Saklia

(from the Georgian sakhli, “house”), the Russian name for the dwelling of Caucasian mountaineers. A saklia has a flat roof and is usually made of stone, especially in the Dagestan ASSR and the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. It can also be built of pisé or adobe. These dwellings are typically built in terraces on mountain slopes; the vertical concealed slope forms the back walls of a saklia, and the roof of one saklia may serve as the yard for a saklia situated higher on the mountain slope.

The oldest type of saklia was a one-room dwelling without windows and with an earthen floor, an open hearth in the center, and a hole in the roof to let the smoke out. A modern saklia has many rooms, a floor made of boards, and a fireplace or iron stove. Many are equipped with electricity and their occupants have radios.