Dry stone walling is the art of building stone structures by stacking stones together, without using any other materials except damp soil at times.
The use of dry stone construction in neolithic wall constructions can be traced back to the Neolithic Age. One field system of dry stone walls, since covered by peat in Mayo, Ireland, has been carbon-dated to 3800 BC. The Mayan ruin at Lubaantun in Belize offers an example of dry stone construction in the architecture of the 8th and 9th centuries AD.
The construction is most commonly associated with stone walls, which traditionally defined the boundaries of fields and churchyards or served as retaining walls for terracing. However, dry stone sculptures, buildings, bridges, and other structures have also been constructed. Historically, the term is rarely used for those styles that used precisely-shaped stone, without mortar, such as Greek temples and Inca architecture.
Most rural areas have dry stone structures - mainly on steep terrain - both inside and outside inhabited spaces, and they can be found in urban areas as well. Dry-stone structures are stable due to the careful placement of stones, and they have shaped a wide variety of landscapes, forming various types of dwellings, farms, and herding.
In addition to preventing landslides, floods, and avalanches, enhancing biodiversity, and creating suitable microclimatic conditions for agriculture, they prevent erosion and desertification of the land. A dry stone architecture exemplifies a harmonious relationship between human beings and nature. The element is deeply rooted in rural communities, as well as professionals in the construction industry. Structures made with dry stone are always in perfect harmony with the environment. The practice of each place is transmitted primarily by practical application adapted to their particular conditions.
From prehistory to today, people have used structures like these to optimize local natural resources and human labor to organize their living and work spaces. Nowadays, skilled stone wallers are a few in number nowadays. Modern wire fencing, however, can be used to fence fields and costs far less than building dykes. The initial cost of building dykes is offset by high durability and a long, low-maintenance lifetime. As of today, the value of dry stone walls' landscape and heritage continue to increase, resulting in a need for wallers as well as for the walls themselves. Currently, by using a four-grade certification scheme, the Dry Stone Walling Association offers an internationally recognized certification program in the UK.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/art-of-dry-stone-walling-knowledge-and-techniques-01393) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_stone#History)