A brick is a block, or a single unit of a ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually stacked together, or laid using various kinds of mortar to hold the bricks together and make a permanent structure. Bricks are typically produced in common or standard sizes in bulk quantities. They have been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.

The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating to before 7500 B.C. were found at Tell Aswad, and then later in the upper Tigris region and in southeast Anatolia close to Diyarbakir. Other more recent findings, dated between 7,000 and 6,395 B.C., come from Jericho and Catal Hüyük. In the ancient Indus Valley city of Mehrgarh, mud bricks have been found dating to 7000 BCE. (Kenoyer 2005) Ceramic bricks were used as early as 4500 BCE in early Indus Valley cities.

The first sun-dried bricks were made in Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq), in the ancient city of Ur in about 4000 BC, although the arch used for drying the bricks was not actually found.