Construction Techniques

Title:
Brickmaking, from Eighteenth Dynasty Tomb-painting Tomb of Rekhmara

Note:
“The ordinary Egyptian brick is a mere oblong block of mud mixed with chopped straw and a little sand, and dried in the sun. At spot where they are about to build, one man is told off to break up the ground; others carry the clods, and pile them in a heap, while others again mix them with water, knead the clay with their feet, when sufficiently worked (Note 2), is pressed by the head workman in molds made of hard wood, while an assistant carries away the bricks as fast as they are shaped and lays them out in rows at the a little distance apart, to dry in the sun.” (Maspero and Edwards p.3.)

Source: 
Maspero, G., and Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards. 1895. Manual of Egyptian Archæology and Guide to The Study of Antiquities In Egypt. For The Use of Students and Travellers. London: H. Grevel and Co., p.3. Book at Google.