Mud brick

From Thebes, Egypt
19th Dynasty, 1250 BC

Stamped with the name of Ramesses II

From the beginning of Egyptian history mud bricks were used as a basic material for construction. In the course of the Early Dynastic Period (about 3100-2613 BC) and the Old Kingdom (about 2613-2160 BC) bricks remained the basic building material of structures for living in, whether palaces or the houses of the ordinary people. Stone was gradually introduced for temples and the tombs of the élite.

Bricks were produced in vast quantities for all sorts of projects. They were made from Nile mud mixed with sand and straw, the latter two elements giving strength to the basic material. Bricks used for specific state projects were often stamped with the name of the king for whom it was being built. This one is stamped with the name of Ramesses II (about 1279-1213 BC). The discovery of stamped bricks can often be extremely useful for dating a structure.

A.J. Spencer, Brick architecture in ancient (Warminster, 1979)

T.C. Mitchell, The Bible in the British Museu (London, The British Museum Press, 1988)