The Book of Exodus says Pharoah commanded the Hebrews to make bricks without straw. But all the ancient Egyptian ruins of which I’ve seen pictures are built of stone. Then again, maybe the brick structures didn’t last. Did the Egyptians have brickmaking technology?
Before building stone pyramids, the ancient Egyptians mastabas out of mud brick. Here’s a picture of one: http://egyptphoto.ncf.ca/meidum%20mastaba%20no17%20detail_640.jpg
Most Egyptian construction was brick. Something like the pyramids might be built with limestone, but limestone is too expensive for ordinary building, not to mention inconvenient (you have to dig it out of the quarries, ship it to where you need it, shape it, etc.). Meanwhile, mud is available all along the Nile, it’s easy to get, and bricks aren’t that hard to make. (In fact, the word “adobe” comes from the Egyptian word for brick)
Here are pictures of brickmaking in modern (1985) Egypt:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/sets/72157594275159545/
The workers that built the pyramids were housed in mudbrick buildings: