Hervé Reculeau is a historian of Syria and Mesopotamia in the second millennium BCE. His research centers on the interaction between humans and their environment, irrigation practices and devices, and agricultural works and techniques. He is the Principal Investigator for the Humanities Without Walls sponsored project Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity (Chicago-Michigan-Purdue). His publications relevant to the current topic are Climate, Environment and Agriculture in Assyria in the 2nd Half of the 2nd Millennium BCE (Harrassowitz, 2011) and Florilegium marianum XVI. L’agriculture irriguée au royaume de Mari: essai d’histoire des techniques (SEPOA, 2018). Reculeau is Associate Professor in the Oriental Institute, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the College at the University of Chicago.