Architecture of Mesopotamia - Building Materials

Building Materials

The story of Mesopotamian architecture begins in southeastern Turkey with the erection of large monoliths at the site of Göbekli Tepe. It is overwhelmingly one of clay masonry and of increasingly complex forms of stacked mudbrick. Adobe-brick was preferred over vitreous brick because of its superior thermal properties and lower manufacturing costs. Red brick was used in small applications involving water, decoration, and monumental construction. A late innovation was glazed vitreous brick. Sumerian masonry was usually mortarless although bitumen was sometimes used. Brick styles, which varied greatly over time, are categorized by period.

• Patzen 80×40×15 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BCE)
• Riemchen 16×16 cm: Late Uruk period (3600–3200 BCE)
• Plano-convex 10x19x34 cm: Early Dynastic Period (3100–2300 BCE)

Since rounded bricks are somewhat unstable, Mesopotamian bricklayers would lay a row of bricks perpendicular to the rest every few rows. The advantages to plano-convex bricks were the speed of manufacture as well as the irregular surface which held the finishing plaster coat better than a smooth surface from other brick types.

Because these bricks were sun baked, buildings eventually deteriorated. They were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This planned structural life cycle gradually raised the level of cities, so that they came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resulting hills are known as tells, and are found throughout the ancient Near East. Civic buildings slowed decay by using cones of colored stone, terracotta panels, and clay nails driven into the adobe-brick to create a protective sheath that decorated the facade.

Specially prized were imported building materials such as cedar from Lebanon,