Ethnographic element Barraca de carboner del Parc Etnològic de Caimari

The shack is one of the reconstructed elements related to country and forest trades that dot the Caimari ethnological park. The shack was the house of the collier and, occasionally, of his family.

It is circular-shaped and is formed by a dry-mounted stone wall, without mortar, plus a conical thatched roof supported by branches. It does not have any windows and the access door is merely an opening in the wall that could be closed off with thatching.

The collier shacks were built in the forests, close to the ‘sitja’, a platform that was generally circular in shape and was used for the slow burning of wood to manufacture coal. The area around Caimari has many holm oaks, which provided the best wood to make quality coal.