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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

We took a hiatus from the daily posts, but hope to return to them in the next few weeks! Thanks for noticing!

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New Lines Magazine @newlinesmag.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

"The practice of goldsmithing, like many of our Mandaean rituals, is fading into history. The craft that had once flowed through the veins of our family like a confluence of streams, canals and waterways is now about to dry up."

newlinesmag.com

The Weight of Gold: A Mandaean Journey Through Exile

Cut off from the society that nourished their way of life, the followers of this ancient Gnostic religion are slowly disappearing

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Jeff Manuel @jeffmanuel.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

As Twain wrote, the Mississippi River is well worth reading about. If you agree—and you should—check out @boyceupholt.bsky.social's book THE GREAT RIVER, which I had the pleasure of reviewing for H-environment. www.h-net.org/reviews/show... 🗃️ #EnvHist

h-net.org

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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

"Why would people still want to work at the mine? Practically speaking, this was more a question of home, and people wanting to stay living in the community where their families had lived, worked, and died for generations." - @historiamagoria.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2020/10/29/t... #envhist

niche-canada.org

The Town (Once) Called Asbestos

Local and familial understandings of place and risk are unique and personal. For that to change requires time and, to some extent, mourning.

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

To answer the obvious question yes we do cover the waterways filled with poop

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

What resource comes to mind when you think of the Persian Gulf? If you're the worst merchant in Ur, probably copper A sheltered sea, the Gulf has long served as a mini-Mediterranean permitting seaborne trade In 1750 BCE, that trade included Sumer and Dilmun, where Ea-Nasir got his subpar copper

A satellite imagery of the Persian Gulf almost entirely sheltered by the surrounding Arabian Peninsula and Iran, with a small outlet at the Strait of Hormuz to the southeast

Screenshots from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Top half: Captain Norrington saying "You are without doubt the worst copper mechant I've ever heard of."

Bottom half: Jack Sparrow but with the face of a bearded Sumerian figurine saying "But you've heard of me."

For more background on the meme: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complaint_tablet_to_Ea-n%C4%81%E1%B9%A3ir

A bull's head made of copper found in Bahrain from the Dilmun period (c. 2000 BCE), a few hundred years before the infamous complaint letter to Ea-Nasir. Source: Ciacho5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coper_head_of_bull_Dilmun1.jpg

A map of the ancient Middle East around 2,500-2000 BCE, with Sumer in what is now southern Iraq circled in orange and Dilmun in what is now Bahrain, Qatar, and eastern Saudi Arabia circled in red. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moyen_Orient_3mil_aC.svg

#MiddleEast #Sumer #AncientHistory #History #Bahrain #SaudiArabia #Qatar #Iraq #EaNasir #Meme #Copper

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

The Gulf of Mexico, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, *and* the Persian Gulf We're tired. So tired. Follow @waterways-project.bsky.social

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Catherine Duigan @cduigan.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

“our multitude of #rivers is another powerful image that represents what #Wales is about – connection, and people, and politics, and the use of resources, and where history is remembered and legends are made." @raehowells.bsky.social @arachnepress.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

theguardian.com

Publisher behind hit bilingual poetry book on A470 turns to Welsh rivers

Arachne Press says Afonydd (Rivers) was inspired by success of A470: Poems for the Road/Cerddi’r Ffordd

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Did you know there was a sixth Great Lake for three weeks? In 1998, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy passed a law naming Lake Champlain a Great Lake so Vermont could get money to study it under a Great Lakes program An uproar from Midwest senators quickly reversed the move, but Vermont kept the money

A photo of US Senator Patrick Leahy greeting US President Bill Clinton in 1993

A map showing the five Great Lakes and Lake Champlain

A photo of the Lake Champlain Valley from Rattlesnake Mountain, NY. Source: Annacecchini, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Champlain_Valley.jpg

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

It may look cute, but did you know the North American river otter is kind of a dick? Native to Canada and the US, it's a trickster in many Indigenous cultures In an Ojibwe story, the otter tricked the bear into losing its tail by saying it could catch fish by sticking its tail into freezing water

A picture of a North American river otter looking cute as hell. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:North_American_river_otter.jpg

A map showing the distribution of the North American river otter across most of Canada, the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast US, and Southeast US. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LontraCanadensisMap.svg

Bowl in the form of an otter, Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka, Alaska, U.S, 2023. Source: Joe Mabel, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheldon_Jackson_Museum_-_Otter_bowl_01.jpg

