Iraq's Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden
eBook - PDF
Available until 23 Dec |Learn more

Iraq's Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden

  1. 264 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
Available until 23 Dec |Learn more

Iraq's Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden

About this book

What can the present tell us about the past? From 1968 to 1990, Edward Ochsenschlager conducted ethnoarchaeological fieldwork near a mound called al-Hiba, in the marshes of southern Iraq. In examining the material culture of three tribes—their use of mud, reed, wood, and bitumen, and their husbandry of cattle, water buffalo, and sheep—he chronicles what is now a lost way of life. He helps us understand ancient manufacturing processes, an artifact's significance and the skill of those who create and use it, and the substantial moral authority wielded by village craftspeople. He reveals the complexities involved in the process of change, both natural and enforced.Al-Hiba contains the remains of Sumerian people who lived in the marshes more than 5, 000 years ago in a similar ecological setting, using similar material resources. The archaeological evidence provides insights into everyday life in antiquity. Ochsenschlager enhances the comparisons of past and present by extensive illustrations from his fieldwork and also from the University Museum's rare archival photographs taken in the late nineteenth century by John Henry Haynes. This was long before Saddam Hussein drove one of the tribes from the marshes, forced the Bedouin to live elsewhere, and irrevocably changed the lives of those who tried to stay.

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Yes, you can access Iraq's Marsh Arabs in the Garden of Eden by Edward L. Ochsenschlager in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Anthropology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. CONTENTS
  3. PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. 1 IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
  5. 2 THE PEOPLE OF AL-HIBA
  6. 3 WAYS AND MEANS
  7. 4 MUD HOUSEHOLD UTENSILS AND STORAGE CONTAINERS
  8. 5 MUD MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, TOYS, JEWELRY, AND AMMUNITION
  9. 6 MUD ARCHITECTURE AND ANCILLARY STRUCTURES
  10. 7 BAKED POTTERY
  11. 8 MATS, BASKETS, AND OTHER OBJECTS MADE OF REEDS AND RUSHES
  12. 9 REED ARCHITECTURE
  13. 10 WOOD, BOATS, AND BITUMEN
  14. 11 BOVINE HUSBANDRY
  15. 12 SHEEP
  16. 13 VILLAGE WEAVERS
  17. 14 THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF JOHN HENRY HAYNES
  18. 15 DEATH UNDER GLASS
  19. INDEX