Brick_Making_In_Mesopotamia

Brick Making In Mesopotamia Brick Making in Mesopotamia It was possibly as long ago as 8000 BC in Ancient Mesopotamia (a part of modern Iraq) when man first found out that clay could be dried and shaped in the sun to make a building material. The objects made in this process were called bricks. A brick is defined as a rectangular manufactured block of dried or fired clay, small enough to be lifted and placed with one hand, used in building. Small amounts of CaCO3 and silt might be added to the mixture for strength. The bricks made in Mesopotamia were made of ceramic material. The first kind of bricks made and used were the mud – bricks. These bricks were made from a mixture of mud and small pieces of straw or reeds. Leaving them out in the sun to dry would harden them. This would take most of the water out of the brick making it more durable. These bricks were used to build the first stage of the ziggurat. An average of 7,000,000 mud-bricks would have been needed. To make the bricks the Nile mud is used. First bricks, made, process, out, mud, first, placed, fire, dry, sun, small, mesopotamia, material, dried, building, brick, water, twigs, take, one, mud-bricks, mixture, might, making, make, left, gaps, dome, clay, between, after, ziggurat, work, wooden