Cement mortar and plaster played an important role in Nabataean life. They used this essential technology from their very earliest years in the desert. Without their special knowledge of cement, the Nabataeans would never have conquered the desert, and would never have risen to the status of a civilization.
Other tribes in the deserts of Arabia lived within the limits that nature put on them. They stayed close to sources of water, and ranged their sheep and camels from there. The Nabataeans on the other hand, built water channels and cisterns far out in the desert to collect the scant rainfall and store it for their use.
Without this knowledge of waterproof cement, the Nabataeans would not have become the far ranging merchants of the Middle East, who easily traversed deserts and inhospitable, barren mountains.
How was it that the Nabataeans developed waterproof cement centuries before its use became common in Europe? In this study, we will begin by examining cement in general, and then looking at how cement was developed and used by other civilizations, especially the Romans. The Romans were contemporary to the later part of the Nabataean Empire, and whose historians recorded for us, how the Romans made and used cement. Lastly, we will look at the special properties of Nabataean cement and speculate about how they developed this amazing technology.