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 03/05/2025

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

Is Lake Superior actually a lake, or a sea pretending? It's a lake in English, but it's “Ojibwa’s Great Sea” in Ojibwe, an apt name given it's the world's largest freshwater body Superior's sea-ness has made it useful for shipping, with lakers like the Edmund Fitzgerald hauling Minnesota iron ore

A satellite photo of Lake Superior with some cloud cover

A map of the Native language families around the Great Lakes, with the Chippewa (Ojibwa) family surrounding Lake Superior

Ojibwe people gathering wild rice in boats in wetlands in Minnesota, 1934. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wild_rice_harvesting_and_processing_-_NARA_-_285184.tif?page=1

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1971. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edmund_Fitzgerald,_1971,_3_of_4_(restored;_cropped).jpg

#Minnesota #GreatLakes #Lakes #Rivers #EnvHistory #NativeHistory #Michigan #Wisconsin #EdmundFitzgerald #GordonLightfood #US #Canada #UnitedStates

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Charlie Wilson’s Waaagh @leyeetsansjoie.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Unbelievably on brand for Faneuil Hall to be built on trash lmao

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Catherine Prendergast @badtoss.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

I was today years old when I learned this. HOLY CRAP.

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Did you know the Founding Fathers wouldn't recognize modern Boston? Located on the Shawmut Peninsula, 1700s Boston was almost an island Land reclamation in the 1800s changed the city's coastline, filling in the location of the Boston Tea Party and creating the entire Back Bay neighborhood

Early map of Boston showing the neck. From the collection of en:Historic New England. The blue line shows present-day Washington Street. Source: Historic New England, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BostonNeck.jpg

A map showing 'Old Boston' as it existed prior to land reclamation in the 19th century on the Shawmut Peninsula and 'New Boston,' all the land added during the 19th century land reclamations, including all of the modern-day waterfront and the Public Garden. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oldandnewboston.jpg

"The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor" by Nathayel Corrier, 1846. The portion of Boston Harbor in which the colonists threw tea is now on dry land.

An aerial view of Back Bay next to the Charles River in Boston, 2004. Prior to reclamation in the 1800s, the Back Bay was literally the bay back behind the Boston Peninsula. Source: Sfoskett https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boston_Back_Bay.jpg

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Danielle Johnson @dwhren.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

This reminds me of how I just learned on a @fullstorybaltimore.tours tour that Water Street in Baltimore is named Water Street because it just to be the street that abutted the water before they filled it in and created the land that is now south of there.

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

We have updated our Waterwork Tier rankings to include Maori Agricultural Adaptations, the Dambuster Raid, and Boston's Land Reclamations What do you think?

A tier ranking
S-tier: Dujiangyan, Hawaiian Aquaculture Ponds
A-tier: Boston Land Reclamation, Missisippi Levees, Dambuster Raid, Suez Canal
B-tier: Andean terraces, Kiel Canal, Kilimanjaro Home Gardens, Maori Agriculture Adaptations, Rhine-Danube Canal
C-tier: Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, Gezira Scheme, Kra Canal
D-tier: GAP Project, Itaipu Dam, Tabqa Dam

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Jjinandtonic @jjinandtonic.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Brb fixing the Bay area’s housing problem by filling in the bay and building houses there

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Boston almost certainly has more reclaimed land than any other city in North America Here's historian Nancy Seasholes explaining how the city used trash and large chunks of Beacon Hill to fill in Back Bay and other areas of the city

youtu.be

Boston's History of Made Land | Inundation District | Clip | Local, USA

YouTube video by WORLD

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Charles Louis Richter @richterscale.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

this looks like a map of the Forbidden Sector of Boston, uninhabitable to baseline humans since the Calamity. none know the horrors that may be breeding within its unknown depths, but we keep watch day and night from outposts on the harbor, ever vigilant against its fell threat

a simple, old map of boston harbor, in which the section of "Old Boston" surrounded by waterways is completely blacked out except for the name and an outline of boston common, plus washington st.

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

youtu.be

Boston's History of Made Land | Inundation District | Clip | Local, USA

YouTube video by WORLD

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Did you know the Vikings made swords from swamp water? Groundwater from a spring carries dissolved iron; when this water reaches a bog, acidity and certain bacteria can turn it into iron oxide Sifting this out, one gets ore to make "bog iron", the main source of iron in Scandinavia until ~1300 CE

A photo of iron oxidizing bacteria visible in surface water with its reddish-brown color, 2006. Source: NH Estuaries Project, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iron_bacteria_in_runoff.JPG

A lump of bog iron (limonite) ore, 2005. Source: Tomasz Kuran aka Meteor2017, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Limonite_bog_iron_cm02.jpg

