Mudbrick

A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE,[2] though since 4000 BC, bricks have also been fired, to increase their strength and durability.

New, unlaid mudbricks in the Jordan Valley, West Bank (2011)
Mudbrick was used for the construction of Elamite ziggurats—some of the world's largest and oldest constructions. Choqa Zanbil, a 13th-century BC ziggurat in Iran, is similarly constructed from clay bricks combined with burnt bricks.[1]

In warm regions with very little timber available to fuel a kiln, bricks were generally sun-dried. In some cases, brickmakers extended the life of mud bricks by putting fired bricks on top or covering them with stucco.

Ancient world
Mud-brick stamped with seal impression of raised relief of the Treasury of the Vizier. From Lahun, Fayum, Egypt. 12th Dynasty. The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London

The 9000 BCE dwellings of Jericho, were constructed from mudbricks,[3] affixed with mud, as would those at numerous sites across the Levant over the following millennia. Well-preserved mudbricks from a site at Tel Tsaf, in the Jordan Valley, have been dated to 5200 BCE,[2] though there is no evidence that either site was the first to use the technology.

The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh constructed and lived in mud-brick houses between 7000–3300 BC.[4] Mud bricks were used at more than 15 reported sites attributed to the 3rd millennium BC in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. In the Mature Harappan phase fired bricks were used.[5]

The Mesopotamians used sun-dried bricks in their city construction; [6] typically these bricks were flat on the bottom and curved on the top, called plano-convex mud bricks. Some were formed in a square mould and rounded so that the middle was thicker than the ends. Some walls had a few courses of fired bricks from their bases up to the splash line to extend the life of the building.

In Minoan Crete, at the Knossos site, there is archaeological evidence that sun-dried bricks were used in the Neolithic period (prior to 3400 BC).[7]

In Ancient Egypt, workers gathered mud from the Nile river and poured it into a pit. Workers then tramped on the mud while straw was added to solidify the mold. The mudbricks were chemically suitable as fertilizer, leading to the destruction of many ancient Egyptian ruins, such as at Edfu. A well-preserved site is Amarna.[8] Mudbrick use increased at the time of Roman influence.[9]

In the Ancient Greek world, mudbrick was commonly used for the building of walls, fortifications and citadels, such as the walls of the Citadel of Troy (Troy II).[10]

Adobe
Main article: Adobe

In areas of Spanish influence, mud-brick construction is called adobe, and developed over time into a complete system of wall protection, flat roofing and finishes which in modern English usage is often referred to as adobe style, regardless of the construction method.

Banco
The Great Mosque of Djenné is a well-known Mosque located in Djenné, Mali, and the largest mudbrick structure in the world.

The Great Mosque of Djenné, in central Mali, is the world's largest mudbrick structure. It, like much Sahelian architecture, is built with a mudbrick called Banco,[11] a recipe of mud and grain husks, fermented, and either formed into bricks or applied on surfaces as a plaster like paste in broad strokes. This plaster must be reapplied annually.[12]

Mudbrick architecture worldwide

See also
  • Cob – Building material made from subsoil, water, and fibrous organic material
  • Earth structure – A building or other structure made largely from soil.
  • Loam – Soil composed of similar proportions of sand and silt, and somewhat less clay
  • Rammed earth – Technique for constructing foundations, floors, and walls by compacting a damp mixture of sub soil
  • Sod house – Turf house used in early colonial North America

Notes
  1. Roman Ghirshman, La ziggourat de Tchoga-Zanbil (Susiane), Comptes-rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, vol. 98 lien Issue 2, pp. 233–238, 1954
  2. Rosenberg, Danny; Love, Serena; Hubbard, Emily; Klimscha, Florian (2020-01-22). "7,200 years old constructions and mudbrick technology: The evidence from Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel". PLOS ONE. 15 (1): e0227288. Bibcode:2020PLoSO..1527288R. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0227288. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6975557. PMID 31968007.
  3. Tellier, Luc-Normand (2009). Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical Perspective. PUQ. ISBN 978-2-7605-2209-1.
  4. Possehl, Gregory L. (1996)
  5. Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline, bricks in antiquity
  6. Mogens Herman Hansen, A Comparative Study of Six City-state Cultures, Københavns universitet Polis centret (2002) Videnskabernes Selskab, 144 pages ISBN 87-7876-316-9
  7. C. Michael Hogan, Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian (2007)
  8. Hawkes, Jacquetta (1974). Atlas of Ancient Archaeology. McGraw-Hill Book Company. p. 146. ISBN 0-07-027293-X.
  9. Kathryn A. Bard and Steven Blake Shubert, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, 1999, Routledge, 938 pages ISBN 0-415-18589-0
  10. Neer, Richard. T., Art & archaeology of the Greek world: a new history, c. 2500-c.150 BCE, Second edition, Thames and Hudson, London, 2019, pp.23
  11. SACKO, Oussouby (15 November 2015). "Issues of Cultural Conservation and Tourism Development in the Process of World Heritage Preservation" (PDF). Area Studies. Retrieved 7 October 2016.
  12. Bradbury, Dominic (30 October 2008). "Timbuktu: Mud, mud, glorious mud". The Telegraph. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

References
  • Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). Mehrgarh in Oxford Companion to Archaeology, edited by Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press.
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