Lecture 1 – Ancient Civilizations and Technological Determinism Ancient Technological Development

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  Tool use for hunting and gathering (2 million years ago)
  
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  Agricultural Revolution (12000 years ago)
  

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  Urban revolution, 6000 years ago
  
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  Irrigation agriculture, management of flood water and fertilization, agricultural surplus and population increase
  
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  Management of surplus led to centralized government, taxation
  
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  Hydraulic engineering included: canals, dams, reservoirs, ditches, land drainage, artificial lakes
  
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  Slave labor, centralized bureaucracies, armies, tax collectors, scribes, specialized labor, priests, educational institutions
  
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  Social stratification, management and labor
  
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  Environmental circumscription: society restricted to particular areas due to need for water, slavery
  
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  Independent hydrological kingdoms:
  
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    3500 BC, Mesopotamia
    
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    3400 BC, Egypt
    
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    2500 BC, Indus River Valley
    
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    1800 BC, Yellow River
    
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    600 BC Ionia, Greece (Hellenic)
    
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    500 BC, MesoAmerica
    
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    300 BC, South America
    

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  Bronze (copper + tin), “bronze age”
  
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  1100 C furnaces, mining, smelting, metal currency, specialized labor
  
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  Large engineering projects, slavery or conscripted labor
  
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  Employment of workers in the off season, government power
  
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  The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Great Wall of China, the Grand Canal, the Temple of the Sun
  

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  Writing and Mathematics
  

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  Writing and mathematics in all civilizations, practical orientation, surveying, calculating and recording taxes, managing agricultural surplus, exchange
  
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  State schools, writing and economic transactions, transfer of knowledge, literary and religious traditions
  

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  Sumerian and Babylonian base 60 (sexigesimal) number system, 60 minute hour, 60 second minute, and 360 degree circle
  
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  Astronomy, astrology, calendars, agriculture, transactions, religious events
  
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  State supported anatomy, herbology and surgery
  

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  Karl Wittfogel, hydraulic determinism: centralized control of water regimes using hydraulic engineering leads to autocratic government
  

Medieval Dutch Hydraulic Engineering

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  European rainfall, thick, wet soil, iron–shod plough and oxen
  
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  Field rotation, crop, fallow, manure, population increase
  
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  Horse-collar, increased horse population, cavalry, stirrups
  

Hydraulic Engineering in Holland

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  Limited land for farming, starvation, disease and warfare
  
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  Holland below sea level, hydraulic engineering to create farmland
  
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  Drainage of marshland using canals
  
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  Reciprocal effect: draining one area led to flooding in another, draining led to lowering of land further below sea level
  
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  Simple technological developments and unexpected consequences
  

Coordination and Control

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  13th century: dikes (embankments to hold in water), dams (blocking rivers), sluices (canal with gates), and drainage canals
  
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  1100 and 1300 hundreds of dikes and dams
  
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  Excluding external water meant more flooding
  
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  Polders: units of land at the same water level with shared drainage system, labor and capital intensive
  
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  System of autonomous water boards, predated government
  
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  No central co-ordination, taxes and public works local
  
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  The water boards were responsible for: regular inspection of facilities, recommending repair, supervising and organizing labour and materials, collecting taxes, dispute resolution
  
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  Management of problem, hydrological hypothesis, unintended consequences, technological fix, environmental changes