WEBVTT - Mud, Part 3 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:07.040 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.800 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:16.120 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:18.560 And I'm Joe McCormick, and we're back with part three 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:23.360 in our series on mud. Yes, mud, regular mud, wet soil, 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.240 especially of the clay and silt sized particle variety. So 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:30.800 in previous parts of the series we talked about what 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.400 mud is, what its physical properties are, the role it 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.240 played in the history of shaping Earth's continents, and how 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:42.639 life colonized those continents. We talked in the previous episode 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.880 about many animal behaviors that relate to mud. We talked 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.400 about pigs wallowing in mud, Arnold Schwarzenegger wallowing and mud. 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:53.280 We talked about mud skippers and other animals whose lives 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:55.800 involve mud in one way or another. But of course, 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.640 mud also plays a big role in human culture and 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:05.200 human technology, even in the building of many important human settlements. 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.000 So that's what we're going to focus on today. Mud, 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.880 especially as a building material for humans. 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.800 Yeah, yeah, the mud brick, especially because you know, we 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.680 could build things out of mud, I guess without forming 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.039 some sort of a a brick or or or you know, 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.520 something to to stack, something to use, but it would 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.800 be messy, it wouldn't be very effective. And that's where 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:30.840 the mud brick comes into play here, and the ability 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.360 to turn mud into this thing that then then can 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.520 be mass produced and used to build a variety of things. 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.760 Brian M. Fagan features several chapters that touch on mud 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:44.920 bricks in the seventy Great Inventions of the Ancient World. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.640 In a chapter on dwellings with Kate Spence, it's pointed 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.640 out that we we absolutely can't consider human dwellings and 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:56.160 the development and advancement of materials and techniques with also 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.960 taking into account the shape of human culture at a 0:01:59.000 --> 0:02:02.440 given time and the environment in which they're constructed. 0:02:02.880 --> 0:02:06.520 The series of episodes has repeatedly just forced me to 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:10.240 think about the interesting web of back and forth interactions 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:16.560 between inorganic geological conditions in certain places on Earth and 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.480 the life and culture that arises there. 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.720 That's right, that's right now. On that first count, that 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.840 idea of you know what, you know, where are people going? 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:29.800 Where are they living their lives? In ancient times? You know, 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.040 as we've discussed before, there are modes of life and 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.320 technology that makes sense if you're settled long term in 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.760 a single area. But other modes make more sense if 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.200 your nomadic or semi nomadic, as many of our global 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:46.079 ancestors were. So for nomadic peoples, it might make more 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:49.320 sense to depend for shelter on some manner of say 0:02:49.360 --> 0:02:53.680 wood frame plus high tense scenario, or to depend on 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:57.400 very fixed, even naturally occurring shelters that you could take 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:01.520 advantage of periodically, such as caves. There's also room in 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.000 this for more permanent structures that seasonal settlements, places that 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.400 you're going to come back to again and again, you know, 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:11.200 when the seasons allow it, or the you know, crops, 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:14.640 movement of animals, whatever happens to be the case, and 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:16.320 then there are going to be you know, other modes 0:03:16.360 --> 0:03:19.320 of temporary constructions that are going to make sense as well. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.280 But the other main point is that of climate and environment. 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.919 What is possible in a given area from a local 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:30.639 material standpoint, would for example, makes an excellent material for 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.480 building in ancient times as well as in our own 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.400 modern world, But if it's harder to come by, if 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.200 it has to be imported, et cetera, then it may 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.280 make more sense to use it only for key roles, 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.080 such as for instance, framing and lean more heavily on 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.720 other materials that are easier to acquire. 0:03:49.040 --> 0:03:50.800 Makes sense. Yeah. 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:55.160 Now, Spence does note in their chapter that the thing 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.520 about many ancient building supplies is that they simply don't 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.120 survive the passage of time. But we know our ancestors 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.720 used wood and even bones as tent structures between twenty 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:09.880 five and twelve thousand years ago in Eurasia at Jericho, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:13.080 which this book site says at least at the time, 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.920 the earliest evidence of occupation there dated back to before 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:21.040 nine thousand BCE, and it seems that the earliest houses 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.560 there were built out of quote unquote clay lumps and 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:28.120 probably also made use of wooden building frames before they 0:04:28.160 --> 0:04:33.200 transition to mud brick buildings. For first first circular in nature, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.640 and then later they used rectangular designs with multiple rooms. 0:04:37.040 --> 0:04:38.560 So tell me about mud bricks. 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.920 Okay, So mud bricks are pretty fascinating. I didn't expect 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.800 to get so into mud bricks, but this book and 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:48.160 then another one I'm going to refer to in a 0:04:48.200 --> 0:04:51.000 bit really get into it and made me appreciate them. 