DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36956#0143
A new type of house after the conversion to Islam
In his chapter on the 'Layout of the old village' Andrews discusses the
building-construction of the houses, towers, and byres. He was already
familiar with the organisation of the older houses Lorn fieldwork in
other parts of the world. These have the living storey raised above an
undercroft used only as a storeroom; extra space for resting and sleeping
is provided by the flat roofs above. These have no permanent cover, but
only one of loose boards spanning between the ridge and the eaves on
either side. Such boards provide a minimum of shelter for the flat roof
from rainfall and snow. Andrews (cf. p. 54) writes "Almost all the older
houses are raised. Either they are grouped around courtyards ..., appar-
ently founded on rocks higher than the surrounding ground, as at the
southwest of the main axis, or they are set above an undercroft of store-
rooms, as on the eastern side."
The opportunity to raise the houses by siting them on enormous boulders
which had been brought down to this part of the valley only during a
landslide (during an earthquake?) is a local feature, but I have seen the
raising of the mam living-room by setting it above "an undercroft of
storerooms" in many other valleys of Dardistan. In some places they
were used for keeping particularly valued animals.
The raising to the main living quarters is certainly essential for the
hygiene and health of the inhabitants. Even without a cloud-burst, the
ground m the narrow lanes can be transformed into mud. This is one
reason, but may not be the origin of this tendency.
In Parun the amol sanctuaries were half underground or completely so,
as discovered and described by M. Kdimburg (1976:483-485, fig. 2-5),
who published the wooden pillars in the shape of deities. That might go
back to a time when, as m many parts of Inner Asia, subterranean rooms
were preferred as habitations. The foundation walls of the earlier settle-
ments on the top of the hill certainly belonged to a quite different kind of
building.
127
In his chapter on the 'Layout of the old village' Andrews discusses the
building-construction of the houses, towers, and byres. He was already
familiar with the organisation of the older houses Lorn fieldwork in
other parts of the world. These have the living storey raised above an
undercroft used only as a storeroom; extra space for resting and sleeping
is provided by the flat roofs above. These have no permanent cover, but
only one of loose boards spanning between the ridge and the eaves on
either side. Such boards provide a minimum of shelter for the flat roof
from rainfall and snow. Andrews (cf. p. 54) writes "Almost all the older
houses are raised. Either they are grouped around courtyards ..., appar-
ently founded on rocks higher than the surrounding ground, as at the
southwest of the main axis, or they are set above an undercroft of store-
rooms, as on the eastern side."
The opportunity to raise the houses by siting them on enormous boulders
which had been brought down to this part of the valley only during a
landslide (during an earthquake?) is a local feature, but I have seen the
raising of the mam living-room by setting it above "an undercroft of
storerooms" in many other valleys of Dardistan. In some places they
were used for keeping particularly valued animals.
The raising to the main living quarters is certainly essential for the
hygiene and health of the inhabitants. Even without a cloud-burst, the
ground m the narrow lanes can be transformed into mud. This is one
reason, but may not be the origin of this tendency.
In Parun the amol sanctuaries were half underground or completely so,
as discovered and described by M. Kdimburg (1976:483-485, fig. 2-5),
who published the wooden pillars in the shape of deities. That might go
back to a time when, as m many parts of Inner Asia, subterranean rooms
were preferred as habitations. The foundation walls of the earlier settle-
ments on the top of the hill certainly belonged to a quite different kind of
building.
127