The Cob Concept
Ancient Roots
Because of its versatility and widespread availability, earth has been used as a construction material on every continent and in every age. It is one of the oldest building materials on the planet; the first freestanding human dwellings may have been built of sod or wattle-and-daub. About 10,000 years ago, the residents of Jericho were using oval, hand formed, sun dried bricks (adobes), which were probably a refinement of earlier cob. Even today, it is estimated that between a third and a half of the world's population lives in earthen dwellings. Earth construction takes many forms, including adobe, sod, rammed earth, straw-clay, and wattle-and-daub. "Cob" is the English term for mud building, which uses no forms, no bricks, and no wooden structures. Similar forms of mud building are endemic throughout Western and Central Europe, the Ukraine, the Middle East and the Arabian peninsula, India, China, the Sahel and equatorial Africa, and the American Southwest Source: http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/history.html |
"First Earth" is a fantastic documentary on Cob building, with examples from almost every continent on the planet. Hope you enjoy and find some inspiration!
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