On the Margins: Enduring Pre-Modern Water Management Strategies In and Around the Registan Desert, Afghanistan

ABSTRACT

The Registan Desert in southern Afghanistan has, like most deserts, traditionally been regarded as a barren, hostile space, devoid of human occupation other than occasional nomad campsites and an isolated 11th-century a.d. fortress. Detailed analysis of a strip of high resolution satellite imagery available through Google Earth and stretching into the Registan has revealed the presence of over 800 hitherto unrecorded archaeological sites. Many of these sites relate to water management, and predate the modern era. The water installations form networks of sites which facilitated the opportunistic exploitation of grazing following periodic rains, desert farming, travel, trade and exchange over hundreds of years, if not longer. Extrapolating from this detailed analysis, we argue that thousands of other sites have yet to be discovered in the Registan. These water management networks warrant further study in the field and protection from neglect, construction, recreational four-wheel driving, and looting.

KEYWORDS:

• Afghanistan
• Google Earth
• water
• Registan
• pastoral nomads

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Suzanna Nikolovski who spent many hours studying satellite images of the Study Areas with us, and Claudia Zipfel who acted as the project cartographer. The ASAGE project was initially funded by a generous grant from the Cary Robertson Fund, Trinity College, Cambridge. The staff of the Afghan Heritage Mapping Project at the Oriental Institute of the University Chicago—particularly Emily Hammer, Kathryn Franklin and Anthony Lauricella—generously shared their knowledge as our research interests converged, as did Gil Stein. Three anonymous reviewers provided numerous insightful comments on a draft of this paper.

Notes on contributors

David C. Thomas (Ph.D. 2012, La Trobe University) is an Honorary Associate at La Trobe University. His research interests include water exploitation, the use of space, and satellite archaeology. He directs the ASAGE project and has extensive fieldwork experience in north Africa, the Near East, and Central Asia.

Fiona J. Kidd (Ph.D. 2005, University of Sydney) is Assistant Professor of History and Art and Art History at New York University Abu Dhabi. Her research interests include identity, images and the built environment, craft production, and exchange. She specializes in pre-Islamic Central Asian visual art and has participated in research projects and fieldwork in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Afghanistan.

Supplemental Data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at doi:10.1080/00934690.2016.1262188.