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Cisterns
and rain water harvesting and decantation systems on the rock
of Thula.
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Oasis
of Timimoun (Algerian Sahara), the interior of the drainage
tunnel called foggara. The tunnel is dug out of the limestone
rock and thanks to its linear development it is able to catch
the quantity of water contained in the porous ground.
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The
heaps of stone on the surface, resulting from the excavation
wastes of the vertical air shafts, show the underground layout
of the foggara. Below, air shaft of the drainage tunnel which
opens beneath the built-up area into large cavities for ablutions
and cooling.
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Gravina
in Apulia, tombs, water cisterns and hydraulic systems at the
bottom of the hill of Botromagno. The aqueduct-bridge still
connects both the edges of the canyon to each other.
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Gravina
in Puglia. The underground tunnel of the water system, very similar
to the Saharan drainage tunnels, supplies the fountains in the
historical centre of the town, situated on the opposite side of
the canyon, by means of an aqueduct-bridge which is, in its turn,
supplied with water tapped on the hill of Botromagno.
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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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Sasso
Barisano, one of the two large depressions forming the ancient
town of Matera. The houses, terraces and gardens develop in
successive circles and surround the riverbed of the narrow drainage
stream, the "grabiglione", now paved. The high spur of the Civita,
where the Cathedral stands on a rise, overlooks the urban landscape.
The dwellings envelop the limestone bed by stretching out into
the rock with deep underground cavities whose entrances may
be observed where the buildings become fewer and leave the rock
matrix bare.
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The
Sasso Barisano in Matera.
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Chamber
hypogeum: tomb of the necropolis of Santu Petru in Alghero (Sassari),
Aeneolithic - Early Bronze Age. Adapted from a drawing by Moravetti
and Tozzi,
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Complex
pit hypogeum: domed church of the rupestrian monastery of Gegard
(Armenia), 13th century AD. Adapted from a drawing by Rewerski,
1999.
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Complex
monolithic hypogea: Kailasha (or Rang Mahall), the temple of
Siva at Ellora (India), the end of the 8th century AD.
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A. Bell-shaped cisterns
B. 'Palombaro lungo'
C. Abyss of the gravina
1-2-3 Pit-courtyards
Map of the courtyard hypogea beneath piazza Vittorio Veneto
in Matera. The site was transformed and stratified over time,
starting from a natural dolina on the edges of the gravina
(C) which received water coming down from the slope above.
The dolina was gradually equipped with bell-shaped cisterns
(A), open-air courtyards (1,2,3) from which radial tunnels
branched out, up to the cistern called 'Palombaro lungo' (B).
The site was definitively rearranged in the 18th century,
before the water systems were ultimately abandoned and the
area was covered and transformed into a square.
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The
hypogea along the terraced slope arranged in a horseshoe shape
round tilled terraces.
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The
Sassi of Matera. The hypogea overlapping each other in several
storeys. The roof of a cave becomes a narrow street or a hanging
garden.
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