Drystone wall, an important element of karst cultural landscape : an example of Dinaric Karst

Abstract EN

The technique of drystone construction started in prehistory at Dinaric Karst.

There are different types of drystone wall, from simple single file, to dual construction walls with in-between fills of stones, and big heap enclosures of several files of drystone.

Shelters of different size can be incorporated in drywalls.

The type of drystone wall depends on the quantity of stone that must be removed.

Drywall has different functions: a dump of rocks due to “cleaning” the karst surface (up to 1 400 kg of stone/m2), a boundary of property, a factor of channelling (the herds between two walls) or gathering (enclosure, fold), and a defence against wind erosion.

Walls are of different ages, from the ancient Antiquity (Greek colonies) to the more recent times.

Drystone-walls’ construction time varies dramatically from few years to a whole generation’s life time.

Nowadays drystone walls are so typical and conformable to a great part of Dinaric Karst that they are an essential form of the landscape.

Whatever form drystone walls assume, they are so close to nature that they become a part of it, and although created by man they are not alien.