Sometimes also the dry stone terracing is apparent, often combined with parts of stone masonry (house foundations and shed walls) that are held together by a clay-cum-needles "composite" mortar. They serve both as cattle/sheep fences and the lot's borders. around the mountain river of Vydra) are often lined by dry stone walls built of field-stones removed from the arable or cultural land. The higher-lying rock-rich fields and pastures in Bohemia's South-Western border range of Ĺ umava (e.g. Similar walls also are found in the Swiss-Italian border region, where they are often used to enclose the open space under large natural boulders or outcrops. Mosaic embedded in a dry stone wall in Italian Switzerland Many thousands of miles of such walls exist, most of them centuries old. Such constructions are common where large stones are plentiful (for example, in The Burren) or conditions are too harsh for hedges capable of retaining livestock to be grown as reliable field boundaries. They may also be found throughout the Mediterranean, including retaining walls used for terracing. They are especially abundant in the West of Ireland, particularly Connemara. Dry stone walls are characteristic of upland areas of Britain and Ireland where rock outcrops naturally or large stones exist in quantity in the soil. When used as field boundaries, dry stone structures often are known as dykes, particularly in Scotland. In Belize, the Mayan ruins at Lubaantun illustrate use of dry stone construction in architecture of the 8th and 9th centuries AD. The cyclopean walls of the acropolis of Mycenae have been dated to 1350 BC and those of Tiryns slightly earlier. In County Mayo, Ireland, an entire field system made from dry-stone walls, since covered in peat, have been carbon-dated to 3800 BC. Some Cornish hedges are believed by the Guild of Cornish Hedgers to date from 5000 BC, although there appears to be little dating evidence. Some dry-stone wall constructions in north-west Europe have been dated back to the Neolithic Age. The Lion Gate of the Mycenae acropolis is dry stone
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