habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

E. Crescenzi, M. C. Ménardsum to make plaster, chalk for lime and to improve the soil,clay to make tiles and bricks. As peasants were not allowedto cut wood or extract stone, an “underground” lifestylerepresented a cheap way of living. There was no need fora roof, the living space was contained within the rockymass and the setting itself insulated. The quarryman, oftena peasant for certain periods of the year lived in osmosiswith his family. However, over the centuries, these dwellingswere gradually abandoned as they were a synonym ofpoverty. In addition, the difficulty of providing heating,aeration and ventilation, alongside the poor amount of light,became factors that no longer met the comfort requirementssought by the population.It was only as from the 1970s that a renewed enthusiasm andeven infatuation developed for this type of housing and itsuse as a main residence or holiday home. However, the rehabilitationof these excavated spaces raised problems linkedto their improvement which called for an understanding ofthe rock as well as resolving difficulties concerning lighting,aeration, ventilation, heating and connection to utilitynetworks (water, electricity, telecommunications, etc.). Thisresulted in the new paired layouts incorporating spaces andopenings enlarged to let in daylight. The large stone extractionquarries were used as from the 19th century to growmushrooms, as in Villavard near Villiers sur Loir and Tablinières(Thoré la Rochette).If there were vineyards nearby, these quarries were perfectfor use as wine cellars, such as those to be found in Gaudetterieaux Roches l’Evêque. These large quarries in fact correspondto cavities located in urbanised sites or on the outskirtsof large towns. However, some of these cavities weresimply kept as outhouses. It should be noted that the largemajority of troglodytic villages resulting from quarry workingsare located nearby large work sites or near the routestaken by the materials.Trôo, located on the banks of the river Loir on a yellow sandychalk and flint hillside and with a 60 m height differenceover three levels, is considered to be an archetypal troglodytictown. Remaining within the realms of anthropic cavities,it is worth mentioning the underground refuges, suchas those of the Montoire and Lavardin châteaux, and the underground“passive defence” sites created from a networkof galleries interconnecting the “caves”, such as those of the“Caforts de Trôo”. There are also the cavities that acted asplaces of worship, the most well-known of which being theSt Gervais chapel in Roches l’Evêque. Similarly there are thetroglodytic crypts to be found in the Rochambeau château aswell as the caves in the Lavardin château and the Hypogéedes Roches which were used to worship the Earth-Mothergoddess.This worship involved taking a circular route around a centralpillar into which a large number of niches had been carved toreceive offerings. Between Montoire and Lavardin, the Reclusagestroglodytic complex, a former hermitage, includeda chapel with its altar, as well as accommodation: the twolevel Grotte des Vierges.The karstic caves. These were created by the dissolution ofsodium carbonate and sulphates in water running across therock. The result is a landscape of potholes and caverns witha large number of stalactites and stalagmites.Fig. 6 Trôo, Stairways and cave-dwelling.Fig. 7 Trôo, St Gabriel’s stairway.Fig. 8 Troglodytics crypts and funerals tombs in the castle of Lavardin.Fig. 9 Trôo, Petrifying cave. 3143volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 143 16/11/2012 15:02:32