Dugout (shelter)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A dugout or dug-out, also known as a pit-house, earth lodge, mud hut, is a shelter for humans or domesticated animals and livestock based on a hole or depression dug into the ground. Dugouts can be fully recessed into the earth, with a flat roof covered by ground, or dug into a hillside. They can also be semi-recessed, with a constructed wood or sod roof standing out.
These structures are one of the most ancient types of human housing known to archeologists, and the same methods have evolved into modern "earth shelter" technology.
Dugouts may also be temporary shelters constructed as an aid to specific activities, e.g., concealment and protection during warfare or shelter while hunting.
Turkey
Cappadocia contains at least 36 historical underground cities, carved out of unusual geological formations formed via the eruptions of ancient volcanoes. The cities were initially inhabited by the Hittites, then later by early Christians as hiding places. They are now archeological and tourist sites, but are not generally occupied (see Kaymaklı Underground City). The latest large Turkish underground city was discovered in 2007 in Gaziemir, Güzelyurt. This city was a stopover on the Silk Road, allowing travelers and their camels to rest in safety, underground, in a 'fortress' hotel equivalent to a modern hotel.
See also
- Earth house
- Earth lodge
- Earth sheltering
- Hut
- Pit-house
- Sod house
- Skara Brae an important earth sheltered Neolithic settlement in Scotland
