Prehistory of concrete

Excavations at Jericho, the earliest known fortified neolithic town, revolutionized ideas about that period, when people settled and began to domesticate animals and grow crops. Tens of strata below the walls excavators found houses built of dried brick with strong lime-concrete floors with polished surfaces. The large areas of the concrete floors at neolithic sites indicate that considerable quantities of lime were used. The construction technology - burning the limestone, slaking the lime, mixing the mortar, spreading the concrete, and finishing the surface - was undoubtedly well known to neolithic builders. Among several chance discoveries is a small floor area of concrete-like material at a previously investigated neolithic excavation in southern Galilee. These and other aspects of the subject are discussed, including field and laboratory studies, neolithic flooring and lime concrete, and lime burning and burned clay.