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.560 So mud bricks are especially useful in arid environments because 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.920 mud bricks like other forms of solid masonry, are poor conductors. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:04.839 Heat Thick walls of mud brick will slow the rate 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.440 at which the exterior solar heat is absorbed into the 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.400 interior environment. 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.359 So they're good insulators if you're living in say, a 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:14.080 hot desert. 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:18.040 Yeah. And additionally, structures like this, which are still common 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:22.080 throughout North Africa, the author notes here, often feature high 0:05:22.120 --> 0:05:25.599 ceilings and small openings set high in the wall to 0:05:25.760 --> 0:05:29.360 encourage airflow. Also flat roofs since there tends to be 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.640 less rainfall to contend with. So it's a design that 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:35.560 has stood the test of time. It's a building material 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.359 that has stood the test of time. Now, the thing is, 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.480 of course, all buildings in general require upkeep, no matter 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.200 what you're building in them. Out of modern buildings upkeep 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.839 as well. But of course mud brick buildings require regular 0:05:48.920 --> 0:05:53.640 upkeep against erosion. That is specific to the nature of 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.000 mud bricks, and we'll get into that more in just 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:59.080 a bit as well. Now, in the seventy Great Inventions 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:01.479 of the Ancient World, later noted in a chapter with 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:05.120 Jeffrey P. Killen that mud bricks were also used in 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:09.400 the construction of furniture, such as among the poorer classes. 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:13.400 In ancient Egypt, wood and ivory were materials of the wealthy, 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.440 while mud brick platforms served as beds by night and 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:19.479 benches by day for common folk. 0:06:20.080 --> 0:06:22.960 As a side note on the subject of ancient Egyptian beds, 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.799 if you've never seen ancient Egyptian the headrests, you should 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.560 look that up. Where instead of pillows, they would have 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.680 sort of a stand for your head to lie on, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.240 like a rigid stand. I find that really interesting. 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.680 Yeah, didn't we discuss this in the Invention of the 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.960 Bad episode. Yeah, if memory serves, we talked about the 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.400 work of a researcher who was like recreating these and 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:47.560 testing them out. 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:50.760 Unfortunately, I don't remember what the conclusions of that were, 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.159 but yeah, very interesting. So imagine instead of a soft pillow, 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:57.240 you use like a little hard podium for your head 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:57.719 to lie on. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.040 Now elsewhere in this book at it also points out 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.440 that extensive town walls appeared in the sixth and fifth 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:08.880 centuries BCE, often constructed of mud bricks, but with stone 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:13.200 facing and or rubble filling. An example of this would 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.560 be the long walls of classical Athens. These were destroyed 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.600 by the Roman general Sula during the first century BCE, 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:22.840 and they had been rebuilt even before that, So you know, 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.160 it's the nature of fortifications. And then also you know, 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:29.440 some of the part of it also is the nature 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.880 of mud bricks, which we'll come back to. By the 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:34.880 third century BCE, mud bricks were a common material in 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:40.080 the construction of walled cities among various Mediterranean civilizations, according 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:45.160 to Fagan. Now, one something that also comes up in 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:49.400 these chapters is that mud bricks would have also been 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:53.440 used in the construction of what was considered an antiquity, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.160 one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, the 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.000 hanging Gardens of Babylon or the guard in terraces of 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:06.200 Babylon that are often attributed to the ruler Nebekinezer, who 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:09.040 lived six oh five through five sixty two BCE. 0:08:10.280 --> 0:08:13.840 Now, when I was a kid, I had a little 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.880 booklet that I read a lot that was about the 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:19.880 seven wonders of the ancient world, and one of them 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:22.960 was the hanging gardens of Babylon. And I never understood 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:24.960 what the deal with the word hanging was. I was 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:29.800 imagining them like dangling from chains, but what were those 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:32.320 dangling from? I didn't get the hanging part. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.840 Yeah, and it seems that a more accurate description would 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:41.079 be terrast. We're essentially talking about great terraced gardens. So 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:42.880 I wanted to get into this a little bit more 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:44.840 because you know, obviously, if something's being held up as 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.079 one of the wonders of the ages during this time 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.280 and it was made out of mud bricks, mud bricks 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.000 being something that you know, you might without knowing much 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.440 about it, you might just think, well, this is a 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:59.280 simplistic this is an old fashioned form of construction. Well, well, 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.400 let's look a little deeper. So I picked up a book. 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:04.480 This is a new book came out just this year 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.520 that we've actually been in discussions with having the author 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:12.560 on the show. Even it's such a neat looking volume. 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.959 It's titled The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Science, Engineering, 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:20.040 and Technology by Michael Dennis Higgins. It's a great book. 