Artifact Type: brick History

Bricks are rectangular blocks made from combinations of clay, water, and other binding ingredients such as straw. The earliest bricks in the Ancient Near East were handmade and sundried, but as technology developed bricks were produced in moulds. Bricks were used as a primary building material for private dwellings, as well as large scale structures including temples, palaces, and city walls. Some bricks were inscribed with royal inscriptions by hand or, from the Old Akkadian period, by means of a ‘brick stamp’—a stamp with an inscription in the reverse so that when stamped on the brick the text was correctly oriented. Bricks with impressions and inscriptions are included in this category; the brick stamp implement is included in the ‘Tool’ category.

Translations
Name Language
آجر Arabic

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Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Brick - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. February 14, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13.
CDLI contributors. (2026, February 14). brick - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13
CDLI contributors (2026) brick - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13 (Accessed: February 14, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026brick,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-14]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {feb 14},
	title = {brick - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/2/14/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_287183267924
M1  - 2026/2/14/
TI  - brick - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13
ER  - 

Cite this Artifact Type

CDLI contributors. 2026. “Brick - Artifact Types.” Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. February 14, 2026. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13.
CDLI contributors. (2026, February 14). brick - Artifact Types. Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13
CDLI contributors (2026) brick - Artifact Types, Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative. Available at: https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13 (Accessed: February 14, 2026).
@misc{CDLI2026brick,
	note = {[Online; accessed 2026-02-14]},
	author = {{CDLI contributors}},
	year = {2026},
	month = {feb 14},
	title = {brick - {Artifact} {Types}},
	url = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13},
	howpublished = {https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13},
}

TY  - ELEC
AU  - CDLI contributors
DA  - 2026/2/14/
PY  - 2026
ID  - temp_id_903745068862
M1  - 2026/2/14/
TI  - brick - Artifact Types
UR  - https://cdli.earth/artifact-types/13
ER  - 
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