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.
Alshami et al. (2026) studied this question.