SOURCE: PART I - BRICKS SPEAK HISTORY
PROJECT SARASWATI
BRICKS SPEAK HISTORY
[Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/villagers-in-jind-stumble-upon-vedic-era-wall-bricks/262602.html ]
Intal Kalan (Jind), July 7 ,THURSDAY
[visit the pond at Intal Kalan village of Jind district on thursday. ]
Residents found an ancient structure while digging a pond in Intal Kalan village of district.
A few days ago, the residents had started cleaning of the pond located outside the village with the help of a JCB machine. While cleaning, they noticed some wall-like structure beneath the ground. On further digging, they found a long wall in the pond. The villagers also recovered large-size bricks from the site.
On getting information, Jind-based historian Prof BB Kaushik, who visited the site, said: “The structure looks different from the Harappan-era and it is clear from the size of the bricks recovered from the site. The bricks are of 38cmX22cmX6.5cm dimensions, while Harappan bricks were smaller in size.”
“The site seems to be older than the Harappan period and it looks like that it belongs to the later Vedic period,” he said, adding that the government should protect and conserve the site.
Dharamveer Sharma, a former official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said: “The site appears to be an ashram in the Vedic period where saints used to perform yajna.” He also supported the fact that the site was not related to the Harappan period and could be older than that of the period around 1,800 BC. Sharma said that he had noticed signs of three fingers on some bricks which could have some religious belief during the Vedic period.
Sharma said the state government and the ASI to explore the site and start excavation to know the right chronology of the site.
Ramesh Kumar, a former sarpanch of the village, said: “Every year, people, especially from southern states, visit our village to perform some rituals near the pond. It is still not clear why they visit our village and how they come to know about it.”
Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh said the administration would approach the ASI and the other departments concerned to bring out the facts of ancient site.
He said: “I will also send a team of officials to the village to know more about the place. If anything having historical importance has been recovered then the administration will preserve it.”
[ In all probability, from the size of the bricks it looks like the bricks pertains to KUSHAN PERIOD ie the era of Gautma Budhha ie 600 BC to 200 BC, because the size of the bricks used at NALANDA is also the same size- Vasundhra ]
PROJECT SARASWATI
BRICKS SPEAK HISTORY
[Source - http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/haryana/villagers-in-jind-stumble-upon-vedic-era-wall-bricks/262602.html ]
Intal Kalan (Jind), July 7 ,THURSDAY
[visit the pond at Intal Kalan village of Jind district on thursday. ]
Residents found an ancient structure while digging a pond in Intal Kalan village of district.
A few days ago, the residents had started cleaning of the pond located outside the village with the help of a JCB machine. While cleaning, they noticed some wall-like structure beneath the ground. On further digging, they found a long wall in the pond. The villagers also recovered large-size bricks from the site.
On getting information, Jind-based historian Prof BB Kaushik, who visited the site, said: “The structure looks different from the Harappan-era and it is clear from the size of the bricks recovered from the site. The bricks are of 38cmX22cmX6.5cm dimensions, while Harappan bricks were smaller in size.”
“The site seems to be older than the Harappan period and it looks like that it belongs to the later Vedic period,” he said, adding that the government should protect and conserve the site.
Dharamveer Sharma, a former official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), said: “The site appears to be an ashram in the Vedic period where saints used to perform yajna.” He also supported the fact that the site was not related to the Harappan period and could be older than that of the period around 1,800 BC. Sharma said that he had noticed signs of three fingers on some bricks which could have some religious belief during the Vedic period.
Sharma said the state government and the ASI to explore the site and start excavation to know the right chronology of the site.
Ramesh Kumar, a former sarpanch of the village, said: “Every year, people, especially from southern states, visit our village to perform some rituals near the pond. It is still not clear why they visit our village and how they come to know about it.”
Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh said the administration would approach the ASI and the other departments concerned to bring out the facts of ancient site.
He said: “I will also send a team of officials to the village to know more about the place. If anything having historical importance has been recovered then the administration will preserve it.”
