The irrigation systems were built up more slowly than Lowdermilk thought, not reaching their apex until about the birth of Christ. By then erosion was already epidemic. Societies throughout the Fertile Crescent had cut down forests to build cities and, especially, feed the forges that made bronze and iron. Without tree cover, the hills could not retain water; floods destroyed canals downstream. The same biblical peoples who had created the great city of Babylon set in motion its destruction. Islam and goats had little impact. And the failure to restore the land was due not to nomadic peoples
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