The physical world consists of objects great and small.  In the case of an abandoned farmstead, an network of fieldstone walls that grades downward in scale to a single stone.  The way we make sense of all this is a process called classification.  It creates nouns, which create names, which orders our thoughts, which improves our communication.

Over the years, I’ve stumbled across a few definitions of what a stone wall is, and what it is not. All were unsatisfactory because they were not good enough to embrace all those things our subconscious knows are stone walls, and exclude those things we know are not.  And I’ve also stumbled across a few classifications.  These, too, were unsatisfactory for the same reason.  Hence, this page of the SWI website, and its derivative pages.

Link to:

• I know it’s a dumb question, but “What is a stone wall?”
• Let’s start with a general, subjective classification: a Typology
• Once we’re experts, we can move to rule-driven, objective classification: a Taxonomy