water buffalo

Description

The Iraqi Marches: "The reed houses that form part of the distinctive culture of the Ma'dan, or Marsh Arabs, of southeastern Iraq are an architectural achievement since they are the only economical and heat preventive option possible. Descended partly from the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, this seminomadic people, now numbering perhaps 200,000, have for millennia inhabited Lake Hammar and the surrounding marshlands in the Tigris-Euphrates Delta, about 320 kilometers south of Baghdad. Not only have they developed a sophisticated answer to humid summers but also used only a single building material, the stalks of the prolific giant reed but they have also created the very land upon which their houses and farmsteads stand. Heat insulating and biodegradible, this material can be recycled once the Mudhifs have served their purpose by shredding them and either using them as animal feed or fiber binder for mud cakes. The Ma'dan villages are irregular clusters of small islands constructed by alternating layers of reed mats and layers of mud dredged from the marsh bottom. Thus, paradoxically, much of the fertile land is actually floating on the water. Each island has its house and buffalo paddock, and communication between them is by means of narrow canoes of bitumen-coated wood, propelled through the shallow water with long poles . The Ma'dan support their communities by fishing, hunting waterfowl and pigs, breeding water buffalo and growing crops of paddy rice and great millet. Many domestic necessities such as beds, cots, baskets, and canoe poles are woven from reeds. Until recently the Ma'dan have lived in harmony with the ecosystem of their harsh but bountiful environment. The distinctive house form has a long pedigree, being illustrated on a clay plaque dating from the fourth 4000 B.C found in excavations of Sumerian Uruk. The reed house is constructed around a framework made by tying the giant reeds to make bundles that taper from about 45 to 15 centimeters. The thick ends are stuck into the mud floor of the island in opposing pairs and then bent and bound together, with a substantial overlap at the top, to form a row of parallel arches. The builders even use a tripod of bundled reeds as scaffolding for this part of the work. The primary frames are stabilized with closely spaced, much thinner reed bundles around the perimeter of the house. The completed framework is covered with intricately woven split-reed mats to form the integrated walls and roof. The upper parts of the end walls are enclosed with a curtain of the same material, and four or five reed "columns" are erected to support a framework to which a decorative mat is fixed. Furnishings are sparse: the reed floors are covered with carpets, and there is a clay hearth for making coffee and baking bread. The unique culture of the Marsh iraqis is in danger largely as a result of their isolation, they have maintained their traditions and were untouched even by Turkish and British colonialism. A major drainage scheme was proposed in a 1951 report drafted by British engineers commissioned by the Iraqi government. Within two years of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran regained the territory, including the marshlands, which resulted in a counter attack by Saddam Hussein's regime. The marsh dwellers fled as Saddam's army sent enormous electrical currents through the water to electrocute invading Iranian soldiers. Following Saddam's defeat in the Gulf War in 1991, a guerilla offensive attempted to weaken his regime but the uprising was crushed and the rebels fled to the supportive people of the marches. In order to isolate the rebels, in 1992 Saddam began to drain the region systematically, using the 1951 British report. Within a year a network of 6-meter dikes was preventing two-thirds of the normal water flow from reaching the marshlands, thus turning much of it into expanses of dried mud. Saddam's actions have caused irreversible environmental damages. International organiza...