In ancient Egypt there was a clear distinction between the architecture of temples and tombs in contrast with the structures for the living. Temples and tombs, the houses of the gods and the eternal homes for the spirits, were made of durable stone. Palaces for royalty and houses for all levels of society were made of much more perishable stuff. For practical use the principal building material of the ancient Egyptians was sun-dried, unbaked brick made of Nile mud. This cannot be emphasized too strongly for an understanding of living conditions in ancient Egypt. In the contemporary United States this use of material can best be compared to the use of mud brick in the adobe structures of the American southwest, although mud brick is still an important building material in many other parts of the world.

Mud brick is a practical material that requires only a minimum amount of skill to produce. In ancient Egypt the bricks were formed in a wooden mold using earth mixed with water, perhaps with the addition of chopped straw or other natural materials to act as a binder. They were then laid out in rows to dry in the sun and cure to a degree of hardness suitable for construction. Actual preserved examples of the wooden brick molds have been found. Depictions on tomb walls, particularly in the Theban tomb of Rekhmire, show the process exactly as it is still carried out in Egypt today (Fig. 25).