Earthen Architecture in Archaeological Conservation and Preservation

Introduction

Earth has been used a building material for at least the last twelve millennia with the earliest evidence for earth as a building material coming from sites within Western Asia. Later, structures were built using both hand-shaped mud blocks and rammed earth, for example, at Çatalhöyük (Turkey) and Carchemish (Turkey). However, earthen architecture is not restricted to hot, desert climates, and archaeologically and historically, it is distributed throughout the world. From the characteristic “tell” sites comprised of the multiple and varied stratigraphies of abandoned and rebuilt earth structures, through to vernacular, secular, religious, and monumental buildings in urban and rural settings, and earthworks in temperate climates. As such the distribution and variety of earthen architecture and construction spans both continents and millennia with evidence within archaeological contexts, extant structures, alongside still-used earth structures throughout the world.

Definition