ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURES- 1 (a) The Mesopotamian Zone geosyncline. (b) Mesopotamian Zone
tectonic subunits. (c) Mesopotamian alluvial topology. (d) Boundary
uplands. (e) The Shatt al-Arab deltaic system. (f ) Contemporary
( 1 ) Levees, ( 2 ) Crevasse splays, ( 3 ) Alluvial soils, ( 4 ) Bird’s foot delta. - 2 (a) Tigris south of Amara (Qalat Salih-al-Azair). (b) Outlines
demarcate relict levee between sites WS 375 and WS 400. (c) The Kut
barrage on the Tigris between Sheikh Sa’ad and Ali al-Gharbi.
(d) A relict avulsion south of Wilaya - 3 (a) Amara, straddling Tigris distributaries arrayed in a bird’s foot
delta. (b) Warka (ancient Uruk), straddling a relict bird’s foot - 4 The Mesopotamian Delta, c. 5000 – 3000 BC
- 5 Sumerian cities founded within marshlands
- 6 (a) Hundreds of thread-like channels suggesting levee cultivation
combined with intensive marshland exploitation. (b) ES 156 in the
Eridu Basin. (c) Abu Dakar in the al-Khuraib (Tigris) marshes south
of Amara. (d) Desiccated water channels (white) infilled with dry
sand skirt EP 156. (e) Dendritic water channels (black) through reed
beds skirt Abu Tanam - 7 Changing shape of the Mesopotamian Delta
- 1 Section through levees showing the deposits of canals and ancient
channels - 2 Levees and flood basins in the southern alluvium around modern
Suq al-Shuyukh - 3 Archaeological sites of the Ur III, Larsa and Old Babylonian periods
and associated channels in the area of Umma - 4 a Layout of an ancient canal system
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