History of
the brick
Man has used brick for building purposes for thousands of
years. Archaeological excavations have
unearthed a brick that authorities dated as 9,000 to 10,000 years old. The oldest type of brick in the Western
Hemisphere is the adobe brick. Adobe bricks
are made from adobe soil, comprised of clay, quartz and other minerals. Adobe soil can be found in dry regions throughout
the world, but most notably in Central America, Mexico and the southwestern United
Sates. The Pyramid of the Sun was built
of adobe bricks by the Aztecs in the fifteenth.
Those bricks, made in areas with warm climates, were simply placed in
the sunlight for hardening. Sun-dried
bricks, which were used extensively in ancient times, especially in Egypt, were
made of clay mixed with straw. Early in
civilization, bricks were baked by using a fuel; these bricks were made of clay
mixed with straw to give them added strength during drying and baking in crude
ovens.
Adobe brick near a construction site.