Iraqi marshland scenes from the early 1970s (top row, from left to right): an elderly Ma'adan, or Marsh Arab, drinks 

 tea; a Ma'adan village floats in open water; villagers collect reeds used for houses, fodder, and fuel; men in a motor- 

 boat tow two canoes. Present-day images mark the changes wrought by time, war, and restoration efforts (bottom 

 row, from left to right): the Great Ziggurat in Ur sits far from the Persian Gulf; desiccated land lacks the wildlife once 

 abundant there; a boy pilots a boat on a lush, reclaimed section of the Hawizeh Marsh; a mortar lies in dry dirt — 

 a reminder of the work yet to be done. 



billion gallons of water through Iraq each year. More 

 than 60 percent of that flow came from the mountains of 

 Kurdistan in spring, fed by melting snow. The low-lying 

 marshes acted as a flood basin, annually refreshed with a 

 large supply of freshwater that was laden with nutrients. 

 The spring flooding of the marshes coincided with the 

 spawning of several fishes and the end of winter dormancy 

 for reeds, and ushered in the annual migration of more 

 than 200 bird species between Siberia and Africa. The 

 Basra reed warbler, the Dalmatian pelican, the Goliath 

 heron, the grey hypocolius, the marbled teal — all thrived 

 in the reedy haven, an ecosystem that lived by the annual 

 pulse of fresh water. 



For millennia, people also relied on the regular influx. 

 Sumerian farmers lived around the perimeter of the 

 marshes and profited from the new layer of silt and clay 

 swept in every year, which renewed the vitality of their 



farmland. Barley, wheat, and rice flourished in the long, 

 moist growing season. 



The marshes also provided the ancient Sumerians and some 

 of their descendants — the Ma'adan — with plentiful fish and 

 wildlife, not to mention an unusual source of construction 

 material: reeds, particularly Phrqgmites australis. That species, 

 which is treated as a pest in the United States, grows as high 

 as thirteen feet tall. The Ma'adan cut and bound the reeds 

 together to make huts and even islands atop the surround- 

 ing water. The reeds were fed to water buffalo and cattle, 

 burned as fuel, bound into boats, and woven into mats. 

 In more ways than one the reeds served as the scaffolding 

 of the marshland. The thick reed grow th helped to slow 

 passing water and trap fine soil particles; some pollutants 

 were absorbed and processed; organic matter built up and 

 supported microscopic life, which in turn fed larger crea- 

 tures. The overall effect was to turn the northern reaches 



November 2007 naturai iiisiory 



5 ' 



