TARGET 150311
A FORTIFIED GRAINERY
The fortification's central area
In the 1400's, Tunisian Berber communities of North Africa built their grain storage areas on top of large hills in the centeral parts of their villages in order to protect their harvested crops from raiders. The Berber name for such a settlement with a central, fortified grainery is "ksar".
In those unruly middle ages, the granaries were built with no access to the storage area except a narrow entry to a courtyard with inward-facing rooms for the food storage.
Built of adobe
One of those ksars is Ksar Ouled Soltane (the one for this target). It is located about 20 km (12.8 miles) south of the city of Tataouine, Tunisia, (Yes, Star Wars fans, there actually is a real place called "Tatauine", and this ksar was part of the shooting of Star Wars: Episode I (1999) which was the slum area of the slaves quarters (a.k.a Mos Espa of planet Tatooine)
Ksar Ouled Soltane is an attractive and well-preserved fortified granary built of adobe (baked mixture of earth and straw, which still stands strong and sturdy after 600 years.).
One of the courtyards
It is spread out over two courtyards, each of which has a perimeter of multi-story vaulted granary cellars called "ghorfas".
The ghorfas are stacked up to four high
Precarious access
The ghorfas were stacked up to four high, requiring some of the families to carry their grain up steep and precarious adobe steps and over thin ledges to their allotted storage room, and that was after climbing the steep hill on which the grainery sits for added protection from maurauders. (No picture of the outside of the grainery and the hill were found.) Life was not easy in those days.
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Sources: Wikipedia, About.com, French Wikipedia, The Rough Guide to Tunisia - By Daniel Jacobs, Peter Morris
If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, more information,
pictures and videos can be found at the following web sites:
Amusing Planet website
Wikipedia: "ksar"
Wikipedia: Ksar_Ouled_Soltane
Atlas Obscura website
Amazing Places On Earth website