Platforms

Terraces are technologies that, through the action of man, modify the topography of sloping lands, with the purpose of making better use of resources, soil, water and climate, to carry out agricultural tasks. It is made up of a platform (terrace), which is filled with hauled and selected material (gravel, soil and organic matter), and supported by walls, usually made of stones. In areas where there is little supply of stones, the walls are built with earth, with more inclined embankments and these, in turn, are complemented, in some cases, with drainage ditches at the foot of the platforms to convey the water towards the streams. . The length of the platforms is limited by the presence of obstacles such as rock outcrops, the presence of gullies, sudden changes in the orientation of the slopes, the presence of natural channels or excessive stoniness. Generally, they have a length that ranges between 4 and 100 m, and a width that ranges from 1.5 to 20 m, areas that are used for planting crops. The terrace is normally supported by 3 stone walls, of which the longest one has the sinuosity of the contour of the hillside, while the other two are located at the ends of the platform. The walls usually measure between 0.5 and 2 m in height, but sometimes they can reach 3 m, so large stones, 0.4 to 1 m in diameter, must be used.