These small stone-built constructions are encountered in the countryside of the Cyclades; they are called kelia (cells). The are dry stone buildings and blend harmoniously with their natural surroundings; they are small miracles of Cycladic architecture and remnants echoing rural life of yesteryears.
These constructs were built by farmers with the stones they picked from their fields. It is admirable that people managed to meet their daily needs using the meagre means their land provided.
Kelia were used to store cereal grain and farming equipment; in some cases, they were used for animals to rest or for providing cover under unfavourable weather conditions.
Next to them there was a bigger keli, known as kalyvara (big hut), where the family lived in from May to September so they could deal with the necessary farming tasks.
This rural residence is a characteristic sample, because it does not only have the two kelia but includes auxiliary buildings serving basic farming activities.
The interior of the first cell was the pachni, a permanent construction made of large schist slates, for animal fodder to be placed on. Nearby there is the patitiri, the stomping 'vat’, a stone construction for stomping grapes to produce must for the wine making.
Outside the keli there is the gourna, another stone construction where rainwater was collected for the animals to drink.
Further along was the aloni, the threshing floor, a round flat space used in July to thresh cereal. This is where the thresher would have 1 or 2 horses or ox (en) walking round and round breaking the grain away from the stalks with their hooves. The women then sieved the wheat to separate the grain away from the chaff. The grain was stored in the house ready for the mill, while the straw was used as fodder.
