IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v15y2026i6p894-d1948865.html

Geospatial Analysis of Geomorphological and Hydrological Factors Influencing the Site Selection of the Ancient Marib Dam

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Alshami

    (Archaeology Department, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mohamed Metwaly

    (Archaeology Department, College of Tourism and Archaeology, King Saud University, Riyadh 12372, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

The management of water resources is a critical factor in the emergence of civilizations, particularly in arid regions like the Arabian Peninsula. The ancient Marib Dam represents a systematic application of hydraulic planning within the Sabaean civilization. This study analyzes the scientific rationale behind the dam’s site selection by assessing key hydrological and geomorphological factors using Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and Weighted Overlay Analysis (WOA). The analysis revealed that the dam’s location precisely corresponds with a (very high) potential runoff accumulation zone, a critical area constituting only 0.8% of the total landscape studied. By providing this quantitative assessment, this study moves beyond historical interpretation to offer the first geospatial evidence that the dam’s site selection was deliberate and quantitatively informed, establishing a replicable model for the field of archaeohydrology.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Alshami & Mohamed Metwaly, 2026. "Geospatial Analysis of Geomorphological and Hydrological Factors Influencing the Site Selection of the Ancient Marib Dam," Land, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-15, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:15:y:2026:i:6:p:894-:d:1948865
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/15/6/894/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/15/6/894/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:15:y:2026:i:6:p:894-:d:1948865. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.