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Article: Irrigation Management
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- Water:Science and Issues
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Irrigation Management
In prehistoric times mankind's food came from hunting, fishing, and gathering of wild fruits and berries. Cultivation of seeds was discovered about 5000 b.c.e. but there was no way to plow the land since the Iron Age (c. 600 b.c.e.) had not yet arrived.
The ancients then discovered that wooden plows could be used in soft soils in
deltas
of large rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia, the Nile in Egypt, the Indus in the Indian subcontinent, and the Yellow in China. Because these are
arid
areas, water was diverted from the rivers by dams and canals and then raised by human or animal-driven devices that are still in use today. The dams and canals, ...