Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
An obvious statement continually repeated is that brick is the most versatile of
building materials—meaning that it is equally ef ective for building a small cabin
as for building a great cathedral. Considered in a little more detail this means
that the same small prefabricated earth units of roughly standard form conjoined
with a building procedure which is of the simplest and most uniform (v Chap. 3,
pp. 49-52
supra
) serves for all construction projects. Since this statement applies
generally in the ancient world wherever brick construction was practised, it sug-
gests that the widespread development of brick construction in the ancient world
was brought about by dif usion.
As distinct from the multiple functions served by other earthern building mate-
rials, structural brickwork is used in two instances: as upstanding load bearing
masonry, and as devices for spanning across an open space. In the former instance
signii cant construction procedure resolves into the question of bonding, while
in the latter there is a possible choice between three procedures: corbelled brick,
pitched brick and radially set brick.
Mud
brick
1.
Neolithic Origins
Whatever prior use may have been made of mud plaster or mortar (cf Vol. 2,
pp. 90-96), the use of mud brick as a structural material evolved contemporaneously
over a wide area of the Ancient Middle East (the Levant to Iran) at the beginning of
the Neolithic Age contemporary with round house building, ca 8th Millennium BC
(O. Aurenche, “L'Origine de la Brique dans le Proche Orient Ancien,”
pass
). h ere
is surviving material evidence to show that at this period bold experimentation was
afoot (cf P.B.L. Smith, “Architectural. . . . Experimentation at Ganj Dareh”); but, in
ef ect, the standard product adopted was the hand modelled mud brick, obviously
conceived in the image of i eld stones of various forms previously found convenient
for building purposes. Following this there was no great delay (i.e. still in Early
Neolithic times, ca 7th Millennium BC) before the i rst form moulded mud bricks
appeared in various parts of the region (v O. Aurenche,
La Maison Orientale
, I
p. 294). h e replacement of hand modelled mud bricks by form moulded mud
bricks did not proceed uniformly, and in some areas (e.g. Cyprus) hand modelled
mud bricks long remained in use where elsewhere form moulded bricks were cur-
rent. h e progress in building construction af orded by form moulded bricks was
very signii cant indeed, since the standardisation of form facilitated the close and
regular bonding of the mud brick in load bearing walls (cf Sauvage, pp. 105-07).
As to rooi ng the early round house structures there is sui cient indication to show
that this could be by corbelling inwards to produce the long lived Beehive House
form. Additionally it is possible that round house structures were also roofed by
mud plastered timber framing of various forms (v G.R.H. Wright, “h e Antiquity
Neolithic
evolution
329
330, 331
332, 333
281
128
