Lehmwickel and the German Diaspora

Lehmwickel, or earth wrapping, is a traditional German building technique of medieval or earlier origins. It consists of stakes of timber, wrapped around with earth and straw, and placed in parallel within a wall or ceiling panel, usually in a timber framed building. In some examples one or both faces are plastered over to a smooth finish. This technique spread to Hungary and Romania, North and South America, and Australia, mainly as a result of German emigration. Although examples have been reported, the technique never been comprehensively studied on a worldwide basis. A special mystery surrounds its use in Northern France, because examples there date from at least the thirteenth century and are clearly not the result of German migration in modern times: a tentative explanation is proposed here.