Innovations in mud‐brick: Decorative and structural techniques in ancient Mesopotamia

Mud‐brick is one of the most adaptable and versatile of building materials. Its early use in the Near East is discussed, with particular reference to its employment in elaborate façade decoration, for example in the spiral and palm‐trunk semi‐columns of the Great Temple at Tell al Rimah (c. 1800 BC) and in various types of vault. Evidence is discussed for the contemporary use of three techniques of sun‐dried mud‐brick vaulting ‐ radial, pitched‐brick and corbelled ‐ at least as early as the second half of the third millennium BC.