Joggle (architecture)

A joggle is a joint or projection that interlocks blocks (such as a lintel's stone blocks or an arch's voussoirs). Often joggles are semicircular and knob-shaped, so joggled stones have a jigsaw- or zigzag-like pattern.

Joggling above a window lintel of the Damascus Gate, Jerusalem

Mausoleum of Theodoric, Ravenna: joggles^[1] resembling rabbets (rebates)

Joggling can be found in pre-Frankish buildings, in Roman Spain and Roman France.^[2] In Islamic architecture, the earliest joggles were in the desert castles of the Umayyad Caliphate, such as Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi.^[2] In Mamluk architecture, joggling is usually combined with ablaq (alternating colors).^[2] Joggling also characterize Ottoman architecture in Cairo.^[3]

The protruding joggle is also called a "he-joggle", whereas the corresponding slot is called a "she-joggle".^[4]

See also

• Dovetail joint: dovetailing can be considered a type of joggling.^[5]