Historic human settlements

Human Influences at the River Ebro Watershed 6.1 Historic Human Settlements... 

Historically, human settlement in the region was dependent on traditional agriculture as a basis, eventually followed by urbanization and industrial activities. In the past 150 years, a number of proposals were made, but none convinced or demonstrated the possibility of improving local arid conditions of inland central Australia. It may be that the chronic lack of freshwater and salt-ridden soils in the Lake Eyre Basin do not allow for the traditional agriculture economy. 

This chapter describes the main physical characteristics of the Ebro River, including the watershed orography, the biogeography and vegetation, the climatic and hydrological characteristics, and the soil type and biogeochemistry of river Ebro waters. The Ebro watershed has historically served as nucleus and connection for humans human settlements are known since pre-historic years and nowadays the river water chemistry cannot be understood without the anthropogenic effects. Therefore, the potential effects of human activities at the Ebro watershed are analyzed. 

Keywords Aral Sea, Archaeology, Climate, Historical written sources. Human settlement, Palaeogeography, Water levels... 

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