Although earthen construction has been practiced for millennia, its advantages associated to current environmental concerns are giving new opportunities to earth as a modern building material. The paper presents and discusses the first results of an experimental campaign carried out at University of Minho on the characterization of masonry components made of stabilized compressed earth blocks, produced with granitic residual soils, typically from Northern Portugal, and considering both dry-stack and mortared joints. The use of mortar joints modifies significantly the mechanical behaviour of masonry, both in terms of stiffness and strength.