The first non-Iraqi archaeological investigation of the Tigris-Euphrates delta in 20 years was a preliminary foray by three women who began to explore the links between wetland resources and the emergence and growth of cities last year.

The United Nations initiated a plan on Friday to have an ancient wetland located in southeast Iraq listed as a World Heritage Site.

By Sally Williams THE WELSH wetlands are being used as a model to restore life to what was once the largest area of marsh in the Middle East that was drained and turned to dust by Saddam Hussein.

In People of the Reeds, Scottish author Gavin Maxwell described the watery world inhabited by the Marsh Arabs, which he visited with British explorer Wilfred Thesiger in the 1950s. He described an ancient race living in a vast and primitive proto-Venice in southern Iraq and adjacent Iran.

By Richardson, Curtis J; Hussain, Najah A The Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq had been all but destroyed by Saddam Hussein's regime by the year 2000.