An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s18.27

v1.c9.s18.27

There is a comparative lack of information on the general layout of the dwelling houses in any particular settlement. There is evidence to suggest that the use of burnt-bricks before 300 B.C. was negligible. Excavations at AHICCHATRĀ, KAUŚĀMBĪ (in the pillar area), RAJGHAT and ŚRĀVASTĪ convincingly show that the first use of baked bricks for house-building do not go back to before 300-200 B.C. Before that dwelling houses were built of mud or mud-bricks along with timber and bamboo posts. Evidence of burnt-brick structures is available between 300 and 50 B.C. at most of the sites, the commonest size of bricks being 44 to 45 × 23 to 24 × 6 to 7 cm, as revealed at HASTINĀPURA, ŚRĀVASTĪ and AHICCHATRĀ. On the more e. sites like KAUŚĀMBĪ and RAJGHAT, larger bricks measuring 48 to 50 × 29 to 31 × 5 to 7 cm were used. Often more than one size of bricks was used at the same site and in the same period. The use of wedge-shaped bricks for circular structures is known from HASTINĀPURA and RAJGHAT. Generally the rooms were small. At RAJGHAT their average size was 1·90 × 2·92 m, and at HASTINĀPURA a room was 4·75 m square. It was during the next epoch (50 B.C.-A.D. 300) that there was a marked increase in building activity along with an all-round expansion of the settlements. Thus the contemporary levels of RAJGHAT (Pd III), KAUŚĀMBĪ (Structural Pd V), MATHURA and PURANA QILA were singularly rich in burnt-brick structures of all kinds during the 1st to the 3rd century, largely coinciding with the Kushan epoch. The rooms were also larger. At KAUŚĀMBĪ the walls were coated with lime plaster; at RAJGHAT a room with a brick-paved floor has come to light.