Abstract The history of two ancient cities, Arad and Jericho, sheds light on the role of groundwater storage in deciding the survival of settlements in arid and semi-arid regions when climate changes take place. Arad, which was dependent on a local perched horizon, was deserted during the global warm periods, which spelled dryness in the Middle East. This was in spite of one of the earliest systems of artificial recharge to groundwater developed by its inhabitants. On the other hand Jericho, which depended on the supply from a perennial spring, fed by a regional aquifer, was almost continuously settled from prehistoric times to the present.