow direction from higher
to lower elevation DEM grid cells. The most common method,
known as the 8-direction pour point model, evaluates potential
ow for each DEM grid cell relative to each of its 8 immediately
adjacent neighboring cells. DEMs commonly contain inaccuracies
and anomalies, including depressions known as sinks, so modications to correct DEM values are generally necessary before ow
patterns can be determined. Anomalies along channels where
water is known to ow (such as streams and rivers) are particularly
problematic as they interrupt continuous accumulation. A vector
channel network layer can therefore be used to burn the DEM,
smoothing values along channels to produce an Agree DEM (i.e,
a DEM that correctly reects locations of channels). Using an Agree
DEM, ow direction is then dened across the landscape using the
8-direction pour point model, and a ow accumulation grid is
produced by adding together the number of cells that ow into any
given cell. By setting a threshold number of cells (often a 5000 cell
threshold is used) new vector channel networks can be generated
(Fig. 3) and stream intersections can be used to dene ow
catchments.
A wide range of additional functionality for modeling and
quantifying ow is available in ArcHydro, yet the aforementioned
layers (namely channel networks, ow accumulation, and catchments) provide an informative basis for archaeological analyses.
Traditionally, GIS research in archaeology has examined associations between site locations and water by analyzing the distance
from sites to channel networks taken from topographic maps.
However, these networks are often subjectively dened. Similarly,
with ArcHydro the vector lines of channel networks are dened
according to a variable, user-selected stream denition threshold
(Fig. 3). In contrast, a ow accumulation grid of raster cells denes
concentration of ow for every cell across an area (without any

threshold) and thus provides a less subjective dataset for quantitative analyses.

3. Results and discussion

Statistical analyses of data generated by GIS hydrological
modeling demonstrate considerable strategic expertise in ancient
water management. Archaeological survey documented 174
ancient irrigation structures (125 check dams and 49 diversion
channels) predominantly along the margins of Wadi Sana rather
than in the path of the main channel (Fig. 3). To quantify ow in the
vicinity of these structures the Focal Statistics function of ArcToolbox and the Intersect Point Tool of Hawths Tools were used to
generate mean and maximum values for all ow accumulation grid
cells within a 50 m radius around each irrigation structure midpoint, and the same for 50 m radii around 1000 points randomly
distributed throughout the Wadi Sana watershed. The KolmogorovSmirnov (KS) test was then used to statistically compare
check dams with the watershed and diversion channels with the
watershed. Results show diversion channels were preferentially
constructed in low ow areas and check dams in moderately high
ow areas (Figs. 46).
The KS test evaluates the maximum absolute difference
between cumulative distribution functions. When this difference is
sufciently large the null hypothesis (in this case, that irrigation
structures are distributed at random with respect to ow accumulation) is rejected and the two samples are considered statistically distinct. The KS test is particularly appropriate in this case
because it is non-parametric (i.e., it does not require that variables
are normally distributed) and is responsive to dissimilarities in
means, variances, skewness, or kurtosis (Kvamme, 1985: 220).
Importantly, parametric tests such as the Students T test are not
appropriate because ow accumulation values are not normally
distributed, but instead are profoundly skewed as most values are
near zero while in the few places where a lot of water accumulates
values are often in the range of many hundreds of thousands.

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M.J. Harrower / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

Fig. 3. ASTER satellite image map of middle Wadi Sana showing check dams, diversion channels, and a stream network depicting areas where ow from more than 750 15  15 m
grid cells accumulates.

In the present case, KS test results show differences between

irrigation structure locations and the watershed are signicant at
the 95% condence interval (Table 1). The specics of these differences can be illustrated with histograms (Fig. 4) or a cumulative
percent graph (Fig. 5) that depict values for the watershed versus
irrigation structure locations. The peak on the right side of the

100

check dams histogram (Fig. 4b) that is lacking in the watershed

(Fig. 4a) shows preferential construction of check dams in moderately high ow areas that receive water from approximately
222 hectares (where ow accumulation maximum 100 to 1000).
Similarly, the peak on the left side of the diversion channels
histogram (Fig. 4c) that ends slightly left of the peak on the

A - Watershed

100%

Watershed
Check Dams
Diversion Channels

10
80%

B - Check Dams

Frequency

100

10

1
100

C - Diversion Channels

Cumulative Percent

60%

40%

20%

10
0%

1
.5

10

100

1,000

10,000

100,000 1,000,000 10,000,000

10

19

43

131

475 10497

Flow Accumulation Maximum

Flow Accumulation Maximum

Fig. 4. Histograms showing maximum ow accumulation values for 50 m radii around
check dams, diversion channels, and 1000 points randomly distributed throughout the
Wadi Sana watershed (both axes on a logarithmic scale).

