diff --git a/make/backup.mk b/make/backup.mk
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f96bc80f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/make/backup.mk
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+BACKUP_SOURCE ?= .
+BACKUP_TARGET ?= ..
+BACKUP_DATE   ?= $(shell date +'%y%m%d-%H%M%S')
+
+_BACKUP_SOURCE = $(notdir $(shell cd $(BACKUP_SOURCE); pwd))
+
+backup: distclean
+	tar -C .. $(_BACKUP_SOURCE) -cjf $(BACKUP_TARGET)/$(_BACKUP_SOURCE)-$(BACKUP_DATE).tar.bz2
+
+purge-last-backup:
+	rm -f $(shell ls $(BACKUP_TARGET)/$(_BACKUP_SOURCE)-*.tar.bz2 | tail -1)
+