Hand Crafted Bricks dates back to about 7000 BC as ruins have been found in Turkey on the site of Jericho, which makes it the oldest known building materials.
The original first bricks were made of clay and straw in Egypt.
It was mostly made in areas with high temperatures for most of the year like desert areas, as it used the extreme heat of the sun so that the clay could dry.
The proof of the ancient Egyptians brick production can be seen by the ruins left behind and also in the tombs where the hieroglyphics depict slaves handmaking them and some showing slaves carrying them in weaved baskets to the building sites.
the way it was done was usually by slaves or “workers” mixing red and brown clay with water and straw and forcing the mixture into various wooden frames and then leveled off for a clean look.
Once all seem all nice and neat they would remove it from the frames and packed out in squares in the open air in the extreme heat to dry.
The greatest invention came about in about 3500 BC when the heating kilns was created.
this made it possible for areas with lower or temperament temperatures to also start producing bricks.
Though still crafted by hand they now did not need the sun to dry the bricks as the kilns could now operate at twenty hours for continuous use and increased production which eventually led to the greater amounts available and the eventual creation of greater amounts of buildings being made and the eventual emergence of larger cities and the Roman invention of paved roads and walkways.
Though many of the Roman Elie Buildings, like temples, Senate housing and Ceasar’s palaces, etc, were still made of mostly marble to indicate the status above the normal citizens more and more of the public buildings and eventually normal housing started to be made using the “new brick technology” which made the Romans the kingdom of the future.
These Roman Kiln bricks normally measured 1 or 2 roman feet by 1 roman foot but larger 3 Roman feet was also produced which led to the building of Romes best-known relics like:
THE GREAT ROMAN CITY WALLS
CAESARS VAULTS
THE AQUEDUCT FACES AND ARCHES
THE CARACALLA BATHS
POMPEII’S HERCULANEUM GATES
This art form spread worldwide and the only difference was the designs and manufacturing process.
This went on until around 1885 when the first brick making machinery was invented and this led to the downfall of the handmade process.
Today the are still Hand Crafted Bricks but only in the real poverty-stricken areas where the people build their own homes by bricks they make themselves but all on a small scale.