Libya's dwindling number of traditional pit houses
Historians say such houses were once widespread in western Libya. They were dug so the people who lived in them could stay cool in summer and warm in winter.
Due to Libya's ongoing civil war currently there is no government support to preserve the tradition of pit houses.
Across the world, people live in all sorts of places, in caves, homes built on water, underground, even on rubbish dumps.
In Libya, there are those who have lived in the desert for centuries.
Today, however, Libyans live divided. A civil war broke out in 2011, and now the country is ruled by two rival governments, so there's no government support to preserve Libyan culture, like the centuries-old pit houses.
As TRT World's Rahul Radhakrishnan explains, part of the reason they've survived in such harsh conditions has to do with architecture.
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