Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction: an inter-disciplinary approach to water, life and civilisation; Part I. Past, Present and Future Climate: 2. The present day climate of the Middle East; 3. Past climates of the Middle East; 4. Future climates of the Middle East; 5. Connecting climate and hydrological models for impact studies; Part II. The Palaeoenvironmental Record: 6. A review of palaeoclimates and palaeoenvironments in the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean from 25,000 to 5000 years BP; 7. Palaeoenvironments of the Southern Levant from 5000 BP to the present day; 8. Using proxy data, historical climate data and climate models to investigate aridification during the Holocene; 9. Palaeoenvironmental and limnological reconstruction of Lake Lisan and the Dead Sea; Part III. Hydrological Studies of the Jordan Valley: 10. The impacts of climate change on rainfall-runoff in the upper River Jordan: methodology and first projections; 11. Modelling Dead Sea levels and rainfall: past, present and future; 12. The hydrology of the Wadi Faynan; 13. Future projections of water availability in a semi-arid region of the eastern Mediterranean: a case study of Wadi Hasa, Jordan; Part IV. Human Settlement, Climate Change, Hydrology and Water Management: 14. The archaeology of water management in the Jordan Valley, 21,000 BP (19,000 BC) - AD 900; 15. From global climate change to local impact in Wadi Faynan, southern Jordan: ten millennia of human settlement in its hydrological context; 16. Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction at Beidha, southern Jordan (ca.18,000-8,500 BP): implications for human occupation during the Natufian and pre-pottery Neolithic; 17. The influence of water on Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age settlement patterns in the southern Levant; 18. Modelling water resources and climate change at the Bronze Age site of Jawa in northern Jordan: a new approach utilising stochastic simulation techniques; 19. A millennium of rainfall, settlement and water-management at Humayma, southern Jordan, 100 BC-900 AD; Part V. Palaeo-Economies and Developing Archaeological Methodologies: 20. The reconstruction of diet and environment in ancient Jordan by carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of human and animal remains; 21. Irrigation and phytolith formation: an experimental study; 22. An investigation into the archaeological application of carbon stable isotope analysis used to establish crop water availability: solutions and ways forward; 23. Past plant use in Jordan as revealed by archaeological and ethnoarchaeological phytolith signatures; Part VI. Society, Economy and Water Today: 24. Current water demands and future strategies under changing climatic conditions; 25. Water reuse for irrigated agriculture in Jordan: soil sustainability, perceptions and management; 26. Social equity issues and water supply under conditions of 'water stress': a study of low- and high-income households in Greater Amman, Jordan; 27. The role of water and land management policies in contemporary socio-economic development in Wadi Faynan; 28. Political discourses and public narratives on water supply issues in Amman, Jordan; Part VII. Conclusions: 29. Overview and reflections: 20,000 years of water and human settlement in the southern Levant; Index.