[ In all probability, from the size of the bricks it looks like the bricks pertains to KUSHAN PERIOD ie the era of Gautma Budhha ie 600 BC to 200 BC, because the size of the bricks used at NALANDA is also the same size- Vasundhra ]
BRICK & BRICK SIZES
– A Tool To Find History
[SOURCE : https://builtheritageconservation.wordpress.com/2012/09/22/hello-world/ ]
The brick first produced in a sun-dried form at least 6,000 years ago and the forerunner of a wide range of structural clay products used today is a small building unit in the form of a rectangular block, formed from clay or shale or mixtures and burned (fired) in a kiln, or oven, to produce strength, hardness, and heat resistance. The original concept of ancient brick makers was that the unit should not be larger than what one man could easily handle; today, brick size varies from country to country, and every nation’s brick making industry produces a range of sizes that may run into the hundreds.
HISTORY OF BRICK MAKING
Mud brick, dried in the sun, was one of the first building materials. It is conceivable that on the Nile, Euphrates, or Tigris rivers, following floods, the deposited mud or silt cracked and formed cakes that could be shaped into crude building units to build huts for protection from the weather. In the ancient city of Ur, in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), the first true arch of sun-baked brick was made about 4000 BC. The arch itself has not survived, but a description of it includes the first known reference to mortars other than mud. Bitumen slime was used to bind the bricks together.
Burned brick, no doubt, had already been produced simply by containing a fire with mud bricks. In Ur the potters discovered the principle of the closed kiln, in which heat could be controlled. The Ziggurat at Ur is an example of early monumental brickwork perhaps built of sun-dried brick; the steps were replaced after 2,500 years (about 1500 bc) by burned brick.
As civilization spread eastward and westward from the Middle East, so did the manufacture and use of brick. The Great Wall of China (210 bc) was built of both burned and sun-dried bricks. Early examples of brickwork in Rome were the reconstruction of the Pantheon (ad 123) with an unprecedented brick and concrete dome, 43 metres (142 feet) in diameter and height, and the Baths of Hadrian, where pillars of terra-cotta were used to support floors heated by roaring fires.
Enamelling, or glazing, of brick and tile was known to the Babylonians and Assyrians as early as 600 bc, again stemming from the potter’s art. The great mosques of Jerusalem (Dome of the Rock), Isfahan (in Iran), and Tehran are excellent examples of glazed tile used as mosaics. Some of the blues found in these glazes cannot be reproduced by present manufacturing processes.
Western Europe probably exploited brick as a building and architectural unit more than any other area in the world. It was particularly important in combating the disastrous fires that chronically affected medieval cities. After the Great Fire of 1666, London changed from being a city of wood and became one of brick, solely to gain protection from fire.
Bricks and brick construction were taken to the New World by the earliest European settlers. The Coptic descendants of the ancient Egyptians on the upper Nile River called their technique of making mud brick tōbe. The Arabs transmitted the name to the Spaniards, who, in turn, brought the art of adobe brick making to the southern portion of North America. In the north, the Dutch West India Company built the first brick building on Manhattan Island in 1633.
INDIAN HISTORY
The Indian sub-continent with great variations in climate conditions displays similar responses. Our cultural diversity manifests itself in the variety of basic materials and construction systems, and in the manner each region has developed unique ways of using stone, timber, bamboo and Bricks.
Progress appears to have been along two main vectors. First gross functionalism was replaced with better lines, forms and pattern with progressively greater intricacies in internal and external decorations. Second, materials and systems of construction were improved to perform better after each observed failure. Sustained development along these two lines possibly triggered ancient Indian sages to combine material and spiritual aspects and lay the ground rules of habitat, settlement, and its basic unit home in the Shilpa-Sastra.
The Ancient Period
The earliest evidence of the use of adobe for constructing house in rectangular forms in the subcontinent dates to 7000 BC. There are over 1000 Harappa sites across the Indian subcontinent of which Mohenjo-Daro, Taxila, Harappa and Lothal are better known. Building materials in use were stone, mud adobe and hard baked clay bricks.
Different brick sizes used in ancient
Pre-Harappa – 30 x 20 x 10 cm
Post-Harappa – 50 to 25 x 25 to 12.5 x 12.5 to 6.35 cm.
Early-Harappa – 33 to 27.9 x 15.2 to 12.7 x 12.7 to 8.9 cm.
Early Historical – 60 to 20 x 31.75 to 16 x 10 to 5 cm.
Late Historical – 60 to 11 x 28.6 x 8 12 to 4 cm.
