{{Short description|Earth blocks for construction}} [[File:Mudbricks in Palestine 2011.jpg|thumb|New, unlaid mudbricks in the Jordan Valley, West Bank Palestine, 2011]] [[File:Choghazanbil2.jpg|right|thumb|Mudbrick was used for the construction of Elamite ziggurats—some of the world's largest and oldest constructions. ''Choqa Zanbil'', a 13th-century BCE ziggurat in Iran, is similarly constructed from clay bricks combined with burnt bricks.<ref>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</ref>]]
A '''mudbrick''' (or '''mud-brick'''), also called an '''unfired brick''', is an air-dried brick composed of a mixture of mud (containing loam, clay, sand, and water) with a binding material, such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known to have been used since 9000 BCE.
From around 5000–4000 BCE, mudbricks evolved into fired bricks to increase strength and durability. Nevertheless, in some warm regions with very little timber available to fuel a kiln, mudbricks continued to be in use. Mudbricks remain the modern standard of vernacular architecture in some warmer regions, mainly in parts of Africa and western Asia. In the 20th century, the compressed earth block was developed using high pressure as a cheap and eco-friendly alternative to obtain non-fired bricks with more strength than the simpler air-dried mudbricks.
==Ancient world== thumb|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 history of mudbrick production and construction in the southern Levant may be dated as far back as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (e.g., PPNA Jericho).<ref name="Rosenberg2020">{{cite journal |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Danny |last2=Love |first2=Serena |last3=Hubbard |first3=Emily |last4=Klimscha |first4=Florian |title=7,200 years old constructions and mudbrick technology: The evidence from Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel |journal=PLOS ONE |date=22 January 2020 |volume=15 |issue=1 |article-number=e0227288 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0227288 |pmid=31968007 |pmc=6975557 |bibcode=2020PLoSO..1527288R |issn=1932-6203|doi-access=free }}</ref> These sun dried mudbricks, also known as adobe or just mudbrick, were made from a mixture of sand, clay, water, frequently tempered with chopped straw and chaff branches, and were the most common material for constructing earthen buildings throughout the ancient Near East for millennia.<ref name="Rosenberg2020"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hasel |first1=Michael G. |editor1-last=Freedman |editor1-first=David Noel |title=Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible |date=2019 |publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company |isbn=978-1-4674-6046-0 |pages=246–247? |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fq7qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 |chapter=Architecture |access-date=2023-03-23 |archive-date=2023-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924173123/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fq7qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT246 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Morgenstein1998">{{cite journal |last1=Morgenstein |first1=Maury E. |last2=Redmount |first2=Carol A. |title=Mudbrick Typology, Sources, and Sedimentological Composition: A Case Study from Tell el-Muqdam, Egyptian Delta |journal=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |date=1998 |volume=35 |pages=129–146 |doi=10.2307/40000466 |jstor=40000466 |issn=0065-9991 }}</ref> Unfired mudbrick is still made throughout the world, using both modern and traditional methods.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Littman |first1=Robert |last2=Lorenzon |first2=Marta |last3=Silverstein |first3=Jay |title=With & without straw: How Israelite slaves made bricks |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |date=2014 |volume=40 |issue=2 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287786412 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Emery |first1=Virginia L. |title=Mud-Brick |journal=UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology |date=2009 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt7v84d6rh/qt7v84d6rh.pdf |access-date=2021-04-23 |archive-date=2023-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924082904/https://escholarship.org/content/qt7v84d6rh/qt7v84d6rh.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
The 9000 BCE dwellings of Jericho were constructed from mudbricks,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Tellier|first=Luc-Normand|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cXuCjDbxC1YC&q=jericho+9000+bc+bricks&pg=PA37|title=Urban World History: An Economic and Geographical Perspective|date=2009|publisher=PUQ|isbn=978-2-7605-2209-1|language=en}}</ref> affixed with mud, as were 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,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Danny|last2=Love|first2=Serena|last3=Hubbard|first3=Emily|last4=Klimscha|first4=Florian|date=2020-01-22|title=7,200 years old constructions and mudbrick technology: The evidence from Tel Tsaf, Jordan Valley, Israel|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=15|issue=1|article-number=e0227288|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0227288|issn=1932-6203|pmc=6975557|pmid=31968007|bibcode=2020PLoSO..1527288R|doi-access=free}}</ref> though there is no evidence that this site was the first to use the technology. Evidence suggests that the mudbrick composition at Tel Tsaf was stable for at least 500 years, throughout the middle Chalcolithic period.<ref name="Rosenberg2020"/>
The South Asian inhabitants of Mehrgarh constructed and lived in mudbrick houses between 7000 and 3300 BCE.<ref name="Possehl">Possehl, Gregory L. (1996)</ref> Mudbricks were used at more than 15 reported sites attributed to the 3rd millennium BCE in the ancient Indus Valley civilization. In the Mature Harappan phase, fired bricks were used.<ref name="Bricks and Urbanism in Indus Valley">[https://www.academia.edu/1285495/Bricks_and_urbanism_in_the_Indus_Valley_rise_and_decline Bricks and urbanism in the Indus Valley rise and decline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190517180023/https://www.academia.edu/1285495/Bricks_and_urbanism_in_the_Indus_Valley_rise_and_decline |date=2019-05-17 }}</ref>
