LOCAL APPLICATION OF THE TECHNIQUE VILLAGES WITH DITCHES 16

LOCAL APPLICATION OF THE TECHNIQUE

Technique: VILLAGES WITH DITCHES Local name: Rift Valley, Lalibela Site: Rift Valley, Lalibela Location Click the globe to see the techinique on Google Map Continent: Africa Country: Ethiopia Site: Rift Valley, Lalibela Coordinates: Lat: 12.03 Long: 39.04 Description of the local variant of the technique On the Ethiopian highlands, along the slopes of the edges of the Rift Valley and in the valleys of the sunny lowlands there are thousands of villages. Each cluster of huts, placed on an emergence of high ground compared to the surrounding fields, or on a slight slope is surrounded by elliptical moats composed of, sometimes, concentric circles arranged one inside the other. The moats have multipurpose use to keep dry and drained the area inhabited, to constitute a reserve water supply and a sewage collection system for the fertilization of the soil. In some cases the ditches have branches or they double with interior semicircular curves. They are formed in this way so as to be useful to intercept more abundant flows, direct the water in specific areas, or use it to clean up the areas and channel the flow of water and manure to a branch in precise seasonal moments. In this area, the technique is still alive and its use verifiable. Survival prospects Preserved and functional  Images 1) the village is encircled by an elliptical moat similar to those of entrenched Neolithic villages. 2) Detail of the moat, which still serves multipurpose uses: to keep the inhabited area dry and drained, to establish a water supply and a sewage collection system for the fertilization of the soil. 3) Deep moats surround the complex monumental tombs of Lalibela. Their use for drainage and collection of water is evidenced by the conservation tanks for the precious liquid during the dry season. Deepening TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUE DATA Technique VILLAGES WITH DITCHES Icon Cathegory E - Settlements, architecture and movable handworks Identification code E3a Other Local applications of the technique RELATED TECHNIQUES E8a CIRCULAR HUTS A6 DRY STONE WALLS C12 EXCAVATION AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS E2e PIT HYPOGEA AND ROCKY WALL HYPOGEA A4 PLANT CULTIVATION AND ANIMAL DOMESTICATION E1 PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES AND SETTLEMENTS E8b SHELTERS FOR ANIMALS AND GRAIN STORAGE E8h VEGETABLES MATERIAL STRUCTURES Author: IPOGEA, www.ipogea.org Other authors: Reference: