Dovecotes, near Fayoum, Egypt
A dovecote is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves.
Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in the Middle East and Europe and were kept for their eggs and dung.
The oldest dovecotes are thought to have been the fortified dovecotes of Upper Egypt, and the domed dovecotes of Iran. In these regions, the droppings were used by farmers for fertilizing. Pigeon droppings were also used for leather tanning and making gunpowder. Dovecotes are still an omnipresent part of many Egyptian landscapes.
Dovecotes are often built on the upper stories of houses but frequently they are also of the stand-alone, tower-like variety. There is a great number of different sizes and types. The continuity of the tradition of raising pigeons in dovecotes is nowhere more apparent than in the Fayum, where excavations from the 1920s and 1930s of the Roman town of Karanis revealed six dovecotes, representing only a small fraction of the original number,
Visitors touring Fayum today encounter similar examples across the landscape, using the same construction technique and the same ceramic pots for nests.
Dovecotes, near Fayoum, Egypt
A dovecote is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves.
Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in the Middle East and Europe and were kept for their eggs and dung.
The oldest dovecotes are thought to have been the fortified dovecotes of Upper Egypt, and the domed dovecotes of Iran. In these regions, the droppings were used by farmers for fertilizing. Pigeon droppings were also used for leather tanning and making gunpowder. Dovecotes are still an omnipresent part of many Egyptian landscapes.
Dovecotes are often built on the upper stories of houses but frequently they are also of the stand-alone, tower-like variety. There is a great number of different sizes and types. The continuity of the tradition of raising pigeons in dovecotes is nowhere more apparent than in the Fayum, where excavations from the 1920s and 1930s of the Roman town of Karanis revealed six dovecotes, representing only a small fraction of the original number,
Visitors touring Fayum today encounter similar examples across the landscape, using the same construction technique and the same ceramic pots for nests.