A Brief History of the Earth Rammer
A brief history of the earth rammer |
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Rammed earth building techniques have been developed across the world, often used for house building, where a suitable combination of sand and clay is naturally present.
For house building, the soil mixture would need to be around 70% sand or gravel with 30% clay. |
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Jericho, the earliest city recorded, was built of earth, and Egyptian pharaohs ruled cities built from rammed earth.
In the Far East, the technique was used not only for houses but for building the foundations of the Great Wall of China. |
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Romans and Phoenicians brought the technique to Europe, and countries such as France have used rammed earth as a wall building method for 2000 years. | |||
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The technique has enjoyed numerous revivals, including one in the environmentally-conscious 70’s.
A new technique, invented by Michael Reynolds, used old car tyres filled with rammed earth as building blocks. This kept the tyres out of landfills and could be carried out by inexperienced builders. |
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