Bricks were used by the hundreds in the Lynn Acres prehistoric pit iron furnace excavated by members of the Archaeo-Pyrogenics Society in September 1992. The Lynn site is located in the "Panhandle" of Ohio's Pickaway County, which extends further east from the southeastern corner of the county. The site is near the towns of Adelphia (in Ross County) and Laurelville (in Hocking County). An estimated 500 bricks were used. These bricks may be the oldest made in North America. Judging by the direct reduction smelting technology used (in the iron furnace) these bricks may be in among the oldest made in North America and, I believe, are both prehistoric and precolumbian.
In making this claim, I speak only for myself and not necessarily for anyone else who worked with me in the Lynn Acres furnace dig of 1992-93. As I say in my book "Iron Age America," the type of iron furance used at this Ohio site was obsolete in Europe before Columbus sailed to America. A full discussion of the use of bricks at Lynn Acres is included in a chapter in my book "Iron Age America."
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