Derby Museum Viking Sword found in Repton. Source: Roger from Derby, UK, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Derby_Museum_Viking_Sword.jpg

An excerpt from a c.1100 manuscript showing the Viking attack on Guérande, France, with the Vikings wearing identifiably iron armor and wileding iron swords. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Viking_attack_on_Gu%C3%A9rande,_from_a_Saint-Aubin_MS_(cropped).jpg

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Did you know Star Wars' Death Star attack was inspired by exploding dams? During WWII, the RAF launched Operation Chastise, which used 'bouncing' bombs to destroy Germany's Möhne and Eder dams The raid was subject of the 1955 film 'The Dam Busters,' which inspired the climax of 1977's A New Hope

Movie still, showing an inert, practice version of the Upkeep bouncing bomb being dropped during a training flight by members of RAF 617 Squadron at Reculver bombing range, Kent. The bomb's designer, Barnes Wallis, and others watch the practice bomb strike the shoreline. Source: Imperial War Museums, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bouncing_bomb_training_-_IWM_FLM_2343.jpg

Photograph of the breached Möhne Dam taken by Flying Officer Jerry Fray of No. 542 Squadron from his Spitfire PR IX, six Barrage balloons are above the dam. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mohne_Dam_Breached.jpg

A still from 1955's 'The Dam Busters' showing a pilot in a cockpit during a bombing raid

A screenshot of Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing cockpit during his bombing raid in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

At least it didn't have a nuclear bomb on it this time

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

At least it didn't have a nuclear bomb on it this time

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

The Romans called the Mediterranean "Our Sea," but did the Etruscans get the last laugh? A major power in Italy before Rome, the Etruscans ('Tyrrhenians' in Greek) were conquered by their more famous neighbor But their name lives on in the arm of the Mediterranean west of Italy: the Tyrrhenian Sea

Etruscan; Head of a youth; Terracottas, 3rd-2nd century BCE. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Terracotta_head_of_a_youth_MET_DP119670.jpg

A map showing the extent of Etruria and the Etruscan civilization. The map includes the 12 cities of the Etruscan League and notable cities founded by the Etruscans, 750-500 BCE. Source: NormanEinstein, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Etruscan_civilization_map.png

A map showing the central Mediterranean, with the Tyrrhenian Sea being the arm of the Mediterranean between Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and Siciliy. Source: NormanEinstein, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tyrrhenian_Sea_map.png

Sunset at Marchesana beach behind Tindari cape and Calavà Cape at Terme Vigliatore, Sicily. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Merchesana_beach_in_Terme_Vigliatore,_Sicily.JPG

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

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Ashok Swain @ashoswai.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

I explain why suspending the Indus Waters Treaty is a bad idea. Doing this, India doesn't stop Pakistan's share of water flowing into Pakistan, and it also helps the illegitimate government & unpopular army chief in Pakistan to use it for their survival. www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/why-...

nationalheraldindia.com

Why suspending the Indus Waters Treaty is a bad idea

The attempt to weaponise the Treaty is not only impractical, it has dangerous long-term diplomatic and political consequences

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

The Gulf of Mexico, the Panama Canal, *and* the Suez Canal. WTF is it with these people and waterways? Follow @waterways-project.bsky.social

Gulf of Mexico naming meme, but instead of saying Gulf of Mexico it says "Gulf of Waterways Don't Seem Like Such a Niche Topic Now Huh Dad"

#GulfofMexico

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Did you know 'Ratty' from the children's book Wind in the Willows isn't actually a rat? He's a water vole, a semi-aquatic rodent most closely related to lemmings and hamsters Water voles reside in small burrows on the banks of rivers, with Ratty's home believed to be on the River Pang in Berkshire

Frontispiece to a 1913 illustrated edition of the children's book' Wind in the Willows' showing Ratty in his riverside home. The removed caption was 'It was the water rat'.

A water vole in Surrey peaking out of a hole in the river bank. Source: Peter Trimming, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Hello%22_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2882854.jpg

Water vole seen at the British Wildlife Centre, Newchapel, Surrey. Source: Peter Trimming from Croydon, England, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Water_Vole_(5522127259).jpg

The River Pang in Moor Coprse, believed to be the setting of the children's story 'Wind in the Willows', 2012. Source: Steve Daniels, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_River_Pang_in_Moor_Copse_-_geograph.org.uk_-_3026367.jpg

#Fiction #WindintheWillows #ChildrensLit #Literature #Classic #England #Cute #Vole #Water #River #Fuzzy

