WEBVTT - From the Vault: Mud, Part 3 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:08.400 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. It 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.200 is Saturday. It is time for another Vault episode. This 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.920 is going to be Mud Part three, which originally published 0:00:13.960 --> 0:00:17.320 seven thirteen, twenty twenty three. Let's sync right into it. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:24.520 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.199 Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:33.560 name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:35.920 And I'm Joe McCormick, and we're back with part three 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.720 in our series on mud. Yes, mud, regular mud wet soil, 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.639 especially of the clay and silt sized particle variety. So 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.200 in previous parts of the series, we talked about what 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.800 mud is, what its physical properties are, the role it 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:55.600 played in the history of shaping Earth's continents, and how 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:00.000 life colonized those continents. We talked in the previous episode 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:03.240 about many animal behaviors that relate to mud. We talked 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.800 about pigs wallowing in mud, Arnold Schwarzenegger wallowing and mud. 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.679 We talked about mud skippers and other animals whose lives 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.160 involve mud in one way or another. But of course, 0:01:13.280 --> 0:01:17.080 mud also plays a big role in human culture and 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:22.560 human technology, even in the building of many important human settlements. 0:01:22.959 --> 0:01:25.399 So that's what we're going to focus on today mud 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.280 especially as a building material for humans. 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:32.160 Yeah, yeah, the mud brick especially because you know, we 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.080 could build things out of mud, I guess without forming 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:39.920 some sort of a brick or you know, something to 0:01:40.160 --> 0:01:42.319 to stack, something to use, but it would be messy, 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.600 it wouldn't be very effective. And that's where the mud 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.800 brick comes into play here, and the ability to turn 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:53.000 mud into this thing that then can be mass produced 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.040 and used to build a variety of things. Brian M. 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.600 Fagan features several chapters that touch on mud bricks in 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.240 The Negreat Inventions of the Ancient World. In a chapter 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:07.080 on dwellings with Kate, Spence pointed out that we we 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:10.440 absolutely can't consider human dwellings and the development and advancement 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.960 of materials and techniques without also taking into account the 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:17.360 shape of human culture at a given time and the 0:02:17.520 --> 0:02:19.840 environment in which they're constructed. 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.919 The series of episodes has repeatedly just forced me to 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:27.640 think about the interesting web of back and forth interactions 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:34.399 between inorganic geological conditions in certain places on Earth and 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.880 the life and culture that arises there. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:41.120 That's right, that's right now. On that first count, that 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.240 idea of you know what you know, where are people going, 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:47.200 where are they living their lives in ancient times. You know, 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:49.440 as we've discussed before, there are modes of life and 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.679 technology that makes sense if you're settled long term in 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.200 a single area, But other modes make more sense if 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.560 you're nomadic or semi nomadic, as many of our global 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.400 ancestors were. So for nomadic peoples, it might make more 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:06.720 sense to depend for shelter on some manner of say 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:11.080 wood frame plus hide tense scenario, or to depend on 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.799 very fixed, even naturally occurring shelters that you could take 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.920 advantage of periodically, such as caves. There's also room in 0:03:18.960 --> 0:03:22.359 this for more permanent structures that seasonal settlements, places that 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.800 you're going to come back to again and again, you know, 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:28.600 when the seasons allow it, or the you know, crops, 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:32.040 movements of animals, whatever happens to be the case, and 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:33.720 then there are going to be you know, other modes 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.720 of temporary constructions that are going to make sense as well. 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.640 But the other main point is that of climate and environment. 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.320 What is possible in a given area from a local 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.040 material standpoint, would for example, makes an excellent material for 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.880 building in ancient times as well as in our own 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.800 modern world. But if it's harder to come by, if 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.600 it has to be imported, et cetera, then it may 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.640 make more sense to use it only for key roles 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:03.280 such as is for instance, framing, and lean more heavily 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.120 on other materials that are easier to acquire. 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:08.080 Makes sense. Yeah. 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.520 Now, Spence does note in their chapter that the thing 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.920 about many ancient building supplies is that they simply don't 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:19.560 survive the passage of time. But we know our ancestors 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:23.120 used wood and even bones as tent structures between twenty 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:27.279 five and twelve thousand years ago in Eurasia at Jericho, 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.479 which this book site says at least at the time, 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.320 the earliest evidence of occupation there dated back to before 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:38.400 nine thousand BCE, and it seems that the earliest houses 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.919 there were built out of quote unquote clay lumps and 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:45.520 probably also made use of wooden building frames before they 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:50.600 transition to mud brick buildings. For first first circular in nature, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.039 and then later they used rectangular designs with multiple rooms. 