A dammuso is a type of traditional Sicilian peasant house, found mainly on the island of Pantelleria and also on nearby Lampedusa. The name comes from the Pantesco dialect of Sicilian dammusu, meaning 'vault', which is derived from the Arabic دِمّوس and Latin domus. The architectural style is possibly Arabic in origin, and the oldest known dammusi date to around the 10th century, when the islands were part of the Zirid emirate of Ifriqiya. Built from local volcanic rock, the dammusi evolved from a simpler circular type of stone dwelling used on the island in antiquity.