Guermassa: An Incredible Abandoned Village in Tunisia
Tauheed Ahmad Nawaz
There is an incredible abandoned settlement in Tunisia called Guermassa, located atop the Jebel Dahar Mountains. Many Berber tribes have lived on the slopes of Jebel Dahar for thousands of years. They use terraced fields to farm the mountainside and store runoff from the infrequent rainfall.
Archaeologists estimate that this settlement was established in the 12th century CE. Actually, the purpose of the village’s fortification was to deter Arab forces from attacking. Guermassa is one of the most breathtaking locations in the Tataouine region, along with Chenini and Douiret.
The Amazigh people were the initial occupants. It is made up of homes that have been carved out of and constructed from the nearby rock. The Amazigh tribe used to gather in the ksar, or “desert castle.” For this reason, they excavated ghorfas (storage rooms) into the ground to naturally cool their harvests from the intense heat, keeping them safe from raiding horsemen. The settlement stretches across a ridge, encircling a mountainside, and then skirting the neighboring mountain’s slopes. Although the view from the top is amazing, it once had a useful function. The vista was advantageous to the villagers, who could see possible invaders from a great distance.
Around the 1970s, President Bourguiba instituted a modernization program intended to relocate the residents of these kinds of communities to more “modern” homes, leading to the abandonment of Guermassa. The village has a maze of streets with honeycomb patterns, tunnels, grain stores, and places of worship. The ruined village’s remnants can still be seen today, including a children’s graveyard and inscriptions and carvings honoring marriages. You have to visit Guermassa if you are interested in history. It is an amazing location.