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:55.960 So tell me about mud bricks. 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:00.320 Okay, so mud bricks are pretty fascinating. I didn't expect 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:04.200 to get so into mud bricks, but this book, and 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:05.560 then another one I'm going to refer to in a 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.839 bit really get into it and made me appreciate them. So, 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:13.800 mud bricks are especially useful in arid environments because mud bricks, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:17.839 like other forms of solid masonry, are poor conductors of heat. 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.480 Thick walls of mud brick will slow the rate at 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:27.159 which the exterior solar heat is absorbed into the interior. 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:30.680 Environment, so they're good insulators if you're living in say, 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:31.479 a hot desert. 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.400 Yeah. And additionally, structures like this, which are still common 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:39.479 throughout North Africa, the author notes here, often feature high 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:43.000 ceilings and small openings set high in the wall to 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:46.720 encourage airflow. Also flat roofs since there tends to be 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:51.039 less rainfall to contend with. So it's a design that 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:52.960 has stood the test of time. It's the building material 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:55.760 that is stood the test of time. Now, the thing is, 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.839 of course, all buildings in general require upkeep, no matter 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:03.040 what you're building in them out. Modern buildings upkeep as well, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:08.560 But of course mud brick buildings require regular upkeep against erosion. 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.640 That is specific to the nature of mud bricks, and 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.160 we'll get into that more in just a bit as well. Now, 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:17.320 in the seventy grade Inventions of the Ancient World. It's 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.960 later noted in a chapter with Jeffrey P. Killen that 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.799 mud bricks were also used in the construction of furniture, 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:28.440 such as among the poorer classes. In ancient Egypt, Wood 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.880 and ivory were materials of the wealthy, while mud brick 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.880 platforms served as beds by night and benches by day 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:36.839 for common folk. 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:40.360 As a side note on the subject of ancient Egyptian beds, 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.880 if you've never seen ancient Egyptian the head rests, you 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:47.839 should look that up. Where instead of pillows, they would 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.040 have sort of a stand for your head to lie on, 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.640 like a rigid stand. I find that really interesting. 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:57.960 Yeah, we didn't we discuss this in the Invention of 0:06:58.000 --> 0:06:58.920 the Bed episode. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:00.679 Yeah, memory Serves. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.680 We talked about the work of a researcher who was 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:04.920 like recreating these and testing them out. 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.159 Unfortunately, I don't remember what the conclusions of that were, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.560 but yeah, very interesting. So imagine instead of a soft pillow, 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.640 you use like a little hard podium for your head 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:15.160 to lie on. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:18.640 Now elsewhere in this book, it also points out that 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.800 extensive town walls appeared in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.480 often constructed of mud bricks, but with stone facing or 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.680 and or rubble filling. An example of this would be 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.120 the long walls of classical Athens. These were destroyed by 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:37.760 the Roman general Sula during the first century BCE, and 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.240 they had been rebuilt even before that. So you know, 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.560 it's the nature of fortifications. And then also you know 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.560 that some of the part of it also is the 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.040 nature of mud bricks, which we'll come back to. By 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.200 the third century BCE, mud bricks were a common material 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:57.080 in the construction of walled cities among various Mediterranean civilizations, 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:01.880 according to Fagan. Now, one something that also comes up 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:06.480 in these chapters is that mud bricks would have also 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:10.840 been used in the construction of what was considered an antiquity, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.520 one of the seven Wonders of the ancient world, the 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:19.000 hanging gardens of Babylon or the garden terraces of Babylon 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.840 that are often attributed to the ruler Nebechonezer, who lived 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.440 six oh five through five sixty two BCE. 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:31.200 Now, when I was a kid, I had a little 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.240 booklet that I read a lot that was about the 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.319 seven wonders of the ancient world, and one of them 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:40.360 was the hanging gardens of Babylon, And I never understood 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:42.360 what the deal with the word hanging was. I was 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:47.199 imagining them like dangling from chains, but what were those 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.720 dangling from? I didn't get the hanging part. 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.200 Yeah, and it seems that a more accurate description would 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:58.480 be terraced. We're essentially talking about great terraced gardens. So 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:00.280 I wanted to get into this a little bit more 0:09:00.320 --> 0:09:02.240 because you know, obviously if something's being held up is 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:05.480 one of the wonders of the age is during this time, 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:07.680 and it was made out of mud bricks, mud bricks 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.400 being something that you know, you might without knowing much 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:11.840 about it, you might just think, well, this is a 0:09:11.920 --> 0:09:16.720 simplistic this is an old fashioned form of construction. Well, 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.800 let's look a little deeper. So I picked up a book. 