Fig. 5. Flow accumulation maximum values for check dams, diversion channels, and
points randomly distributed throughout the Wadi Sana watershed (this graph presents
the same data as Fig. 4 in slightly different way illustrating differences as evaluated by
the KolmogorovSmirnov test).

M.J. Harrower / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

1451

Fig. 6. Quickbird image map showing one of the areas along middle Wadi Sana where diversion channels redirect water towards check dams along the margins of the main Wadi
Sana channel.

watershed histogram (Fig. 4a) shows preferential construction in

areas that receive water from one twentieth to one tenth of
a hectare (where ow accumulation maximum 2 to 4). The same
pattern can be seen in the cumulative percent graph (Fig. 5) in
which the line for check dams is concave and well below the line for
the watershed showing preferential selection of moderately high
ow areas, while the line for diversion channels is convex and
above the line for the watershed showing preferential construction
in low ow areas.
Statistical results demonstrate strategic placement and considerable ingenuity in designing small-scale irrigation systems.
Ancient irrigators targeted lower-energy ows along the margins of
the wadi rather than the main channel of Wadi Sana where structures would readily be destroyed by powerful ashoods (Fig. 6). As
eld observations conrm, water ows towards diversion channels
and check dams would not have been massive, and the directions
and intensities of potential ow on slopes of only a few degrees are
not obvious. Ancient irrigators must have witnessed runoff events
and with careful attention to slope angles subsequently constructed
structures in anticipation of future rainfall, possibly weeks or more

Table 1
KolmogorovSmirnov statistics comparing ow accumulation values in 50 m radii
around 125 check dams and 49 diversion channels with ow accumulation in 50 m
radii around 1000 points randomly distributed throughout the Wadi Sana watershed (ow accumulation maximum results outside brackets, ow accumulation
mean results inside brackets).

Check dams
Diversion channels

Difference

Z-Value

Sig. (2-tail)

0.318 (0.283)
0.210 (0.230)

3.352 (2.983)
1.434 (1.572)

0.000 (0.000)
0.033 (0.014)

in advance. Analysis of landforms reported elsewhere show the

spatial distribution of arable sediments was also an important
criterion in choosing where to locate structures (Harrower, 2008a).
Through attention to natural ows, by moving water from one
catchment to another, and by slowing water within watersheds,
ancient irrigators enhanced moisture on areas suitable for
cultivation.

4. Conclusions
In a vast array of hyper-arid to temperate contexts worldwide,
spatial patterning of water ow across landscapes signicantly
inuenced ancient human action and choices. Digital Elevation
Models and GIS hydrological modeling tools hold important
potential to help clarify technical and operational dimensions of
water management systems in a wide range of circumstances.
Advances in DEM availability will undoubtedly continue to expand
the range and improve the resolution of modeling opportunities.
Geographic Information Systems-based approaches are likely to be
increasingly combined with non-spatial quantitative hydrological
modeling (e.g., Crook, 2009; Whitehead et al., 2008). For example,
HEC-GeoRAS software (US Army Corps of Engineers, 2009) interfaces with GIS to facilitate modeling of channel hydraulics and
holds a wealth of opportunities for archaeological analyses of water
ow and irrigation.
In ancient Wadi Sana, local experience with sporadic monsoon
runoff led ancient peoples at the cusp of irrigations origins to
understand landscapes as hydrologically malleable domains of
anthropogenic control. GIS hydrological modeling has enhanced
understanding of their activities and choices in redirecting low-

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M.J. Harrower / Journal of Archaeological Science 37 (2010) 14471452

energy runoff. Further hydrological analyses in this region and in

others can not only help characterize ancient environments but can
also help reveal expert-knowledge, and the ingenuity and
complexity of water histories.
Acknowledgements
Contributions of numerous individuals and institutions were
crucial to this research. Joy McCorriston, Eric Oches, Abdalaziz bin
Aqil, Ted Banning, and Matthew Senn deserve particular gratitude.
The permission and cooperation of the General Organization for
Antiquities and Museums its Director Abdullah Ba Wasir and staff
were essential. Similarly, the assistance Nexen Petroleum Yemen
and the American Institute for Yemeni Studies were indispensable in
making this research a success and are greatly appreciated. Funding
support included Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
of Canada doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, and a dissertation
grant (BCS 0332278) from the National Science Foundation.
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