Earth building materials in pre-historic domestic architectures on the south of Portugal

HERITAGE 2008 - World Heritage and Sustainable Development. Barcelos: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development, Vol. 2, p. 571-579

Pre-historic architectures reveal a profound knowledge of building materials and their selection and application. Depending on each geographical context or functional needs, pre-historic man developed and applied different building techniques. Archaeological vestiges from several pre-historic settlements of southwest Iberia has shown that stone, wood and earth were the main materials used on domestic structures. Earth mortars seem to be the most frequently used, probably due to the abundance of clayish materials in most geographical contexts and the facility on handling them. Several earth building techniques were identified in settlements located in south of Portugal. Some of them are being object of detailed studies, based on material traces obtained in habitat places of Defesa de Cima 2 (Évora), Alto do Outeiro (Beja) and Alcalar (Faro). The analysed materials are composed by samples of earth mortars from the covering/ filling of vegetable structures, stacked earth walls, renderings and mudbricks.