A sprawling, hidden network of ancient irrigation canals has been uncovered near the ancient city of Eridu in southern Mesopotamia. Under the leadership of geoarchaeologist Jaafar Jotheri, researchers ...

The team used everything from satellite imagery, drones ... The authors noted that the Euphrates River’s highly elevated levees enabled water to flow simply by gravity, and that natural breaks ...

The irrigation network consists of over 200 primary canals, some of which stretch up to nine kilometers in length and are between two and five meters wide.

The Eridu region, near Basra in present-day Iraq, remained untouched for centuries due to a shift in the Euphrates ... or river sediments. By combining geological maps, satellite imagery, drone ...

Archaeologists have uncovered a vast network of canals underneath the world’s oldest city in Mesopotamia, shedding more light on the rise of farming in the region. Researchers, led by geoarchaeologist ...

The system, with over 200 major canals and 4,000 smaller ones, was used to divert Euphrates River water to farms. Researchers traced the canals using satellite imagery and geological mapping.

Researchers have identified an extensive Mesopotamian canal network that supplied ancient farms in the Eridu region with water from the Euphrates river before the first millennium B.C.

Historically, Mesopotamia has depended on the Euphrates River and its tributaries for crop irrigation ... High-resolution satellite imagery, including images from the 1960s CORONA program, drones, and ...

The canal network, detailed in the journal Antiquity, remained untouched for centuries due to a shift in the Euphrates river’s course ... used satellite and drone imagery and fieldwork to ...