Water flowing through archaeology, edited by Christina Laurenti and John Dinges, presents an eclectic collection of 18 chapters exploring how humans have interacted with water throughout history. The collection covers a wide range of topics, from ancient maritime trade routes to the symbolic significance of water in past societies across freshwater and marine systems and from ancient Roman to ancient Mayan societies.
As an environmental scientist who deals with water in an historical and contemporary context, I was curious about how this book would approach its topic. I consider my work to be interdisciplinary with research ranging from challenges around water resources for food security to the field of sociohydrology, which explores the complex interactions between humans and water. Yet, I had not seen the subject of water addressed with such breadth in one collection, until now. Initially, I found it a challenge to see how discussions on marine navigation could link to the ritualistic nature of freshwater resources. While it is difficult to draw direct links between the different sections of the book, as one reads further, the openness with which the role of water in past societies is presented stimulates the reader to reconsider established views of how we engage with the matter of water in the present day and think about it in a more open and integrative way.
The book begins with a number of interesting chapters on the role of water bodies as conduits for trade and social interactions across cultures. For example, Chapter 1 presents a study that explores the function of ports in the Aegean and Southern Italy during the Late Bronze Age, emphasising their role as cultural mediators and hubs of mobility. Chapter 3 describes how the Romans transported pavonazzetto marble from a quarry in Asia Minor to the sea via a river system, highlighting the key role that water bodies played as trade networks for bulk goods in pre-industrial societies. In contrast, in Chapter 2 it is argued that the sea acted as a barrier during the Third Punic War, focusing on the limited use of Majorcan inlets by the Roman military. This role of water as a conduit (or obstacle) for human connection is one that cannot be overemphasised and continues to shape global trade to the present day.
Interestingly, the collection also shows how contemporary sustainability challenges play a prominent role in the study of the past. Anthropogenic climate change is driving a rise in ocean temperatures with associated increased strength of maritime storm events and a rapid increase in ocean acidity which constitute imminent threats to priceless marine cultural heritage. It is thus encouraging to read that new, non-intrusive methods as described in Chapters 4 and 5 allow rapid, in situ monitoring and cataloguing of precious cultural heritage below the waves in response to mounting pressures of climate change.
A number of chapters delve into the symbolic and ritualistic use of water in various cultures. For example, Chapter 7 examines the use of water in Roman theatres and circuses in ancient Spain; while Chapter 8 explores the role of water in sacred wells and underground caves at an ancient sanctuary in Italy, emphasising its practical and spiritual importance. It is fascinating to see the important ritualistic role that water played, especially in freshwater-limited Mediterranean societies. The relation between the biophysical realities in which past societies were living and the cultural relations that this fostered with water is fascinating to observe, especially in contrast to the vast chasm in contemporary society between most people’s lived realities and the biophysical environment around them. These studies show that giving meaning to nature has been an important part of human culture since the beginning and something we may want to foster again in the future to reconnect with the biosphere around us.
Increasingly in a contemporary context, there is a recognition that we need to take a holistic approach to water management within an ecohydrological landscape. This requires an understanding of the competing demands from humans and nature for water resources. It was therefore stimulating to read how water also played an important cultural role in past landscapes. Chapter 17 discusses the cultural significance of aquatic sinkholes in Maya society, and how they represented liminal agents between the aquatic and terrestrial environments. These sinkholes were not only of instrumental function to the Mayans but points in the landscape that invited reflection on the intangible. Chapter 15 also takes a landscape lens to investigate how Neolithic Funnel Beaker societies interacted with water in their landscapes and the, until now, under-appreciated role of wetlands for these societies. For me, these case studies highlight two relevant aspects of how we think about water management today. Firstly, water management tends to be thought of in terms of its instrumental use—that is, how can we manage water resources to provide for society and what role can nature contribute to that through ecosystem services? However, there is a recent shift in this thinking to incorporate the relational and intrinsic values of water, particularly in relation to nature. This collection, therefore, has a great potential to inform our future thinking on how we relate to water. Equally, the study of the Funnel Beaker society reveals, how inadequately we sometimes imagine how past societies may have interacted with their environment. Indeed, in the present, we also face a crisis of imagination and how we can reinvent our relationship with water in a way that is sustainable. Thus, collections such as this are crucial as they show us how societies at different times and places related to water.
I reflect mostly on the contemporary implications one can draw from this collection, as that is my main interest. However, I can also see that the breadth of the collection challenges and encourages historical researchers to reflect on long-held conventions in whatever context they are working. I found this particularly so in Chapter 16 which stimulates a move away from modern dualism around the function of water bodies from instrumental or ritual to a more fluid understanding of these concepts. This fluidity in interpreting the topic of water itself is something the book achieves very well.
