This Berbar is modern , he is using a Jerrican to store his Olive oil and is about to draw it into his cave fro a rainy day. The larder Fortress in the Jebel. Perched on the plateau of a Jebel mountain at Nalut, on the frontier between Tripolitania and ~unj~ja, the Berbers still store their Margret harvests of Wheat, dates and Olive oil in oblong shaped caves hollowed out of the inner walls and ramparts of a fortress built centuries ago for this Europe. Years ago the Jebel Berbers were constantly raided by other tribes who stole their women and animals. Leaving the plain they took refuge in the mountains building this a gigantic fortress to house their shaikh and their food. Round the fortress they built a town of stone to house the 6,000 members of the tribe. During periods of peace they descended to the plain and while the man formed a defensive perimeter the women gathered food and sowed crops. Gradually the Berbers increased in numbers finally outnumbering their attackers enabling them to leave their fortress and re-settle in the plains. But the store is still used today guarded now by a watchman and his family who receives in payment for his duties and wooden pegs keep the doors closed, to lock one's cave with a padlock would be an insult only erased by the shedding of blood.
Photo measures 7.25 x 9.5 inches.
Photo is dated --none.
Photo back:
