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Comment by jvidalv | Hacker News Reader

Just wanted to share that in my country (Spain) and more concretely in my area (rural part of Catalonia) we have a building technique called “Pedra Seca” literal translation is “Dry Stone”. It basically involves building stuff with just rocks, nothing more. It’s still in use mostly in agricultural fields.

Here are a few examples:

https://dd9de8c7b7.cbaul-cdnwnd.com/b5fbcf0e77b7b72ef95acd62...

https://static1.ara.cat/clip/98e3619e-8dd2-4c0b-828c-254a62e...

The google search:

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=58408328...

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Dry stone walling is also very common in the UK. It's a complex and now expensive skill, but a properly-built (this bit is key) wall will stay put for well over a hundred years because the rocks can shift a little rather then cracking the structure as temperatures change and water drains right out of them.

It's also very locally distinctive because the shape of the stones and therefore the wall layout and texture depends on the stones you naturally have nearby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone#/media/File%3ADry_st...

Very common in rural Ireland, and having such a wall repaired or made is either going to cost you nothing or a LOT of money.

As with many of the best things in life, they are either free or very expensive.

Sex? :)

(edit: no, that was not an offer, sorry)

It's the opposite really, because you're trying to get your rocks on, not off.

Since you mention it, let's discuss hardcore https://hintonswaste.co.uk/news/what-is-hardcore/ (SFW)

Completely unrelated, but are you the adhesive_wombat I would listen to on SoundCloud when I was younger?

No, it's just a random adjective-noun pair used last time I restarted my aaccount!

I recently witnessed something similar dating back to pre-Inca times in the archeological city of Quilmes: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-6DnSeACUPUUskeJJIuB...

We have them in Italy too btw, search for “muretti a secco”.

I'm from Mallorca and this technique is also alive there. We call these "marjades" for the terraces and the walls themselves are called "marges".

https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge

I rode through a huge area filled with these sorts of walls somewhere wayyy down a dirt road in rural central Mexico, sorta near Zacatecas. It looked like it was once a vineyard, or something like that...I'd never seen walls that looked this way before. Really beautiful. I had no idea that it was originally a European thing.

Interesting! I am living in Catalonia now, but in Barcelona. I haven't seen (or paid attention) to a wall like that. Will pay more attention and try to find some nearby. Thanks!

You won't find them in the city haha. That said, Catalonia is a very beautiful place and I encourage you to visit its rural landscapes, like Montserrat, Rupit and Viladrau (and of course, all of the Pyrenees)! Also in the coast I love Tossa de Mar and Sant Martí d'Empúries, near L'Escala.

It's very common in Croatia, too.

And Malta: https://www.google.com/search?q=malta+rubble+wall

There they are called rubble walls ("hajt tas-sejjieh" in Maltese).

Seems pretty common in Mediterranean countries.

Thank you, there is a great explainer in those search results: https://environmentalmalta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/IR...

In Switzerland as well. "Mur en pierre sèche".

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