Greetings, dear friends of black and white photography. Today, as part of my participation in the #monomad challenge, I present to you photographs of a very ancient washhouse, as its name clearly indicates it was a tool for laundering clothes. What is surprising about this place is that it is far from any dwelling. When I say far, I mean more than a kilometer from the old village. For those who do not use the same measurement system as mine, this is equivalent to 0.621371 mile. This peculiarity raises many questions about the function of this washhouse. Imagine people going a kilometer, or 0.621371 mile, to wash their clothes. I find it hard to believe, especially since the village also has several old washhouses, and a river runs through it as well. The only plausible explanation is that the village was once larger and built mainly with wood and earth. If there were stone houses, they were likely plundered to build other houses farther away. The practice of stealing stones from abandoned or burned houses was common. For example, you will no longer find remnants of ancient Roman houses because the stones that constituted them were used to build castles or other houses. Today, the remains of these 2000 years of history are buried 80 cm beneath the earth.
It is possible that they wanted to preserve this source. You can see the presence of two pools. The one further away looks in every way like a wash house, while the basin in the foreground seems intended to water animals. I hope this visit interested you. I wish you all a great week!
Cyboule