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:21.880 This is a new book came out just this year 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.560 that we've actually been been in discussions with having the 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:29.920 author on the show. Even it's such a neat looking volume. 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:33.280 It's titled The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Science, Engineering, 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.440 and Technology by Michael Dennis Higgins. It's a great book. 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.240 It looks at not only what's historically known and or 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.560 alleged regarding these wonders and how it ties into what 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:46.960 we know about the geology of the regions where these 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.360 wonders were located or thought to be located, but also 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:55.600 what recreation in the modern world might look like. So 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.280 Chapter three of the book deals with the Gardens of Mesopotamia, 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.000 because while the traditional view Higgins rides is that the 0:10:03.040 --> 0:10:06.440 gardens were set in the walled city of Babylon and 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.360 what is now central Iraq just south of Baghdad during 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.720 the sixth century BCE, there is also growing support for 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.280 the idea that they weren't located here at all, but 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:20.520 were in Ninevah during the seventh century BCE, in what 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.440 is now northern Iraq near mosul Oh. 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.880 So that would make sense because then I would assume 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.359 that would mean they wouldn't be the gardens of Babylon 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:31.800 but of Assyria, right because Ninevah was the capital of Assyria, 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.000 but still would have been between the rivers, still would 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:34.920 have been Mesopotamia. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.000 Yeah. One thing that that Higgins stresses, and we have 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:40.760 to keep in mind with the Wonders of the ancient world, 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.240 the seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is that these 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:49.160 were these this was like a list that was that 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:54.160 was put together in the Hellenistic world, and the concerning 0:10:54.240 --> 0:10:56.679 things that were often far away. And this is especially 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.360 the case. These were the This, These were the East. 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:02.480 This was the east most wonder on the list by 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.760 a considerable margin, and it was so far away that 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.280 you could basically say whatever you wanted and it would 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:09.240 not be questioned. 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.760 I've often thought of the writings about these as kind 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:16.040 of the Forbes travel Guide of the ancient Greeks, but 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:17.680 maybe with some shaky sourcing. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:20.920 Yeah, because again, the idea of the seventh Wonders of 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:25.280 the Ancient World are basically a first century BCE creation, 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:28.000 and in this particular case, they're dealing with something from 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:32.280 the sixth or seventh century BC. Higgins writes, quote, we 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:36.800 will never know definitively the where and when of the gardens, 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:40.680 and it is likely that more than one Mesopotamian ruler 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:44.480 had remarkable gardens that may have been conflated in stories 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:49.440 and accounts relayed to the far off Mediterranean world. Higgins 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.280 also had this other great little addition. He says, quote, 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.400 we should perhaps be wary of imposing a modern view 0:11:56.480 --> 0:12:00.000 of garden life. In one panel from the north palace 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:04.080 of Ashur, Banipal, king of the Neo Assyrian Empire from 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.920 six sixty nine through six point thirty one BCE. The 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.040 king is taking refreshments while listening to music with his 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:14.360 wife amid luxuriant trees, from one of which hangs the 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:19.000 severed head of an enemy. So I don't know quite 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.119 what to make of that, but fair enough. 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:24.880 Well, you like to celebrate your accomplishments, and that can 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:25.800 take many forms. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.840 Yes, anyway, onto the bricks. So their role in the 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:35.119 construction of the gardens would vary depending on where exactly 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.920 this garden would have been. Higgins writes that there are 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.760 five ancient descriptions of the gardens. The most detailed stems 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:48.320 from Greek writer Deodora Siclis during the first century BCE, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:51.920 but he does not identify the actual city where this 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.040 is supposed to be, and he also doesn't name the ruler. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.920 All he says is that it is a quote Syrian king. Still, 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.439 there are a lot of details mentioned in this account, 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:08.480 and it specifically mentions bricks. He describes ascending tiered terraces 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:12.400 full of abundant plat life, made level with the opposing 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:16.840 battlements of the city opposing as in like they're inside 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.520 the city and they're looking at the you know, their 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.960 opposite an interior wall. So this particular account describes that 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:27.360 the roofs over a series of galleries were layered with 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:30.720 stone beams. Then they put down a layer of reeds 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:35.800 and bitumen. Then two courses of baked bricks bonded by 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:38.160 cement were put over this. And we'll have more on 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.040 baked bricks in a minute. Then there's a layer of 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.480 lead to prevent moisture from creeping down, and then enough 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.160 dirt and soil on top of all that to accommodate 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:51.000 the roots of quote the largest trees. So a considerable 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.079 garden project any way you look at it, like definitely 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.280 more involved than anything any of us are doing in 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.760 our backyards. Okay, so I mentioned baked bricks. When it 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:04.120 come to mud bricks specifically, so Higgins stresses that these 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:08.240 were mud bricks were the most important building material in 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:12.560 Mesopotamian cities, and this was especially true of Babylon, which 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.880 had no outcroppings of stone in the immediate area Nineveh. 