Editing Oasis (section)

===History===
Oases often have human histories that are measured in millennia. Archeological digs at [[Ein Gedi]] in the Dead Sea Valley have found evidence of settlement dating to 6,000 BC.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Life in a Busy Oasis - Archaeology Magazine |url=https://www.archaeology.org/issues/340-1905/letter-from/7568-life-in-a-busy-oasis |access-date=2022-09-23 |website=www.archaeology.org |archive-date=2022-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220923001805/https://www.archaeology.org/issues/340-1905/letter-from/7568-life-in-a-busy-oasis |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Al-Ahsa Oasis|Al-Ahsa]] on the Arabian Peninsula shows evidence of human residence dating to the [[Neolithic]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-01 |title=Spring pool no.1 (Ain al Khudoud) and a water- lifting device, photographed by George Rendel, 1937 |url=https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=158872037&S=R&D=f6h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSeqLI40dvuOLCmsEqep7JSs6y4S7WWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOzpsE2xqbNRuePfgeyx43zx |website=Geographical Magazine |access-date=2022-09-24 |archive-date=2022-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924150608/https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=158872037&S=R&D=f6h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSeqLI40dvuOLCmsEqep7JSs6y4S7WWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOzpsE2xqbNRuePfgeyx43zx |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Anthropology|Anthropologically]], the oasis is "an area of sedentary life, which associates the city [''medina''] or village [''[[ksar]]''] with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system."<ref name="biskra">{{Cite journal |last1=Hadagha |first1=Fatma Zohra |last2=Farhi |first2=Bourhane Eddine |last3=Farhi |first3=Abdallah |last4=Petrisor |first4=Alexandru Ionut |date=2018-12-29 |title=Multifunctionality of the oasis ecosystem. Case study: Biskra Oasis, Algeria |url=https://ijcua.com/index.php/ijcua/article/view/111 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=31–39 |doi=10.25034/ijcua.2018.4716 |s2cid=165113883 |issn=2475-6156 |doi-access=free |access-date=2022-09-22 |archive-date=2022-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922025708/https://ijcua.com/index.php/ijcua/article/view/111 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of [[Awjila]], [[Ghadames]] and [[Kufra]], situated in modern-day [[Libya]], have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west [[Trans-Saharan trade|trade in the Sahara Desert]]. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the [[Niger River]] to [[Tangier]], Morocco.<ref name="aeon" /> The [[Silk Road]] "traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as [[Turpan]] in China and [[Samarkand]] in Uzbekistan."<ref name="aeon" />

According to the United Nations, "Oases are at the very heart of the overall development of peri-Saharan countries due to their geographical location and the fact they are preferred migration routes in times of famine or insecurity in the region."<ref name="fao" />

Oases in [[Oman]], on the [[Arabian Peninsula]] near the [[Persian Gulf]], vary somewhat from the Saharan form. While still located in an arid or semi-arid zone with a date palm overstory, these oases are usually located ''below plateaus'' and "watered either by springs or by [[Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman|''aflaj'']], tunnel systems dug into the ground or carved into the rock to tap underground aquifers." This rainwater harvesting system "never developed a serious salinity problem."<ref name="Jaradat" />

[[File:Oman-Oasis.jpg|thumb|Oasis in Oman]]
[[File:Khattara.png|thumb|Diagram of khattara system]]