Bories

"Bories" are drystone shelters (i.e., no mortar or cement) built by rural peasants who used the limestone they removed from their fields to build dwellings, barns, animal pens, ovens, etc.  There are over 3000 known sites in Provence alone, some of which may date back to Neolithic times. We visited a cluster of about 20-30 structures near Gordes.  These remarkable buildings are dark but quite solid and snug, built with the exterior courses of stone sloping slightly downward to help with runoff from rain or snow. There are usually two rooms for the residents and smaller adjacent enclosures for sheep, pigs, etc.  This particular village was inhabited until the beginning of the 19th century. We saw other bories in privately owned fields in the vicinity.

Click for a few pictures.