Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia Lower Mesopotamia is a historical region of Iraq. Also known as the Sawad and al-'Irāq al-'Arabi ("Arabian Irāq") in the Middle Ages. Lower Mesopotamia was home to ancient Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations. An alluvial plain begins north of Baghdad and extends to the Persian Gulf. Here the Tigris and Euphrates rivers lie above the level of the plain in many places, and the whole area is a river delta interlaced by the channels of the two rivers and by irrigation canals. Intermittent lakes, fed by the rivers in flood, also characterize southeastern Iraq. A fairly large area ()
Agriculture in ancient Mesopotamia is very arid and has poor soil quality. But the man-made infrastructure took advantage of some of the potential of this space (large rivers and broad, flat plains) to counter these issues and make lower Mesopotamia one of the most productive agricultural areas in the ancient world. In the north, the uncertainties of production were greater, as a result of the fluctuation of the climate year by year. There were, as a result, many systems of agricultural land, reflecting the diversity of ancient Mesopotamian agriculture. The natural context of ancient Mesopotamia was little different from modern conditions in this region,