Another very important discovery of mankind is the process of making bricks. It is this technology that is very essential in the development of other important discoveries such as the production of metals from ores and other heat-applied materials production.

Early human discovery of the effects of heat from the sun and later through fire have led to the discovery of making bricks.

The oldest shaped bricks were found somewhere in the upper Tigris area dating back to 7,500 B.C. while other more recent findings in the location of the ruins of Jericho found bricks dated between 7,000 and 6,395 B.C.. Further archaeological findings points back to 6,000 years when the sun-dried brick was produced in large quantity and all of these were the forerunner to our modern day clay products.

Brick was the first building materials being extensively produced and used by most of the early riverine civilizations because of the scarcity of trees and stones in these areas while being supplemented by the availability of an abundant supply of clay, straw and water which in those days were the primary elements in brick-making and when mixed was easier to manipulate into forms which were effective for building housing structures. Early human settlements in the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris rivers had discovered that sun-dried mud and silt deposits after floods hardened and cracked forming cakes that could be shaped into rough or crude building components for their rudimentary shelters and this paved the way to further research and thus developed into sun-dried mud bricks and then to fired clay bricks.

Some of the earliest recorded history in the use of bricks is the one mentioned in the Bible in the book of Genesis chapter 11, verse 3 during the building of the tower of Babel after the great flood in the land of Shinar or most probably Mesopotamia.

Brick is usually formed from clay, shale, soft slate, calcium silicate, concrete or shaped from quarried stone but clay is the most common material which would then be molded into rectangular blocks as a small building unit. It is burned or fired in a kiln or oven to bake it into its desired strength, hardness and resistance to heat as it is with the modern clay bricks which are formed in three processes - soft mud, dry press or extruded.

The primary idea of using hardened-by-heat earthen wares as materials for building structures led to the conceptualization by the ancient brick makers to mold it into forms large enough for a single man to handle to speed-up construction of structures.

Today, brick-making using clay is still a very large industry though not extensively utilized as a primary building material like what it used to be in early civilizations as it is now mostly being replaced by the use of concrete or cement except for some special structures where resistance to heat is the one primary consideration as in the construction of boilers, industrial and home furnaces, incinerators and fireplaces using fireclay bricks.

Various surface contours and sizes of bricks are now being produced according to its use though most construction-applied bricks have dimensions of approximately 5.5 x 9.5 x 20 centimeters (2 1/4 x 3 3/4 x 8 inches).

Terra-cotta or structural clay tile, a larger building unit with many hollow spaces is used extensively as backup for plastered partitions and brick facing.

Exposed finishing surfaces are frequently applied with glazed structural clay-facing tiles. Naturally glazed finish of thin fireclay material is used for wall and floor tiles. Products with densely pressed fireclay or quarry tiles are good for floors, patios and industrial installations because of its excellent tolerance to acids and abrasion.

Now another important step is being added slightly in the process and rather generally in the materials that are being used in the manufacture of bricks due to the discovery in May 2007 of a new brick composed of fly ash and water being compressed at 4,000 psi for two weeks. This self cementing brick owes this characteristic to a high calcium oxide concentration in fly ash.

We may never know what further improvements to its processes this ancient industry may come out in the future but one thing is sure, that this ancient discovery of brick making will further be of great importance to future industrial developments as it was in the past generations.

One of the most important milestone in the history of mankind is the discovery or discernment about the effects of heat which led to the invention of various methods and tools of making and sustaining fire.

Fire has many uses and one is that it is the most essential factor behind the survival, growth and advancement of humankind. Fire produces heat necessary in processing ores to produce metals which are the basic tools and building materials in our advanced society aside from being primarily a very necessary element in our daily culinary efforts for a healthy living since majority of the world’s human population use heat in processing and preparing food for reasons of health and satisfaction.

Evidence are found in the African continent dating back as early as 1.5 million years about the deliberate human utilization of natural fires. These early attempts of exploitation of fire led to the development of the necessary skills, tools and techniques in fire-making.

Research about the techniques used by ancient people in various locations around the world through studies focused on ancient fire-making tools led to the realization that our modern methods of fire-making are not thoroughly different from ancient methods which are grounded primarily on three different processes but not totally unique techniques and one entirely distinct idea by utilizing solar heat:

1. Method of making fire through friction.
2. Way of creating fire through sparks.
3. Process of starting fire by way of chemical reaction.
4. The idea of starting fire by utilizing solar heat using ice lens.

Method of fire-making using friction.

Method of starting fire by solar heat using ice lens.

Christianity, one of the major religions of the world has this very convincing information that could be attributed as the forerunner of all discoveries. This story is about the first human being’s discovery of an intense desire for knowledge after being enticed and awakened to their senses by the devil which conclusively resulted to the downfall of humanity due to their transgression from God’s commandments.

From that day onwards until now, man’s desire for knowledge has led him to endless discoveries worldwide not only due to this unquenched desire but rather largely because of his necessities for survival and happiness as a result from being expelled from paradise.

Painting depicting humanity’s expulsion from Eden.