Tools & manufacturing · c. 2,500 BCE

True arch

Wedge-shaped bricks carry load in compression across an opening.

Brick arches and vaults were built in Mesopotamia and Egypt by the 3rd millennium BCE. Romans later made the arch the basis of bridges, aqueducts and vaults.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 1

Mudbrick 8500 BCE

What it led to 4

Roman aqueduct 312 BCE
Pantheon dome 125
Gothic architecture 1144
Iron Bridge 1779

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

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