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.520 On the other hand, up there there was a local 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.960 supply of limestone, so they were able to lean on 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.000 that much more for their construction needs. However, mud bricks 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:31.520 were still used there because they were traditional and or inexpensive. 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:33.800 All right, So you could quarry out stone bricks up 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.720 in ninev if you need them, but mud bricks are 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.840 still just cheaper and more efficient in many ways. And 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.000 you know, there were something people were used to using 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:45.280 and they get the job done. 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.000 Right right now. The process of making the mud bricks 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:49.520 is also very important here, and I thought very interesting. 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.040 I just never had looked into this before, but in 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:57.560 this particular, their mud bricks you used throughout arid parts 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.080 of the world where people have settled, but these specifically, 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.120 these would have been sediments washed down the tigris and 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.760 euphrates from what is now Turkey. Then people would collect 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:12.400 the mud and then they would mix in fresh straw. 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.480 This would give the mud bricks, once they had had 0:15:16.560 --> 0:15:20.600 time to dry, additional strength. And this reminded me of 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.680 our episode on Pie Create Joe about creating building materials 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.440 out of ice and how something had to be added, 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.520 something had to be mixed in there with it to 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:31.040 give them additional stability. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.800 What was it? Was it, like, I want to say, 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.320 like chopped up newspaper or straw or sawdust or something 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:38.040 to that effect. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.360 Yeah, yeah, so fresh straw would be serving the purpose here, 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.400 and it does seem like it did need to be fresh, 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.960 and we'll come back to that in a second. Then, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:50.160 so you have the mud you've added in the fresh straw. 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.720 Then you mold these into more or less uniform brick shapes, 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.760 and then you leave them to air dry. And then 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.280 once dry, you know today you have bricks for building 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.880 all sorts of structures. So this began as mud, but 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.160 it ends up being sturdy enough to build with, right, 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:09.520 So there are some pros and cons here. So the 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.720 pros the big pro of course, is that these are 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:18.280 inexpensive and they don't require high temperature, fuel consuming ovens 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.240 to bake them as you have with with baked bricks. 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:23.680 You can make a ton of them. You can use 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:27.400 them to build battlements, buildings, et cetera in pretty short order. 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.440 So again they're they're cheap, they're fast building material to 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.720 make them as abundant and they get the job done right. 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:37.200 And I don't want to imply that, you know, there's 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:40.320 just a crude mode of construction, Like obviously there's an 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.760 art and a craftsmanship to making them, And I think 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:46.640 that's key here too, Like the local people knew how 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:48.920 to make them. There was a tradition of making them, 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:51.760 and that also allowed them to bust them out in 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.720 massive quantities in a short amount of time. 0:16:54.040 --> 0:16:55.880 Oh yeah, I want to be clear by saying like 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.440 that they're inexpensive, I mean that they're you know, they're 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:02.560 inexpensive relative to like quarrying or having to fire the 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.800 bricks in an oven. But that doesn't mean that they're 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.560 like junk. I mean this is this is building material 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:11.280 that serves its purpose and it is efficient, it's smart. 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.399 Now there are cons here. Of course, these are arid environments, 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.720 but it doesn't mean that it doesn't rain. It doesn't 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.480 mean that there aren't floods, periodic flooding and so forth. 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:25.840 So yeah, they're easily washed away or damage during storms. 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.200 Plus this was impressive. As Higgins points out, the bricks 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:34.320 at the base of walls of structures draw up and 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:39.520 absorb water by capillary action. The water evaporates, but quote, 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:44.080 salts are concentrated and finally crystallized between the mineral grains, 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.960 causing the mud to flake, weakening the base of the walls. 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.480 And he also has this was especially true would have 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.920 been true in Babylon due to the rather brackish ground water. 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.640 Yeah. Okay, so higher salt content in that water, more 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:00.520 more crystals getting into the bricks. Yeah. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.119 So, mud brick buildings, while essential for the time period, 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.560 also required a lot of upkeep, and they would eventually fail. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:12.359 Mud brick buildings would eventually crumble and fall apart, and 0:18:12.440 --> 0:18:17.200 any resulting bricks would not be reused, nor would the mud. 