A model of irrigation agriculture is applied to southern Mesopotamian for the areas around Nippur and
Uruk. Field systems around late third millennium BC (Ur III period) cities are modeled in order to
understand the effects of salinization and what strategies might limit progressive salinization that
hinders agricultural yields. Scholars have long suspected that progressive salinization may constrain
irrigation agriculture in southern Mesopotamia. This is not only demonstrated by modeling, but
methods to mitigate the effects of salinization and promote the resilience of agricultural systems are
presented. Strategies that incorporate fallowing regimes and which promote natural and/or engineered
leaching create resilient agricultural systems in which ancient farmers could have made decisions about
when to crop and irrigate based on the effects of salinization. Simulation results not only demonstrate
to what extent and under what conditions salinization could be limited, but also model results indicate
that irrigation-induced salinity could have ultimately become a major constraint to settlements and
agriculture in southern Mesopotamia
