Jedars
Jedars (French spelling: Djeddars) are thirteen Berber mausoleums located south of Tiaret city in Algeria. The name is derived from the jidār (wall), which is used locally to refer to ancient monumental ruins. The pre-Islamic tombs date from late antiquity (4th-7th? centuries CE). Construction The tombs are situated on the tops of two hills in the mountainous Frenda area, around 30 km south of Tiaret. There are three sepulchres on Jabal Lakhdar (), and ten on Jabal Arawi (, also known as Ternaten) 6 km south of the first group. The graves' size and commanding situation indicate that they were built for royalty. They have been systematically plundered for many centuries, and hence are in a state of ruin. The monuments were erected straight onto the substratum or with very shallow excavation. Some stone was quarried from local limestone and sandstone, some were recycled from nearby settlements and necropoli of earlier times. The materials vary widely: dressed stone blocks 1-1.5 m. long, partially dressed blocks up to 2.4 m. long, natural rock slabs with minimal dressing, old tombstones, and old building fragments. Most of the construction is dry stone; lime mortar is used sparingly. The thirteen Jedars share many characteristics. There are also many similarities with much smaller Berber tombs called bazinas, which are common in the pre-Sahara zone. This shows that they represent indigenous Berber architecture in spite of their use of Roman architectural techniques and Mediterranean Christian iconography. The characteristics are: A square body, the largest being 46 m. on a side, and the smallest 11.55 m., with a height of up to 4 m. In some cases, the body is solid stonework, in the largest examples it contains funerary chambers. A pyramidal top, which in all cases is very much ruined, but which must have been originally up to 13 m. high, constructed in many small steps (rise and tread about equal at around 0.2-0.25 m.). The top is mostly solid masonry, but in those jedars that contain funerary chambers, removable steps on one side conceal a passage leading down into the chambers, the ceilings of which may protrude up into the top. Most, perhaps all, were surrounded by a courtyard, square except for an extension in the middle of the side facing east. In the larger ones this extension contains a small building modeled after the main monument. This building is believed to have been used for obtaining divinatory dreams by sleeping in the vicinity of the tomb. Most if not all were further surrounded by a complex of low walls. It is believed that the solid jedars that do not contain funerary chambers may cover a single tomb excavated into the bedrock. Epigraphy and iconography The jedars of Jabal Lakhdar seem to have displayed a dedicatory inscription on one side of the top. This inscription was in Latin, but not deeply engraved and hence in every case is now almost illegible; the inscribed blocks are also very damaged. Enough remains only to confirm that these