Bricks
Did you know that some of the buildings we see today, like the Empire State Building in New York City and the Great Wall of China, were constructed using over millions of bricks? Bricks are actually one of the oldest man-made building materials and have been used for about 9,000 to 10,000 years!
So, how were the first bricks made? Well, some archaeologists believe that the first bricks were actually made by accident! It happened when mud or silt was deposited by the Nile River in Egypt. After the mud hardened into slabs, the slabs cracked. When an Egyptian walking along the Nile saw the slabs, he realized they could be shaped into blocks and used for building!
Making bricks is still done in a similar way today. Clay is mined, crushed, and mixed with water to make a thick goo. This goo is then shaped, dried, and baked in large ovens. Machines have made the crushing and mixing processes easier, but the basic procedure has changed very little.
In fact, there’s a town in Arkansas called Malvern, which is known as the Brick Capital of the World because they produce 150 million bricks every year! They even have a Brickfest celebration each year.
Did you know that there are people who collect bricks too? Their organization is called the International Brick Collectors Association. They collect bricks with names or markings on them from all over the world.
If you’re interested in old bricks, you can even visit the General Shale Museum of Ancient Brick in Tennessee! There, you can see the oldest sun-dried brick ever found, estimated to be between 9,000 and 10,000 years old, as well as the oldest fired brick ever found, which is 5,000 years old. You can even see a 64-pound brick from the fortress of King Solomon!
Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as a brick has played such an important role in building our world?
