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Industry : Brickmaking
Brickmaking
The earliest buildings were made of dried reeds; the next step, plastering these structures with clay, gave them more stability and provided an additional barrier against heat and cold. The invention of the brick mold, however, gave the builder much more control over his construction and his materials, enabling him to produce the correct number of bricks to the required dimensions. The mold appears to have been invented in c.3400 BC when brick architecture started to be used in Egypt for funerary monuments. Brickmaking was practiced in Egypt more than almost anywhere else, and sun-dried bricks became the most common and widely available building material since both the essential elements, Nile mud and constant sunlight, were readily available. The production of rectangular bricks of a specific size enabled the Egyptians to build walls with far greater ease and safety, and mud brick architecture remained the norm for all domestic buildings even when stone replaced brick for religious monuments such as pyramids, tombs, and temples.
THE PROCESS
Nile alluvium or mud is basically a mixture of clay and sand with
small amounts of impurities; although all the cultivated land
consists of alluvium, the relative proportions of clay and sand vary
in different areas of the country and produce different results in
terms of the suitability of the mixture for brick manufacture.
Therefore, another material such as chopped straw was often added to
bind the mixture when the proportion of clay was low. Straw or chaff
and animal dung acted as binders and also increased the strength of
the clay. Various sources provide information about the brickmaking
process. The practice of adding chopped straw to the clay is
mentioned in a New Kingdom papyrus and in Exodus, chapter 5, in the
Bible. Brickmaking is illustrated by tomb models of the Middle
Kingdom, the famous scene in the tomb of the vizier Rekhmire
(Dynasty 18) at Thebes, and a scene in the Temple of Medinet Habu
where king Taharka (Dynasty 25) is depicted carrying out this
procedure. First, the mud was broken up with a hoe and then mixed
with chaff and water brought from a tank; next, it was kneaded with
the feet until the right consistency was achieved. Then it was taken
to the brickmaker and pressed into a mold that, when lifted, allowed
the brick to fall to the ground. The bricks were arranged in rows to
dry in the sun and were finally placed in heaps for the builders to
take to the construction site. The sizes of the bricks varied
according to their date and intended use, sometimes enabling
archaeologists to date a particular building. Some wooden molds were
stamped with the name of the ruling king, and stamped bricks were
sometimes used in the construction of an enclosure wall, thus
providing another way to date a building. A mud brick mold was
discovered at the pyramid workmen’s village of Kahun, the first
tangible evidence of the brickmaking industry to be found at any
site. Made of wood, it is rectangular with four sides carefully
fitted and pegged together; one side projects beyond the corner to
form a handle with which the brickmaker could lift the mold and
release the brick. Miniature models of molds have also been found
elsewhere.
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USESBricks
were an effective and cheap building material for the Egyptians.
Clay was readily available all over the country, and highly skilled
labor was not required either to make the bricks or to use them in
construction. Bricks were ideally suited to the Egyptian climate,
made buildings that were warm in winter and cool in summer, and did
not have to withstand any considerable rainfall. Thus, mud brick
continued in use as the prime material for houses, palaces, public
buildings, and fortresses. Bricks were used in buildings that
incorporated the arch, such as the long vaulted storerooms
associated with the Ramesseum, the funerary temple of Ramesses II at
Thebes; here the vaulting was made of special flat bricks rather
like tiles that had grooves to enable them to be fastened together
securely. Ancient peoples realized that bricks made from clay could
be hardened by firing, and burned bricks were used in Mesopotamia
and at Mohenjo-Daro in India at a very early date. A few unusual
examples of burned bricks have also been found in some Egyptian
tombs and in part of the foundation of a building; these can be
dated to Dynasties 18 and 19. But kiln baked bricks were only
introduced much later in c.600 BC for constructions at Karnak, and
they did not come into general use until the Roman Period. There was
no urgency to introduce burned bricks since the dry climate enabled
sun-dried bricks to last for many years. Until recently sun-dried
bricks continued to be used for building houses in many villages
throughout Egypt and were produced in molds that closely resembled
the ancient examples.
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Industry : Brickmaking
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