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molly @bugmom.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

yearning for this way of life

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

The Kakhovka Reservoir's emptying is expected to have decades-long impacts on the ecology of southern Ukraine Here's a video explaining some of its effects

youtu.be

Why the Kakhovka Dam is a Turning Point for Ukraine’s Wilderness

YouTube video by Terra Mater

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Is Ukraine's Dneiper River still a river, or something else? The USSR built six dams along the Dneiper, forming a series of lakes that make up >500 miles of its ~700 mile length in Ukraine In 2023, Russian forces invading Ukraine breached one of the dams, emptying its lake and flooding thousands

The painting "Dneiper in the morning" (1881) by Arkhip Kuindzhi. Source: Tretyakov Gallery, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archip_Iwanowitsch_Kuindshi_001.jpg

A map of the Dneiper River in Ukraine showing (from north-to-south) the Kyiv Reservoir, Kaniv Reservoir, Kremenchuk Reservoir, Kamianske Reservoir, Dneiper Reservoir, and Kakhovka Reservoir

An aerial view of the Dnipro Dam at Zaporizhia in Ukraine, 2018. Source: Anatoliy Volkov, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%94%D0%BD%D1%96%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B5%D1%81_%D0%B7_%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B8.jpg

Before-and-after satellite imagery showing the Kakhovka Reservoir on 7 June 2022, prior to the breach of the Kakhovka Dam, and on 18 June 2023, afterwards. The after photo shows much of the water emptied out. Source: NASA, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ukrainereservoir_oli2_2023169.jpg

#Russia #Ukraine #UKR #Warfare #Military

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NiCHE Canada @nichecanada.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Today on our site we have "Coastal economies rely on NOAA, from Maine to Florida, Texas & Alaska – even if they don’t realize it" by Christine Keiner Part of our Tracking the Effects: Environmental History & the Current United States Federal Administration series. niche-canada.org/2025/04/25/c...

niche-canada.org

Coastal economies rely on NOAA, from Maine to Florida, Texas and Alaska – even if they don’t realize it

NOAA protects coastal ecosystems, supports fisheries, combats invasive species, restores coral reefs, and leads climate research vital to the U.S. economy.

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

The Kakhovka Reservoir's emptying is expected to have decades-long impacts on the ecology of southern Ukraine Here's a video explaining some of its effects

youtu.be

Why the Kakhovka Dam is a Turning Point for Ukraine’s Wilderness

YouTube video by Terra Mater

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Would you be comfortable fighting for your life on a frozen lake? In 1242, Novgorod lured the Teutonic Knights into battle on frozen Lake Peipus, with its slipperiness leading to a Teutonic defeat The "Battle on the Ice" is a major battle in Russian historiography; others consider it a skirmish

A bike standing on frozen Lake Peipus in Estonia, 2014. Source: Mädaralane, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jalgrattaga_Peipsi_j%C3%A4rve_j%C3%A4%C3%A4l.JPG

A map of Estonia and Latvia in the 1260, with the Terra Mariana comprising most of present-day Latvia and Estonia, the Republic of Novgorod just to the east, and Lake Peipus circled in red forming the border between the two. The lake forms parts of the boundary between Estonia and Russia to this day. Source: Termer, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Medieval_Livonia_1260.svg

A historical reenactor on a horse dressed in Teutonic livery, 2010. Source: Silar, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carpathian_Bazaar_of_Tastes,_Sanok_Mrzyg%C5%82%C3%B3d_2010_05.JPG

A Russian stamp from 1992 depicting Prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky defeating the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of the Ice, issued for the 750th anniversary of the battle. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StampRussia1992CPA5.jpg

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Waterways @waterways-project.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

The Battle on the Ice is probably best known for being the climax of the classic Soviet film Alexander Nevsky (1938) One of the most influential battle scenes in movie history, it also introduced the unfounded belief the battle ended with the lake's ice cracking and drowning the Teutonic Knights

youtu.be

Eisenstein / Prokofiev – Alexander Nevsky – The Battle of the Ice

YouTube video by Furrer25

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People's Government of the Pelargir Commune 🇺🇦🇱🇹🇵🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @dov.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Not even the only Teutonic loss on frozen water! Thirty years later they were defeated by the Lithuanians /on the frozen Gulf of Riga/ where the latter made a shield wall from sledges they had brought to cart raiding loot around en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...

en.m.wikipedia.org

Battle of Karuse - Wikipedia

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Joep Janssen @joepjanssen.com · 24/04/2025

For centuries, the Dutch have lived with water — facing floods, building together, and turning danger into innovation. From ancient terps to the Delta Plan, it's a story of resilience and ingenuity. 🔗 watersnoodmuseum.nl/en/water-kno...