We show that properties of R R -sequences and the Koszul complex which hold for noetherian local rings do not hold for nonnoetherian local rings. For example, we construct a local ring with finitely generated maximal ideal such that hd R M > ∞ {\text {hd} _R}M > \infty but M M is not generated by an R R -sequence. In fact, every element of M − M 2 M - {M^2} is a zero divisor. Generalizing a result of Dieudonné, we show that even in local (nonnoetherian) integral domains a permutation of an R R -sequence is not necessarily an R R -sequence.