Medieval Irrigation Clocks

The Christian irrigators of eastern Spain inherited two watermeasurement systems from the Muslims. The first, characteristic of huertas watered by a river-such as Valencia, Castellon, Gandia, and Murcia-was modeled after the system of the Ghiita, or garden, of Damascus. The river water was divided proportionally among canals and individuals according to the amount of land to be irrigated. The advantage of the proportional system was that equitable distribution could be assured without measure of time. When water was abundant, the farmer took at pleasure. When water was scarce, a turn was imposed; and as the quantity of water grew less the interval between successive turns became greater. As long as the irrigator did not waste water (and there were penalties to insure that he did not), he could only use so much without harming his crops. Therefore, the only control needed to insure equitable partition was to see that he did not irrigate again until everyone else had a turn.' In other, smaller huertas of eastern Spain, where water was scarcer, water was sold in fixed time units; and therefore exact measures were required. Fixed time measurement was also characteristic of the oases of North Africa and other areas of the Islamic world whence the

Archaeology · Geography · Historical Studies of Medieval Iberia · History · Medieval Architecture and Archaeology · Water management and technologies

• Ottoman water-management systems in the Konya Plain, Türki̇ye

  Open Access•Meltem Uçar, Michele Massa et al.•Water History•2026

  Add to list

• Irrigation Agrosystems in Eastern Spain

  Karl W Butzer, Juan F Mateu et al.•Annals of the Association of…•1985

  Add to list