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.280 Like you couldn't just like you know, essentially wet it 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.960 all down and form new mud bricks out of that mud, 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.400 out of that soil. And it's thought that a lot 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:28.240 of this had to do with the fact that at 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.880 this point it's all it's old straw mixed in there, 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.000 and it's not going to hold things together as well 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.440 as fresh straw. So you would get fresh mud from 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.159 the river, you would add fresh straw to that, and 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:43.440 you would just build new new bricks the old side 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:46.159 the crumbled bricks, et cetera. You would just flatten that 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:49.679 down as much as possible, and that would service the 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:54.080 foundation for the new structure. And it's interesting that resulting 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:57.200 mound of old mud bricks is what we call it. 0:18:57.359 --> 0:19:02.879 Tell this is a rising heap where these would these 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.200 buildings would crumble, they'd have to be flattened. You'd build 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:08.320 a new one that eventually would crumble and be flattened. Higgins' 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:12.480 rights that over the millennia, such tells actually lifted the 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.800 base levels of cities up above the plane, making them 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:19.840 more defendable, making them more desirable as places to live 0:19:20.080 --> 0:19:22.840 and to work and to defend yourself. And therefore the 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:24.159 pattern would just continue. 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.399 Yeah. And so you can see in the locations or 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:32.560 ruins of some ancient settlements, especially in the ancient Near East, 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:36.000 that maybe even no buildings remained, but there's just a 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:39.720 big mound built up off the ground. Yeah. 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:52.080 So that's that's that's incredible. So anyway, the problems of 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.160 mud bricks were known, even though they were traditional, even 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.480 though they were inexpensive. Higgins points out that not only 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:00.360 is Babylon home to some of the early is known 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.280 recorded legal systems, but also some of those laws that 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:08.439 were recorded concerned building collapses. It was written that if 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.520 a building's collapse caused the death of the homeowner, then 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:13.359 the builder would be put to death. 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:16.360 Oh wow, that is a strict building code. 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.479 Yeah, but you know, it makes sense you're building, I mean, 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:23.280 not to say the eye for an eye nature of it. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:25.280 You know, it makes it makes sense so much. But 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:28.680 just the idea that like, buildings are important and there 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:30.920 has to be some sort of you know, some sort 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:33.840 of law in place to make sure things are built 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:34.440 to code. 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.199 Yeah, maybe not a death penalty, but builders should be 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:38.840 kept to a high standard. Yeah. 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.560 Yeah. And so you know, again, it was known that 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:43.639 there could be problems with mud bricks, and it was 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:47.480 discovered early on that you could transform mud bricks of 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:51.879 a sort into something harder and less susceptible to erosion. 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:56.399 Higgins writes, quote, heat changes water bearing clay minerals with 0:20:56.440 --> 0:21:01.720 their slippery playing card structure, into larger, interlocking crystals of 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:06.159 minerals containing less water, which makes a stronger material than 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.720 is water resistant. He ultimately compares this transformation to kind 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:16.440 of a sped up and you know, less sophisticated process 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:21.480 of metamorphism that in like in the ground and over 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:26.600 geologic time, produces things like marble. And so he writes 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:28.920 that many of the great Babylonian structures of the day 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.440 would have been made of baked bricks, and these would 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:36.320 ultimately last so long that they would be reused long 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.879 after the final fall of Babylon to build such cities 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:42.879 as Baghdad. And we see this in other parts of 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:45.120 the world as well, like the bricks stand the test 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:48.920 of time, and then the bricks are scavenged in order 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:51.720 to build the new cities of an emerging new world. 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.840 But these would have been fire bricks, bricks, yes. 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:57.320 These would been the fired Yeah, you're not doing this 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:00.280 with mud bricks at all, But baked bricks are just 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.119 that much more durable. And you know, and it's interesting. 0:22:04.240 --> 0:22:05.840 I was been talking about this with my wife and 0:22:05.880 --> 0:22:07.680 she pointed out that, you know, a lot of the 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:12.919 bricks we see on houses today, like they're they're purely ornamental. 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.880 They're real baked bricks, but they're not like doing much 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:20.200 or anything in the way of structural support for the house. 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:22.360 Your house isn't built out of bricks. It's built out 0:22:22.400 --> 0:22:24.800 of wood framing and all the other stuff. But the 0:22:24.800 --> 0:22:28.480 bricks are there just for ornamental purposes, well, depending on 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:30.359 the house. But yeah, in a lot of modern uses. 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:31.160 Yeah. 0:22:31.320 --> 0:22:34.280 Now, Higgins points out that limestone was also used in 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.040 special instances, but this would have been expensive to import 0:22:38.320 --> 0:22:42.320 in Babylon, unlike with with Nineveh. The walls of Babylon, however, 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.199 were also sometimes listed as an ancient wonder in and 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.679 of themselves. They were made of mud bricks, and the 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:55.280