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Stonehenge
(England) is one the most well-known and investigated megalithic
monuments which date back to prehistory. The several interpretations
of its mysterious meaning hardly ever give special importance
to the evident water use of the ditch surrounding the complex
structure, which was dug out before creating the big stone masses
(see fig. 263). The stone circles, which were progressively
built throughout different ages, did not look as they do today.
They were probably structures which supported a wooden circular
roofing with an impluvium in the middle. The atmospheric condensation
and the conservation of humidity in the soil were probably favoured
by the big stone masses. As shown in the suggestive picture,
the meaning of the monument was connected to the cycle of water
and the latter functioning as a catalyst of its ethereal shape
in the sky and its liquid state in the soil.
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Nuraghi
of Palmavera (Sassari). The massive double wall circle has the
practical purpose of condensing humidity and preserving water
in the underground hydraulic devices, like the principle on which
the southern Arabian mahfid are based..
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The
large reservoirs for water conservation on the acropolis of Thula
(Yemen) had sufficient dimensions to supply water to the fields
and the surrounding houses and to withstand sieges.
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Bell-shaped
cistern in the Sasso Barisano of Matera subsequently reused as
an underground room. Note the orifice at the top for the water,
and the watertight plaster of a reddish colour due to the pottery
shards used in its making.
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The
trulli found in the region of Apulia draw their origins from the
Mycenaean tholos of which some archaeological traces were actually
found in the area.
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The
interior of a trullo. Like the tholos, the covering of the trullo
is a false dome which does not need a keystone on the top to support
itself.
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the left, Cleopatra Selene's mausoleum (Algeria). The construction
derives from the megalithic barrows of the Numidian tradition called
medracen. Of the same typology are the Apulian barrows and specchie
(see figure on the right), whose masonry enables the moisture absorbed
by the tree roots to be conserved in the soil. |
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Roofed
cistern, a water production device on the Murge. The slope of
the roof emerging from the ground catches water which pours into
drinking troughs for the animals. Micro-flows of water from the
subsoil collect in the hypogeal chamber.
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Ibiza
(Spain), cistern and cistern-jar. The system of the cistern-jars,
underground water reservoirs, is spread throughout the islands
and along the arid Mediterranean coasts, providing a reserve known
to travellers who used it during their journeys.
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Yemen,
underground cavities used for ablutions. All mosques always have
hypogeal rooms which gather water. They are often devices which
existed before and were built for the Sabean temples.
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Petra,
big open-air cistern. The structures built in the classic era
present a regular geometrical shape and large excavated volumes.
In some cases they have arches covered with stone slabs.
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Petra,
natural systems of runoff and formation of water harvesting cavities.
Starting from these forms of erosion and the spontaneous water
channels, the complex system of water harvesting and of water
organisation for holy purposes, which characterises Petra, is
created.
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The
famous monuments of Petra, wrongly defined as tombs, were the
representative places, deposits of goods and places for family
rituals. All the excavations were also in connection with water.
The figure shows the so-called Palace Tomb, a monumental complex
situated at the end of the long aqueduct of wadi al-Mataha which
formed a big cascade
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Matera,
the Ofra valley. The excavation and the closure of the apertures
by means of a tufa wall and the construction of a barrel-vaulted
structure, called lamione, are the different types of construction
which can be observed.
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Sassi of Matera. Hypogeal barn and transformation of a cavity into
a rocky church. The agropastoral devices such as the silos and the
cisterns are previous to the process of urban densification during
which they lost their original practical function and were turned
into cave-dwellings or places of worship. |
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Plan
of the megalithic monument of Stonehenge (England). In the first
phase of building around 3000 BC, when the stones in the middle
had not yet been raised, the monument already featured the circular
ditch with a 93 m diameter.
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From
hypogeal hydraulic architecture to funeral architecture and the
false-dome on the surface: cistern.
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From
hypogeal hydraulic architecture to funeral architecture and the
false-dome on the surface: tholos called the Treasure of Atreus
in Mycenae (1500 BC).
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From
hypogeal hydraulic architecture to funeral architecture and the
false-dome on the surface:Apulian trullo.
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The town of Alberobello, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has the densest concentration of trulli, creating an urban ecosystem. The layout dates back to the Middle Ages but the building typology originated from the tholos-huts and the dwellings of the ancient Italic people, as can be noticed in the preservation of traditional knowledge as in the pagghiari and the rural buildings.
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