Earth building glossary

Franziska Knoll/María Pastor Quiles/Claire-Anne de Chazelles/Louise Cooke, On cob balls, adobe, and daubed straw plaits. A glossary on traditional earth building techniques for walls in four languages (Halle [Saale] 2019).

Earth as building material is extremely versatile and has been used for construction works since humans became sedentary and started to erect durable structures. Today 30 to 40 percent of the global population still live in earthen buildings. This small booklet aims to provide an overview of earth building techniques recorded in both archaeological and recent vernacular contexts. More than 30 different massive and mixed techniques to erect walls are discussed and illustrated. Thus the present publication may serve as a reference book as well as companion for fieldwork.

All four authors are archaeologists, dealing with earth building for many years. Their work focusses on different parts of Europe as well as Central Asia.

The glossary is available in English, French, Spanish and German. It is available for download in two different versions of quality:

PDF of the publication in low quality [9 MB, not barrier-free].

PDF of the publication in high quality [55 MB, not barrier-free].

The printed version can be obtained from the Archaeological Publishing House Beier & Beran.