Masonry, the art of construction in stone. The earliest existing examples are among the most magnificent specimens of the art. No nation has excelled the ancient Egyptians, who did not use mortar in their important structures, such as the pyramids, the joints being all carefully polished and fitted. Cyclopean masonry, of which remains exist in many parts of Greece and Italy, also exhibits stones of great size and with carefully-adjusted joints. The walls of Mycenæ are among the earliest examples. These are built with huge irregular blocks, the spaces between being filled up with smaller stones. The Etruscan specimens are more carefully executed; the stones are not squared, but they are all carefully fitted together. The masonry of the Greeks and Romans very closely resembled that of the present day: Rubble-work (opus incertum), in which the stones are not regularly coursed; Coursed-work, where the joints are all level, and the stones of equal height; Ashlar, resembling the latter, but built with larger stones carefully dressed on the joints.
The early medieval masonry was of very bad construction, being, in fact, little better than common rubble, with an occasional use of Herring-bone Work. The Normans improved upon this kind of work, but their masonry was also so bad that many of the towers built by them either fell or had to be taken down. The art gradually improved with the advance of Gothic architecture, and ashlar was reintroduced for all important works. The ashlar-work so constantly used in Renaissance buildings has given place to the hammer-dressed and squared masonry. Special materials sometimes produce special kinds of work; thus, in Norfolk and Suffolk, where large flints abound, the walls are often faced with these, split so as to form a clean face and good joints, and arranged in bands or panels between stonework or brickwork.