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.840 It looks at not only what's historically known and or 0:09:23.880 --> 0:09:27.160 alleged regarding these wonders and how it ties into what 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.560 we know about the geology of the regions where these 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.960 wonders were located or thought to be located, but also 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.240 what recreation in the modern world might look like so, 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.920 Chapter three of the book deals with the Gardens of 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:45.480 Mesopotamia because while the traditional view Higgins rides is that 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.719 the gardens were set in the walled city of Babylon 0:09:48.960 --> 0:09:52.360 and what is now central Iraq just south of Baghdad 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.199 during the sixth century BCE, there is also growing support 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:58.720 for the idea that they weren't located here at all, 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.960 but were in nineva during the seventh century BCE, in 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.080 what is now northern Iraq near Mosul Oh. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.480 So that would make sense because then I would assume 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.000 that would mean they wouldn't be the gardens of Babylon 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:14.400 but of Assyria, right, because Ninevah was the capital of Assyria, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:16.600 but still would have been between the rivers, still would 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:17.559 have been Mesopotamia. 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:20.640 Yeah. One thing that that Higgins stresses, and we have 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.400 to keep in mind with the Wonders of the Ancient World, 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:25.840 the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is that these 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:31.560 were the these this was like a list that was 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:36.200 that was put together in the Hellenistic world and the 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.800 concerning things that were often far away, and this is 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:42.000 especially the case. These were the this, these were the east. 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.120 This was the eastern most wonder on the list by 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.240 a considerable margin, and they it was so far away 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:50.640 that you could basically say whatever you wanted and it 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:51.880 would not be questioned. 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.360 I've often thought of the writings about these as kind 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.200 of the the Forbes travel Guide of the ancient Greeks, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:10:59.960 but maybe with some shaky sword. 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.520 Yeah, because again, the idea of the Seven Wonders of 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:07.880 the Ancient World are basically a first century BCE creation, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:10.680 and in this particular case, they're dealing with something from 0:11:10.720 --> 0:11:14.880 the sixth or seventh century BCE. Higgins writes, quote, we 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:19.439 will never know definitively the where and when of the gardens, 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.320 and it is likely that more than one Mesopotamian ruler 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.120 had remarkable gardens that may have been conflated in stories 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:32.079 and accounts relayed to the far off Mediterranean world. Higgins 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.880 also adds this other great little addition. He says, quote, 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.000 we should perhaps be wary of imposing a modern view 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.720 of garden life. In one panel from the north palace 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.840 of Ashurbanipal, king of the Neo Assyrian Empire from six 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:49.880 sixty nine through six point thirty one BCE, the king 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:53.000 is taking refreshments while listening to music with his wife 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:57.360 Amid luxuriant trees, from one of which hangs the severed 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:01.720 head of an enemy. So I don't know quite what 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.680 to make of that, but fair enough. 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:07.520 Well, you like to celebrate your accomplishments, and that can 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:08.400 take many forms. 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:13.240 Yes, anyway, onto the bricks. So the role their role 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.520 in the construction of the gardens would would vary depending 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:20.080 on where exactly this garden would have would have been. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.840 Higgins writes that there are five ancient descriptions of the gardens. 0:12:25.080 --> 0:12:29.439 The most detailed stems from Greek writer Deodora Sicolis during 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.320 the first century BCE, but he does not identify the 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:36.160 actual city where this is supposed to be, and he 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.080 also doesn't name the ruler. All he says is that 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.800 it is a quote Syrian king. Still, there are a 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.840 lot of details mentioned in this account, and it specifically 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:52.040 mentions bricks. He describes ascending tiered terraces full of abundant 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:56.560 platte life, made level with the opposing battlements of the city, 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:00.600 opposing as in like there inside the city looking at 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:04.520 the their opposite an interior wall. So this particular account 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:09.320 describes that the roofs over a series of galleries were 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:12.640 layered with stone beams. Then they put down a layer 0:13:12.720 --> 0:13:17.120 of reeds and bitumen. Then two courses of baked bricks 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.400 bonded by cement were put over this. And we'll have 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:23.160 more on baked bricks in a minute. Then there's a 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:26.400 layer of lead to prevent moisture from creeping down, and 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.040 then enough dirt and soil on top of all that 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.640 to accommodate the roots of quote the largest trees. So 0:13:32.840 --> 0:13:35.719 a considerable garden project any way you look at it, 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.600 like definitely more involved than anything any of us are 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.120 doing in our backyards. Okay, so I mentioned baked bricks. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:44.720 I want to come back to mud bricks specifically. So 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:49.000 Higgins stresses that these were mud bricks were the most 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:53.600 important building material in Mesopotamian cities, and this was especially 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:57.160 true of Babylon, which had no outcroppings of stone in 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:01.440 the immediate area Nineva. On the other hand, up there, 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.640 there was a local supply of limestone, so they were 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.880 able to lean on that much more for their construction needs. However, 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.520 mud bricks were still used there because they were traditional 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:13.360 and or inexpensive. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:16.440 All right, So you could quarry out stone bricks up 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.320 in Nineve if you need them, But mud bricks are 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.440 still just cheaper and more efficient in many ways, and 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:24.600 you know, there were something people were used to using 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:25.920 and they get the job done. 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.600 Right right now. The process of making the mud bricks 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:32.120 is also very important here, and I thought very interesting. 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.640 I just never had looked into this before, but in 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:40.200 this particular, their mud bricks you used throughout arid parts 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.640 of the world where people have settled, but these specifically, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.720 these would have been sediments washed down the Tigris and 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:51.000 Euphrates from what is now Turkey. Then the people would 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:55.000 collect the mud and then they would mix in fresh straw. 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:59.400 This would give the mud bricks, once they had time 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:03.360 to dry, additional strength. And this reminded me of our 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.400 episode on Pie Create Joe about creating building materials out 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.320 of ice and how something had to be added, something 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:12.400 had to be mixed in there with it to give 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:13.640 them additional stability. 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:16.400 What was it? Was it like, I want to say, 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.880 like chopped up newspaper or straw or sawdust or something 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.800 to that effect. Yeah, yeah, so fresh straw would be 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:26.000 serving the purpose here, and it does seem like it 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:27.680 did need to be fresh, and we'll come back to 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:31.120 that in a second. Then, so you have the mud 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.200 you've added in the fresh straw. Then you mold these 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.080 into more or less uniform brick shapes, and then you 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.640 leave them to air dry. And then once dry, you 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:44.360 know today you have bricks for building all sorts of structures. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.360 So this began as mud, but it ends up being 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:48.960 sturdy enough to build. 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:51.920 With, right, So there are some pros and cons here. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.880 So the pros the big pro of course, is that 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.720 these are inexpensive and they don't require high temperature, fuel 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.960 consuming ovens to bake them as you have with with 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.920 baked bricks. You can make a ton of them. You 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.000 can use them to build battlements, buildings, et cetera in 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:10.000 pretty short order. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.040 So again they're they're cheap, they're fast building material to 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.320 make them as abundant, and they get the job done right. 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:20.000 And I don't want to imply that, you know, there's 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:22.920 just a crude mode of construction, Like obviously there's an 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.360 art and a craftsmanship to making them, and I think 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:29.280 that's key here too, Like the local people knew how 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.560 to make them. There was a tradition of making them, 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.360 and that also allowed them to bust them out in 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.280 massive quantities in a short amount of time. 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.480 Oh yeah, I want to be clear by saying like 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.040 that they're inexpensive, I mean that they're you know, they're 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:45.160 inexpensive relative to like quarrying or having to fire the 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:47.400 bricks in an oven. But that doesn't mean that they're 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:50.160 like junk. I mean this is this is building material 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.920 that serves its purpose and it is efficient, it's smart. 0:16:54.360 --> 0:16:58.040 Now there are cons here. Of course, these are arid environments, 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:00.560 but it doesn't mean that it doesn't rain, doesn't mean 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:05.760 that there aren't floods, periodic flooding and so forth. So yeah, 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.399 they're easily washed away or damage during storms. Plus this 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:13.280 was impressive, as Higgins points out, the bricks at the 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.840 base of walls of structures draw up and absorb water 0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:22.960 by capillary action. The water evaporates, but quote, salts are 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:27.480 concentrated and finally crystallize between the mineral grains, causing the 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.159 mud to flake, weakening the base of the walls. And 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.239 he also has this was especially true would have been 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.520 true in Babylon due to the rather brackish ground water. 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.240 Yeah. Okay, so higher salt content in that water, more 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.280 more crystals getting into the bricks. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.800 Yeah, so mud brick buildings while essential for the time period, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.159 also required a lot of upkeep, and they would eventually fail. 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.960 Mud brick buildings would eventually crumble and fall apart, and 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:59.760 any resulting bricks would not be reused, nor would the mud. