Brick

An important building material of individual blocks of clay or mud, some with tempering of sand or straw. Bricks, which are not always rectangular, may be baked in a kiln to terra cotta or sun-dried - which is referred to as mud-brick or adobe. The chief building material throughout the Near East has always been mud-brick. Bricks can be used as dating criteria, especially when they bear stamped inscriptions. Decorative glazed bricks first appeared in Assyrian times, as at Ishtar Gate in Babylon.

A shaped clay block, used in building, or the material from which such blocks are made. The brick clay may be hardened by baking in a kiln, in which case it may be termed terracotta. In drier climates, such baking is not so necessary and bricks may be dried in the sun; such bricks may be called mud-brick or adobe.

An important building material of individual blocks of clay or mud, some with tempering of sand or straw. Bricks, which are not always rectangular, may be baked in a kiln to terra cotta or sun-dried; the latter are referred to as mud bricks or adobes. The chief building material throughout the Near East has always been mud brick. Bricks can be used as dating criteria, especially when they bear stamped inscriptions. Decorative glazed bricks first appeared in Assyrian times, as at Ishtar Gate in Babylon.