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Landscape

Vernacular architecture is a way of building that comes from the community itself as a response to functional social and environmental requirements through the application of traditional crafts and techniques. Vernacular architecture is therefore an effective mirror of a social group in a given habitat, it lives and survives as long as this society occupies that territory. Among the negative effects of the depopulation of areas impoverished by climate change and of the globalization that manifests itself with the adoption of standard architectural solutions alien to the environmental peculiarities of the places, is also the loss of local building traditions closely linked to ways of life in danger of extinction. In the south of Tunisia, the mountain area (Djebel) between the coastal plain (Jeffara) and the desert hinterland (Dahar) has been inhabited for centuries by populations mainly of Berber and Arab ethnicity who have created over the centuries typologies of settlements and buildings that are a unique heritage of its kind, today subjected to the environmental and economic fragility of this region.

Resources

The complex geology that characterizes the eastern edge of the desert plateau offers the inhabitants of the Djebel a rich variety of rocks and earths that have been for centuries the constituent elements of the local architecture. Even today, stones are extracted from the outcrops of thick rock seams along the mountain slopes, habitually by simple blows of a mallet, sometimes with the aid of wedges or bits. The most commonly used rocks in the local architecture is the local gypsum, in varieties of different characteristics attributable to the presence minor components. In different layers also dolomites and, more rarely, sedimentary limestone rocks are quarried, while sandstone, which is softer and often used for larger ashlars, is cut from siliceous rocks. Gypsum is also the source from which the most common binder used in the architecture of the region is obtained, the hard and quick setting gypsum mortar. The stone chips are heated in underground kilns fuelled with wood and dung. The firing can last several days while the temperature determines the characteristics and therefore the use of different binders. Clayey earth and aggregate mixtures constitute an alternative binder to gypsum mortar, mostly used as wall covering to seal and insulate stone walls. In the Tataouine region, buildings made of only cobs or rammed earth are used mainly in the countryside or for animal shelters. An important resource systematically used is the rare but very precious wood. Palm trunks sawn lengthwise are the support of roofs made of mats and earth. Palm wood is also used for doors and, occasionally, architraves with light loads. The knobby branches of very hard olive tree are used to build the supports of stairways, load-bearing beams and elements of the oil mills.

Construction Techniques

The settlements are consistent with the landscape of the Djebel, mainly occupying its peaks and slopes. Typical of this region is the troglodyte dwelling, obtained by digging under a layer of compact rock long and narrow rooms, most of them single and with independent access, sometimes articulated in two or three connected rooms. In front of them, there is a small court surrounded by a kitchen, the latrine, a storage room, a sheepfold or other features. The built parts of the settlement are masonry of stones bound with mortar. This is the technique used to build almost all the recorded storerooms in the region, the gsour, which are a peculiar landmarks of this landscape. The characteristic of these storerooms are the vaulted ceilings decorated on the intrados with a repertoire of inscriptions and symbols belonging to the local figurative heritage. Dry stones walls are systematically used in the retaining structures for terracing the steep slopes where the villages are built. Besides being cheaper, these walls are also effective in draining and transpiring from the subsoil, nonetheless they are fragile structures that require constant maintenance and therefore the weak link in the progressive decay that compromises the conservation of many abandoned centres. This technique is also used to create the jessour, parallel weirs built serially along the mountain wadis that retain as much humidity as possible during rare rainfalls, allowing seasonal cultivation in each basin and the permanence of trees in an otherwise prohibitive environment.

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mountains composed of alternating layers of compact rock and earth with steep slopes where the edges of the rock banks fray and slide down towards the valley.

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rocks rich in calcium sulphates are baked in the furnace where layers of boulders alternate with burning charcoal. The powdered dehydrated sulphate (gypsum) is then collected from the lower opening. Depending on the baking temperatures, the gypsum obtained has different properties that are exploited especially in the building practice.

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The building stone is quarried from the rock layers that emerge along the slopes of the Djebel using simple tools such as pickaxes and crowbars.

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Wood is a rare and precious material in this region. The only two usable trunk trees are the palm and the olive. Palm trunks sawn lengthwise are often used to support ceilings and roofs made of branches and earth, as shown in this image of Chenini houses whose roofs are partially uncovered.

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Troglodyte houses exploit the alternation of compact rock banks with softer layers to excavate underground rooms beneath solid and resistant ;ceilings. Inside and outside walls are covered with gypsum mortar.

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High dry stone walls are used in Chenini to create ramps to access the top of the village and to create terraces in order to expand the open area in front of the houses. Dry stone walls are cheaper and quicker to build, but above all they allow the drainage of rainwater during the few seasonal rains. However, they have the disadvantage of fragility and require constant maintenance. If not repaired quickly, even small collapses can quickly spread to the entire structure.

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Dry stone walls are also used to build the “jessour”, real weirs serially built in the wadis of the Djebel. Their function is to retain as much humidity as possible and especially silty soil that would otherwise flow quickly downstream. In this way, terraces are created that are suitable for tree cultivation and the growth of grazing grass.

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The highest rock bank of the mountain where a village is built, in Chenini as in many other sites, is occupied by the gsar, the granary buildings, made of mortared walls and covered with gypsum plaster.

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The fragile geology of the Guermassa rock has become over time an element of risk for the houses below, which today are completely abandoned. The only exception is the mosque which is occasionally used and where the maintenance of the building is visible in the characteristic white cladding of the Ibadi mosques.

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