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 Why are we so strongly drawn to water? Since 1960 there has been compelling evidence that humans evolved from apes living in coastal swamps and rivers.
In the beginning
We may have evolved differently from the apes because of a life spent in water. We walk upright on two legs - the only way to wade in water. We are hairless, unlike our near relatives the chimps, and have different skin. In common with aquatic mammals we have a large layer of fat - a more efficient insulator than fur underwater. Babies are born with this fat and unlike the young of apes can float from birth.
There are other factors - we can consciously control our breathing for diving and swimming (apes can't) which may also have helped us to develop speech - also useful if only your head is protruding from the water.
We have hard enamelled teeth and used stone tools - as do shellfish-eating coastal populations of Capuchin monkeys, and Sea otters (but not chimps).
A diet of fish and shellfish helped our brains to grow faster than other ape species, speeding our separation from other hominids.
If these theories are right (and far from everyone agrees) we may have evolved from a life in nature's water garden. An affinity with water is only natural.
Food and water
Agriculture and horticulture, irrigation and fish farming saw the first man-made water features. Then when food and water was secure, there was leisure time to beautify the canals, to nurture aquatic plants, and to breed fish as colourful pets. Formally-shaped ponds, and artfully diverted streams produced the first water gardens, possibly in Persia.
 In Japan water gardens were produced in imitation of the landscape -miniature lakes flanked by tiny mountain-like rocks.
Back home
Water can also be used for protection. Whole communities were built in lakes, and later moats, often more like cess pits than anything ornamental, surrounded some castles.
No great English estate was complete without a lake, and water was often diverted from the dam to fountains and other water features.
As overseas travel became more common, more exotic ideas, designs and plants reached Britain in the 18th century, and there was no stopping the growth of water gardening
So if those are a few of the reasons why water, in every sense is in our blood, what are our modern day options? |
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