These only exemplify the variety of brick sizes but do not exhaust the innumerable sizes found in excavated buildings in different sites.
Lothal
Lothal brick-makers used a logical approach in manufacture of bricks, designed with care in regards to thickness of structures. They were used as headers and stretchers in same and alternate layers. Archaeologists estimate that in most cases, the bricks were in ratio 1:0.5:0.25 on three sides, in dimensions which were integral multiples of large graduations of Lothal scale of 25 mm.
Bricks Used in Lothal
From 1100 to around 300 BC there is little evidence of use of hard baked clay bricks. What happened to the old technology is not known. Between 5th and 3rd century BC Nalanda, Bihar. The shrine is made of baked bricks with stucco figures done in lime. The monasteries at Nalanda were made of bricks and superstructures were supported on wooden beams.
Since the imperial Maurya burnt brick have been continuously in use as building materials in the alluvial plains of India. Temple at Bhitargaon dating to the Gupta period, this temple is made of hard-baked bricks and mortar.
The Medieval
Relatively, fever examples of dwelling units survive. It is, however, quite clear that stone, timber, biomass and brick were the main building material for the common man.
The Sultanate Period
Islam had its impact on construction in the subcontinent. The Indian subcontinent has a long history of trade and commerce with west Asian tribes. The Sultanate was established in India. Constructions of Qutubbuddin Aibak and his successors proved to be one of the three principal influences on later Mughal architecture.
However, it is clear that during this period the primary materials continued to be stone, Brick and timber. While techniques may be improved materials remained the same.
The Mughal Period
Both Babar and Humayun are credited with having taken up constructions which would influence later Mughal constructions. In the architectural sense, the Mughal period can be divided into the Mughal and the Imperial Mughal periods. In the earlier period, the construction was generally simple.
Evidence shows that houses of the nobility and wealthy men were made of stone and burnt bricks. Houses built of un-burnt bricks have collapsed. This shows that constructions even of wealthy people required regular repairs and maintenance. The dominant material in these constructions is stone which was quarried locally.
The Colonial Period
The advent of the British and the establishment of the Raj across the Indian subcontinent led to interesting constructions and extensive use of local materials. The most extensive constructions by the British were the Dak bungalows. The foundation and walls were made of local bricks, bonded with surkhi and lime until these were replaced with cement. With the British came ordinary Portland cement, Victorian bricks and steel as key building materials. Also, with the British came the bull’s trench kiln to produce burnt clay bricks. The earliest Bull’s trench kiln was established off Mapla in Hooghly district, about 100 years ago. This brick field is still in operation and its bricks sell under the brand name ‘Kishori”. With the establishment of the Bull’s kiln based mass production of brick, building materials emerge as an industry. Later cement and steel also came to be produced in India.
For the ancient period until the end of the British Raj, the dominant materials have been mud, adobe, stone, sundry bricks, baked bricks, lime and timber. Steel and cement introduced by the British.
BRICK SIZES IN AHMEDABAD
BRICK SIZE (CM.)
|
TIME PERIOD
|
EXAMPLE (AHMEDABAD)
|
30 X 22.5 X 7.5-8
|
Sultanate Period
|
Bhadra Fort
|
20 X 14 X 4-5
|
16th Century
|
Bhadra Fort
|
22.8 X 10.7 X 6.9
|
19th Century
|
Town Hall
|
10 X 10 X 20
|
20th Century
|
AMC Building
|
Conclusion
Brick, clay being easily available in all areas and could be moulded in desired shapes, dried in sun for ready use or baked to last longer to be used in buildings.
A study of the various brick sizes through the ages will show that with different cultural influences brick size and shape were changed in India. With the change in building construction details also affects the brick size according to their needs, like in the early medieval period mostly cuboids shape because they were better suited to arches and domes. In corbelled constructions of the early period for compression and cantilever action thick large-sized bricks were used.
REFRENCES
- Building Material in India: 50 Years A Commemorative Volume – Gupta, T.N And Others
- The Chemistry of Building Materials – R.M.E Diamant
- History of Brick Making – Britannica Online Encyclopaedia
- Brick in 20th-Century Architecture By Jonathan Ochshorn
- An encyclopedia of Indian archaeology
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