Mould-made and fired brick
Ladrillo de molde estandarizado y ladrillo cocido
- Date
- c. 3500 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Uruk (Warka), Muthanna, Iraq
- Credited to
- Uruk society
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Standardised bricks made in a wooden mould (riemchen) and, in the most important buildings, kiln-fired to withstand water. It enables serial construction of monumental buildings with clay-cone facings.
Systematically fired brick dates from the 3rd millennium (Ur, Mohenjo-daro); at Uruk IV its use is occasional.
What it led to
- Modular construction and material calculation: the origin of practical geometry and construction accounting
- Durable monumental architecture: temples, walls, ziggurats
- Enormous fuel consumption and the organisation of state brickyards
Built on
Made possible
- Zigguratc. 2100 BCE
- Samanid Mausoleumc. 892-943
- Walls of Uruk
- Glazed brick
- Indus sewerage system