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:02.879 Like you couldn't just like you know, essentially wet it 0:18:02.920 --> 0:18:06.560 all down and form new mud bricks out of that mud, 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:09.000 out of that soil. And it's thought that a lot 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:10.840 of this had to do with the fact that at 0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:13.480 this point it's all it's old straw mixed in there, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.640 and it's not going to hold things together as well 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.080 as fresh straw. So you would get fresh mud from 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.760 the river, you would add fresh straw to that, and 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:26.040 you would just build new new bricks the old side, 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:28.760 the crumbled bricks, et cetera. You would just flatten that 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.280 down as much as possible, and that would service the 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:36.720 foundation for the new structure. And it's interesting that resulting 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.200 mound of old mud bricks is what we call a tell. 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.520 This is like a rising heap where these would these 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.840 buildings would crumble, they'd have to be flattened. You'd build 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.120 a new one that eventually would crumble and be flattened. 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.000 Higgins rights that over the millennia. Such tells actually lifted 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.240 the base levels of cities up above the plane, making 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.760 them more defendable, making the more desirable as places to 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.359 live and to work and to defend yourself. And therefore 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:06.720 the pattern would just continue. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:10.000 Yeah. And so you can see in the locations or 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:15.160 ruins of some ancient settlements, especially in the ancient Near East, 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.600 that maybe even no buildings remained, but there's just a 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.160 big mound built up off the ground. 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:35.040 Yeah. So that's incredible. So anyway, the problems of mud 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.960 bricks were known, even though they were traditional, even though 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:41.240 they were inexpensive. Higgins points out that not only is 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.639 Babylon home to some of the earliest known recorded legal systems, 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.000 but also some of those laws that were recorded concerned 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:52.080 building collapses. It was written that if a building's collapse 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:54.920 caused the death of the homeowner, then the builder would 0:19:54.960 --> 0:19:55.960 be put to death. 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:58.960 Oh wow, that is a strict building code. 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.120 Yeah, but you know, it makes sense you're building, I mean, 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.879 not to say the eye for and eye nature of it, 0:20:06.400 --> 0:20:08.320 you know, makes it makes sense so much. But just 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.480 the idea that like, buildings are important and there has 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.600 to be some sort of you know, some sort of 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:17.040 law in place to make sure things are built to code. 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:20.120 Yeah, maybe not death penalty, but builders should be kept 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:20.840 to a high standard. 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.080 Yeah yeah. And so you know, again, it was known 0:20:24.080 --> 0:20:26.159 that there could be problems with mud bricks, and it 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.040 was discovered early on that you could transform mud bricks 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.480 of a sort into something harder and less susceptible to erosion. 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:39.000 Higgins writes, quote, heat changes water bearing clay minerals with 0:20:39.040 --> 0:20:44.320 their slippery playing card structure, into larger, interlocking crystals of 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:48.800 minerals containing less water, which makes a stronger material than 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:53.320 is water resistant. He ultimately compares this transformation to kind 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:59.080 of a sped up and you know, less sophisticated process 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:04.080 of metamorphism that in like in the ground and over 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:09.200 geologic time, produces things like marble. And so he writes 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.520 that many of the great Babylonian structures of the day 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:15.040 would have been made of baked bricks, and these would 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.920 ultimately last so long that they would be reused long 0:21:19.080 --> 0:21:22.479 after the final fall of Babylon to build such cities 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.480 as Baghdad. And we see this in other parts of 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.760 the world as well, Like the bricks stand the test 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.560 of time, and then the bricks are scavenged in order 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.320 to build the new cities of an emerging new world. 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.679 But these would have been fire bricks. 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:39.600 Bricks, Yes, these have been the fired Yeah, you're not 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:42.000 doing this with mud bricks at all, But baked bricks 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.240 are just that much more durable and and you know, 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.800 and it's it's inter I was been talking about this 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:49.760 with my wife and she pointed out that, you know, 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.520 a lot of the bricks we see on houses today, 0:21:54.040 --> 0:21:56.600 like they're pure they're purely ornamental. They're real baked bricks, 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.320 but they're not like doing much or anything in the 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.560 way of structural support for the house. Your house isn't 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:05.920 built out of bricks. It's built out of wood framing 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:08.040 and all the other stuff. But the bricks are there 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:11.800 just for ornamental purposes, well, depending on the house. But yeah, 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.960 in a lot of modern uses. Yeah. Now, Higgins points 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.600 out that limestone was also used in special instances, but 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:22.159 this would have been expensive to import in Babylon, Unlike 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:26.119 with Nineveh. The walls of Babylon, however, were also sometimes 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.199 listed as an ancient wonder in and of themselves. They 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:33.399 were made of mud bricks, and the gates faced with 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:39.600 baked bricks that were glazed with a glass like blue 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.360 glaze that was then detailed with yellow flora and fauna 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.040 things like lions and all. So these walls would have 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.399