Aspects of settlement in southern Iraq in ancient times

Abstract

The study of settlement in ancient southern Iraq is one of the important studies that some researchers have referred to in the history of ancient Iraq, due to its great role in laying the foundations of the civilization of ancient southern Iraq, as the environment of southern Iraq was full of challenges and difficulties facing the Iraqi individual at that time, and controlling it and transforming it into an environment suitable for settlement. The most prominent of these difficulties is overcoming the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the continuous change in the course of these rivers. They were in the past one of the most important aspects of southern Iraq in attracting individuals and settling in southern Iraq. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers played the greatest role in irrigating those lands, reclaiming them and cultivating them. This is a major transformation in the life of the individual in the past after his life was based on gathering food and domesticating animals. In his discovery of agriculture and the use of agricultural methods, man moved to the level of civilization. These aspects and components helped in the proliferation of settlement villages in southern Iraq and the transformation of these villages into cities in their own right politically, economically and socially. The result of our study is knowledge of the aspects of the environment of southern Iraq. In addition to what was mentioned, the moderate climate of southern Iraq, the fertility of the land and the flatness of the land that facilitates movement and transportation, and others. The features that attracted settlers in ancient times to settle in southern Iraq, and although there were reasons that pushed peoples to migrate and settle in this part, they were mostly internal reasons such as drought and lack of rainfall, or political reasons such as conflict over land and the displacement of some of the village settlers, or they may be social reasons such as the increase in population, and finally they may be commercial reasons on the trade routes at that time and the formation of commercial relations with other borders.