BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Irrigation Resurrected in South Thailand - Janice Stargardt\, Prof
 essorial Research Fellow in Asian Historical Archaeology & Geography
DTSTART:20111124T123000Z
DTEND:20111124T140000Z
UID:TALK33609@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Professor Michael Bravo
DESCRIPTION:While carrying out environmental surveys in Songkhla Province\
 , South Thailand in the 1980s\, my research group and I identified a numbe
 r of ancient canals and storage tanks on aerial photographs. Their existen
 ce was verified by ground truthing and further research uncovered an exten
 sive irrigation system covering some 800 sq. km. Most of these works were 
 heavily sedimented and no longer functional\,  exceptions being small area
 s of the storage tanks which were being exploited as beds for rice seedlin
 gs. Eventually my group cored all parts of this system so as to establish 
 the original profiles of depth\, breadth and\, where possible\, significan
 t stages of their history of maintenance and neglect. This work included m
 easurements of slope\, rainfall and calculations of probable water movemen
 t. We prepared new maps of this area with corrections to place names\, top
 ography and representing the ancient irrigation system. These maps were im
 mediately adopted by the Royal Thai Ordinance Survey Department and attrac
 ted the attention of the King of Thailand. He provided funds for the initi
 al reconstruction of a segment of the irrigation system\; the work was com
 pleted recently by the Irrigation Department of the Ministry of Agricultur
 e in cooperation with myself. Its resurrection has had a major impact on t
 he harvests obtained by the farming families of these districts.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Department of Geography\, Downing Site
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR