2020 | Building Peace through Heritage
waterfowl, bird eggs, and rice), burning senescent vegetation to stimulate new growth, spatial and temporal
restriction of fish harvest during spawning, and landscape patch management. These management practices
were beneficial for reed growth and biomass production, maintained diverse patch dynamics, and increased
microhabitat diversity. As a result of this long history of human management, the Marshes are a culturalized
landscape, with the selective harvesting of more than eight different sizes and textures of reeds, the use of
fire, and hunting and fishing. Reeds were also used for building boats and rafts, houses, guesthouses and
weaving mats, and baskets for sale.( Thesiger,1954), (Nadia and Kelly and Bayan and Michelle,2016).
Fig.4 - The role of the Marshland people in transportation and collecting reeds, www.nationalgeographic.com
Settlement patterns
There are four major patterns of settlement and economic exploitation for the people living in or near the
marshes depending on the nature of the marshes such as the surface, weather conditions, types of vegetation
and water quality. These differences have important implications for deciding who are to be the beneficiaries
of the marshlands program. They represent different patterns of exploitation for those who are living in
marsh or on its periphery, or were forced into internal or external exile: The first type is Settlements on the
Edges of the Marshes. They are built on areas of high ground at the edges of the marshes and called salaf
or villages, while they are called nazl in the Euphrates marshes. Each village consists of between 100 and
300 small huts, depending on the location and the density of population. Villages are found close to the
banks of rivers. Each village has one or more guest houses (mudhif) from which the clan’s affairs are run.
The settlements on the edges of the marshes tend to be larger in size than other types of settlement in the
marshes. In these settings, the homes are almost made of mud and brick, due to their proximity to urban
areas. (Salim, 1962). (Jadran, 2010).
Fig.5 - The different patterns of marshland settlements, www.mystypic.com
The second category is Settlements on Natural Islands where marshes become a number of islands in water
areas. The people who live on natural islands tend to breed water buffalo, and marsh Arabs call these islands
ishan. These islands sit about 3m above the water level, and they are apparent during dry season, while some
of them are flooded during the wet season. The small islands consist of 30-40 huts made of reed or rushes,
while larger islands could reach 500 huts.A third distinction, Settlements on Permanent Artificial Islands,
consists of small man-made islands which float on the surface of the water and on which marsh dwellers
build their homes. They are created because of the lack of dry land especially during the wet season, and due
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