History
This is an ancient joint and has been found joining the wooden planks of the "Khufu ship", a 43.6 m long vessel sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex of the Fourth Dynasty around 2500 BC. Evidence of these joints has also been found in the 4800 year-old wooden ruins some archaeologists are calling "Noah's Ark" in Ankara.
It has also been found in ancient furniture from archaeological sites in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Many examples are also found, for example, in ruins of houses in the Silk Road kingdom of Cadota dating from the first to fourth centuries CE. In traditional Chinese architecture, wood components such as beams, brackets, roof frames and struts were made to interlock with perfect fit, without using fasteners or glues, enabling the wood to expand and contract according to humidity. Archaeological evidence from Chinese sites shows that by the end of the Neolithic, mortise and tenon joinery was employed in Chinese construction.
The thirty sarsen stones of Stonehenge were dressed and fashioned with mortise and tenon joints before they were erected between 2600 and 2400 BC.
Read more about this topic: Mortise And Tenon
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