Brick and bricks
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Gen 11:3) - bricks were a building material among the Jews, though larger than modern bricks. Those found in Babylon's ruins measured about one English foot square and resembled tiles. Scripture's most important brickmaking notices concern Israel's slavery in Egypt and the tower of Babel. The first biblical mention records Noah's descendants saying, 'Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly'; brick served them for stone and bitumen for mortar (Gen 11:3). Egypt made Israel's life bitter with hard labor in mortar and brick (Exod 1:14). Bricks were commonly dried in the sun, though kilns were sometimes used. Nile clay was plentiful; where it lacked strength, straw was mixed with it.