Dry stone walls have been around for more or less 6000 years worldwide, and are included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
They were common in Portugal, especially in rocky areas like ours, the Baixo Alentejo.
We are amazingly lucky to have a neighbour with a love and skill for dry stone walling, who has converted many heaps of rocks into beautiful artifacts. He transformed a broken, disused well and unearthed stones from two boreholes. Sometimes his creations are just to tidy up some loose rocks. The drawbacks, he says, are time and wear on your back.
It is sad that this wonderful skill is rare and disappearing.
