The paragraphs I've just added come from an old source whose copyright has expired. I've attempted to verify everything, modernize spelling, and eliminate anachronisms, but I'm sure I haven't succeeded completely. So please update anything I've missed and expand wherever you feel it's necessary.
I've removed the following paragraph from /Archaeology as I can not find verification of it. I suspect that either the monuments are no longer in Algeria, or that the spelling of Arabic "walls" given ("jedars") is no longer common, possibly both. Verifying this bit of text is complicated by the fact that the "department of Oran" no longer exists, but is now Mauritania, Morocco, and Algeria (the former "department of Constantine" is now Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria. If you can find the correct spelling of this word and also find if the monuments mentioned remain within the boundaries of present-day Algeria, then please update and restore it.
- The Jedars (Arabian "walls" or "buildings") are in the department of Oran. The name is given to a number of sepulchral monuments placed on hill-tops. A rectangular or square podium is in each case surmounted by a pyramid. The tombs date from the 5th to the 7th century of the Christian era, and lie in two distinct groups between Tiaret and Frenda?, a distance of 35 miles. Tiaret, an ancient town modernized by the French, can be reached by railway from Mostaganem. Near Frenda, which has largely preserved its old Berber character, are numerous dolmens and prehistoric rock sculptures.
- (from Tiaret page)
- This is correct. The site of the Djedars is close to Frenda which is a town in the Department (wilaya) of Tiaret. Frenda is situated about 50 Km to the south west of Tiaret City. The monuments still exist and can be visited. Post-cards of the tombs also are on sale in the region.
- (from Mostaganem page)
- Actually Tiaret cannot be reached from Mostaganem by train. The train link is not functional anymore. Rather Tiaret can be reached by route (several highways). Tiaret can also be reached from Algiers by plane.
KQ, I think you're going about this exactly the right way. This isn't to say there's anything wrong with uploading totally unedited stuff from the Unnamable Encyclopedia, but at some point, we've definitely got to update those entries. What's cool is that, as you're demonstrating, it
is possible to update them. --
LMS
Thanks. The spellings can generally be figured out; for whatever reason we've tended to change double identical consonants in a word to single ones. And as a sidenote, the preferred spelling of one word is no longer "shat" but "chott." :-) I'm looking forward to adding countries whose boundaries have not changed in the last 100 years, as I expect them to be much less time-consuming.
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