Medenine

Medenine grew around fortified granaries in the dry plains of southeastern Tunisia. Its ksour contained tiers of vaulted rooms called ghorfas, where families stored grain and other produce. These storehouses served pastoral and farming communities and became a focus of exchange. The settlement developed in the seventeenth century as the Ouerghemma tribes came together around a large ksar between two wadis. A market grew beside the granaries, bringing people and goods from the surrounding country.