Dry-stone wall

The dry stone wall is natural stone masonry, which was built without the use of mortar.

Dry masonry is now used mainly in horticulture, but had in the history of architecture different applications, so when building a house, well construction, the historic hydraulic engineering, in the investment field and defensive walls and in the agricultural terracing (such as the steep vineyards ). Completely dry stone existing homes, the article describes Kraggewölbebauten of dry masonry.

Not for masonry include today's gabion walls.

• 2.1 Berber architecture
• 2.2 Equatorial and Southern Africa
• 2.3 South America
• 2.4 South Pacific
• 2.5 Japan

Applications

The layering of loose stones without mortar is the oldest form of stone construction. Special quality, the Bronze Age cyclopean in the Mediterranean.

Stonewall

Dry stone walls, which in Austria also Klaubsteinmauern be built almost entirely outdoors, mostly of platy sedimentary rocks. As arable and pasture enclosure they are used in Southern Europe, Ireland, Wales as well as Switzerland and Austria.

Local types

• Friesenwall in Friesland of round boulders, with turf as grout.
• Tanca wall in the Balearic Islands.
• Premužič staza National Park Northern Velebit, a 50 -kilometer-long hiking trail, joined in the drywall principle.

Importance for the rice and wine

In rice fields and vineyards dry stone walls are built on particularly steep slope sections to zoom through the construction of terraces the land. The daily variation of air temperature is balanced by dry stone walls and allows a steep vineyards even in exposed slope sections. The drywall emits in the evening into the night, the stored heat in the long wavelength region back to the near-ground layer of air from and thus reduces the nocturnal cooling of the vineyard areas.

The drywall has been found in the terraced vineyards because of their water permeability than more stable than verfugtes with mortar masonry. A technically well -built dry stone wall can last 100 years and more. By reducing the slope also the traditional grape harvest is made much easier by hand. Many dry stone walls in verbuschenden and fallow vineyards are now left to decay. Since dry stone walls are not compatible with the increasing mechanization in vineyards, they are found only in historically grown and not corridor adjusted vineyards. For the preservation and reconstruction of dry stone walls, however, the government provides financial subsidies to growers.

Construction of dry stone walls

The complex drywall technical skill is required. Depending on the size and thickness of the drywall it is necessary to create a foundation of gravel or debris. Basically, to use only natural stones that are found locally for dry stone walls. Frequently reading stones are used in the environment, but also quarry material are obtained in which rectangular blocks as possible, is more demanding structures used. In general, a brick backing, in some areas, also called rear shock, built from smaller irregular stones or shards quarry behind the wall. This serves as a filter and anti-frost layer.

Construction

Especially in prehistoric times dry masonry was used in the construction of buildings. See also: beehive hut, Broch (tower), Nuraghe, talaiot, Tanca wall.

Well Construction

Dry masonry played in classical dug wells long played an important role.

Hydraulic

To protect against erosion dry masonry served in the historic hydraulic engineering as wave protection wall or to the Mount of canals and ditches.

Castle building

In early medieval castle building dry stone masonry techniques also played a role, although the surviving examples usually operate with mortar.

Church

Even with early, mostly rural churches are dry masonry techniques used.

Non-European examples

Berber architecture

In the architecture of the Berber peoples of North Africa buildings play a large part of dry masonry. Here are the first place the Agadire in the territory of the Anti-Atlas in Morocco to call, whose stone walls held together with very little earth or clay and were sealed. However, they also during the Islamic occupation of the Iberian Peninsula by Berbers built watchtowers ( atalayas ) is important. The construction techniques were probably developed in the terracing of slopes, however, were given prey to decay due to lack of rainfall a long time ago, so they hardly occur to a phenomenon today. Many houses in parts of the Anti-Atlas and the High Atlas were built in the same technique - but most are already replaced by new buildings of hollow blocks and with foundations and ceilings made of concrete.

Equatorial and Southern Africa

Only remaining example of the knowledge and application of dry stone walling techniques in sub-Saharan Africa are the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, which are dated by the radiocarbon method in the period around 1100 AD.

South America

The 14th and 15th centuries, built of large blocks of stone buildings of the Inca in Peru (Cuzco, Machu Picchu ) are also dry-stone walls, but they differ in manufacturing technology is fundamentally different from the European or North African examples. Only less important buildings similarities of construction techniques are observed.

In the highlands of the Andes sporadically worked on other crops with simple dry stone masonry techniques - here are mainly created for 1000-1300 buildings of the Chachapoyas Indians to mention yet where clay mortar was used.

South Seas

The unique in its kind system of Nan Madol on the Caroline Islands archipelago was built around 1300 AD from stacked and interlocked basalt columns.

Japan

Typical of the Japanese castle building are massive stone walls, actual stone wall socket, built in front of a wall of earth. For the procurement of the required in huge quantities stones civil servants stone Commissioners were used. The walls are two layers, outer backed with rubble and boulders, inside with smaller stones. You are ascending concave. The higher the walls were, the more stones were on the pedestal base necessary to counteract the earth and water pressure. The walls were as smooth and seamless construction, making it difficult to climbing. Engelbert Kaempfer has in its description of the base walls of Edo Castle to the fact that the stones are superimposed and " not connected to any lime or else a clip, because we think that they are more likely to give in during an earthquake in such a way the movement and vibration and so could get the whole walls undamaged. " The subsequent centuries have proved that.

Environmental Benefit

Drywall works are important habitats for many plants and animals. In the joints you will find special plant communities that have adapted to extreme site conditions. The rooms also feature a valuable habitat for various heat-loving species, such as lizards, toads, wild bees and beetles.

Dry stone walls in agricultural terrace cultures support the protection of soil, by reducing soil erosion by the erosive action of the water. The precipitate slowly seeps behind the drywall in the soil so that the plant roots can absorb soil water gradually and the surface runoff is reduced. Since the masonry of the drywall is not grouted, the water can leak out of persistent rainfall, which leads to a saturation of the floor space between the rock fragments, without exerting pressure on the walls.

An important goal of conservation is to maintain dry stone walls in a traditionally grown landscape. Particularly through measures of land consolidation, which often mean a redesign of entire field corridors, lost many dry stone walls. As compensation gabions are sometimes built, which some experts from a conservation point of view after view, however, are no substitute for dry stone walls.