Rudolf Koch wrote:
>
> Dear readers!
>
> Is there anyone who had ever heard about a method for dating bricks
> absolutly or to cluster them to groups depending from the proportions or
> absolute values (lenght, thickness or something like that). I think about
> bricks from the 15th to the 19th century. The problem is, that these bricks
> I want to differ or date are burned secundary, so that
> thermolumeniscence-dating is of no sense.
>
> With a very small amount of hope
>
> Dr. Rudolf Koch
> Vienna, AustriaKarl Gurcke's Bricks and Brickmaking is an excellent source on
the bricks of the
Northwestern USA, but he also summarizes brickmaking technology of the 19th cent
ury.
 
Brick sizes from the Early Modern period onward, in most of the Western world, w
ere
stipulated by statute. A review of your country's laws might provide some index
sizes
that, statistically, could allow you to date bricks.
 
Allan Gilbert at Fordham University in New York City, along with Garman Harbottl
e at
Brookhaven National Laboratory, have been doing some interesting characterizatio
n
studies for bricks and brickyards along New York State's Hudson River.
 
In the USA, many states commissioned industrial resources surveys to identify an
d
describe the state's natural resources in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
. Such
studies often address brickmaking and the locations and qualities of available c
lays,
and--sometimes-- the technologies and outputs of specific yards. Such studies ma
y be
available in other countries as well.
 
In the Eastern USA, most bricks were made at the site of their intended use, und
er
contract to a local or itinerant brick maker. The temporary kilns, or clams, gen
erally
occur adjacent to the building in which the bricks were used. The cellar excavat
ion
often doubled as clay quarry. As a result of this decentralized production, bric
ks prior
to the middle of the 19th century are difficult to characterize. The specific si
zes and
qualities often are stipulated in the contract.