The Indus Civilization c5.12

c5.12

Both Harappa and Mohenjo-daro were built entirely of burnt brick, except in those few places where foundations have been found composed of burnt and unburnt brick in alternate courses, or, more rarely still, of unburnt brick only. All the bricks, burnt and unburnt, are well proportioned; as a rule they are twice as long as they are wide and half as thick. They vary in size from 10·25 × 5 × 2·25 inches to 20·5 × 8·5 × 2·25 inches, but the very large bricks were intended only for special purposes—to cover drains, for example—and are not found in ordinary masonry, for which the most usual size of brick is 11 × 5·25 × 2·25 inches. Where unburnt brick was used, the sizes most favoured vary from 13·9 × 7·35 × 3·5 inches to 15 × 7·15 × 3·1 inches, all larger sizes than the common kind of burnt brick.