Palestinian dry stone structures: an endogenous expression of cultural landscape

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the case of an existing architectural feature in the Palestinian environment: the Palestinian dry-stone structures within the larger framework of the historical development of the cultural landscape across Palestine. The current status of these structures is quite alarming, due to several factors, mainly the rapid modernization of the Palestinian community, the largely unorganized urban expansion seen on the area, lack of public awareness and the declining importance of agricultural activity within the Palestinian society and of course the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict. As a result, a large number of these agricultural structures in this area have been abandoned and destroyed over the past few decades. Thus, the paper will analyse the characteristics and importance of this structure through a review of literature in this field, and provides an analysis of the Palestinian case in particular. Areas of focus include the importance of the dry stone structures and its role in Palestinian agricultural development and the culture generally, its architectural structure, patterns and types, and the materials and techniques of its construction. Furthermore, the paper illustrates the status and condition of the surviving structures and concludes with the future challenges and potentials of their preservation and development