The Mesopotamians used sun-dried bricks in their city construction;<ref>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}}</ref> typically these bricks were flat on the bottom and curved on the top, called plano-convex mudbricks. 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. [[File:SudanKhartoum-TutiIsland-BrickmakingCorinthia RomanDeckert20160207.jpg|thumb|Traditional brickyard on Tuti Island in Sudan, 2016]] In Minoan Crete, at the Knossos site, there is archaeological evidence that sun-dried bricks were used in the Neolithic period (prior to 3400 BCE).<ref>C. Michael Hogan, [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes ''Knossos fieldnotes'', Modern Antiquarian (2007)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108021923/http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes |date=2017-11-08 }}</ref>
Sun-dried mudbricks were the most common construction material employed in ancient Egypt during pharaonic times and were made in pretty much the same way for millennia. Mud from some locations required sand, chopped straw, or other binders such as animal dung to be mixed in with the mud to increase durability and plasticity.<ref name="Morgenstein1998"/> 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.{{citation needed|date=December 2018}} The mudbricks were chemically suitable as fertilizer, leading to the destruction of many ancient Egyptian ruins, such as at Edfu; one well-preserved site is Amarna.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hawkes|first=Jacquetta|author-link=Jacquetta Hawkes|title=Atlas of Ancient Archaeology|year=1974|publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company|isbn=0-07-027293-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofancientar00hawk/page/146 146]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofancientar00hawk/page/146}}</ref> Mudbrick use increased during the time of Roman influence.<ref>Kathryn A. Bard and Steven Blake Shubert, eds., ''Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt'', 1999, Routledge, 938 pages {{ISBN|0-415-18589-0}}</ref>
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).<ref>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</ref> These mudbricks were often made with straw or dried vegetable matter.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Birge |first1=Darice Elizabeth |last2=Miller |first2=Stephen Gaylord |last3=Kraynak |first3=Lynn Harriett |last4=Miller |first4=S. G. |title=Excavations at Nemea. |date=1992–2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-07027-1 |page=113n345 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ojTPxLcWGTwC&pg=PA113 |quote=Adding straw or dried vegetable matter to the clay of mudbricks was a common practice |access-date=2023-03-23 |archive-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630161019/https://books.google.com/books?id=ojTPxLcWGTwC&pg=PA113 |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Adobe== {{main|Adobe}} In areas of Spanish influence, mudbrick 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.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}
==Banco== The Great Mosque of Djenné, in central Mali, is the world's largest mudbrick structure. It, like much of Sahelian architecture, is built with a mudbrick called '''Banco''',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/researchlab/wp/wp-content/uploads/kiyo/pdf-data/no41/oussouby_sacko.pdf|title=Issues of Cultural Conservation and Tourism Development in the Process of World Heritage Preservation|last=SACKO|first=Oussouby|date=15 November 2015|publisher=Area Studies|access-date=7 October 2016|archive-date=27 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927003156/http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/researchlab/wp/wp-content/uploads/kiyo/pdf-data/no41/oussouby_sacko.pdf}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3562677/Timbuktu-Mud-mud-glorious-mud.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3562677/Timbuktu-Mud-mud-glorious-mud.html |archive-date=2022-01-12 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Timbuktu: Mud, mud, glorious mud|last=Bradbury|first=Dominic|date=30 October 2008|publisher=The Telegraph|access-date=25 February 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
==Durability== In some cases, brickmakers extended the life of mudbricks by putting fired bricks on top or covering them with stucco.{{citation needed|date=December 2025}}
==Mudbrick architecture worldwide== <gallery> File:Great Mosque of Djenné 3.jpg|The Grand Mosque of Djenné, as reconstructed in 1907, is the largest mudbrick structure in the world. File:Mudbrick production Niger 2007.jpg|Production of mudbricks for construction in Niger, 2007 Image:RomaniaDanubeDelta MakingMaterialForCOnstructing0003jpg.JPG|Mudbrick is still used, as seen in 2003 in the Romania Danube River Delta. File:Zinder Old Town Niger 2007.jpg|The "Old Town" area of Zinder, Niger, with traditional painted mudbrick buildings, 2007 File:Punjabi Home.JPG|A Punjabi mudbrick home in Pakistan, 2009 File:Shibam Wadi Hadhramaut Yemen.jpg|Mudbrick high-rises in Shibam, Yemen, 1999 File:Working mudbrick press 5.jpg|Making mudbricks near Cooktown, Australia, 1988 </gallery>
==See also== *{{annotated link|Cob (material)|Cob}} *{{annotated link|Earth structure}} *{{annotated link|Rammed earth}} *{{annotated link|Sod house}}
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * Possehl, Gregory L. (1996). ''Mehrgarh'' in ''Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', edited by Brian Fagan. Oxford University Press.
==External links== *[http://eartharchitecture.org Earth Architecture], website whose focus is contemporary issues in earth architecture. *[http://eartha.org.uk/ '''EARTHA''': ''Earth Architecture and Conservation in East Anglia''], British organisation that focuses on the proper maintenance and conservation of earth buildings in a region of the UK that has a long history of building with mud. Very experienced experts are contactable and there are regular demonstrations in the area. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150912063954/http://one.revver.com/find/video/stepping+gently Video showing mud brick making], mud brick building and biolytic sewerage in South Africa. *[http://www.craterre.org/ '''CRAterre''': ''Centre de recherche architectural en terre''], French university research organisation dedicated to unfired earth construction
{{Prehistoric technology|state=expanded}}
Category:Bricks Category:Sustainable building Category:Appropriate technology Category:Sustainable products Category:Soil-based building materials Category:Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Category:Earth structures