Thirst: for knowledge of the past and lessons for the future -- The water revolution: the origins of water management in the Levant, 1.5 million years ago to 700 BC -- 'The black fields became white/the broad plain was choked with salt': water management and the rise and fall of Sumerian civilisation, 5000-1600 BC -- 'Water is the best thing of all' - Pindar of Thebes, 476 BC: water management by the Minoans, Mycenaeans, and Ancient Greeks, 2100-146 BC -- A watery paradise in Petra: the Nabataeans, masters of the desert, 300 BC-AD 106 -- Building rivers and taking baths: Rome and Constantinople, 400 BC-AD 800 -- A million men with teaspoons: hydraulic engineering in ancient China, 900 BC-AD 907 -- The hydraulic city: water management by the kings of Angkor, AD 802-1327 -- Almost a civilisation: Hohokam irrigation in the American South-West, AD 1-1450 -- Life and death of the water lily monster: water and the rise and fall of Mayan civilisation, 2000 BC-AD 1000 -- Water poetry in the Sacred Valley: hydraulic engineering by the Incas, AD 1200-1572 -- An unquenched thirst: for water and for knowledge of the past.