La pedra en sec. Materials, eines i tècniques tradicionals a les illes ...

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* 5 THE WORK I
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Drystone
masonry involves a
, series of tasks
which are common
or have slight
variations for almost all
structures, whilst
others are particular
to specific types of constructions.
Before any building work can be
done the land has to be prepared and
the stone obtained. The physical characteristics
of the land, how rocky it
is, how much of a slope there is and
the type of rock to be found means
that there are significant conditioning
factors for building work. Depending
on the nature of the land, stone that is
good for building walls can be found
relatively easily or otherwise it becomes
necessary to bring it in from
somewhere else. Equally it will also
impact on how much effort is required
to dig foundation trenches and to seat
the structure so as to make it stable.
Specific ways of dressing the stone
and of building walls have grown out
of the need to make the constructions
solid, but the major efforts made in
particular degrees of dressing, in wall
crowning and in accessories for
dwellings and retaining walls, and the
complexity of some constructions,
have often resulted
from historical,
econo-
-mic and
social causes rather than from technicalor
usage needs. An example of
this is that the involvement of the Civil
Engineers Corps in the construction
of the large mountain road network
from 1846 onwards led to the promotion
of polygonal facings on the support
walls of the new roads, which up
until then had not been very common.
It can also be seen the spreading of
this technique to crop land on terrace
walls as a sign of technical skill and
the economic importance of the holding.
Another example of the importance
which has been attached since
the 19th century to aesthetic aspects
is the development of complex
systems in crop fields and gardens
which go beyond the mere needs of
access.
In spite of the variety of styles and
the lack of drystone masonry
manuals, experience has provided
ways and means of working which
over time have come to be accepted
as the right ones, an issue which
should not be confused with uniformity
in the profession and ways of working.
As is the case with other craft
jobs, diversity is an essential feature
with small changes in how the stone
is treated, how it is laid, in the joints
and in the slopes which make each
work unique. _
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