**1. Introduction**

According to the *Encyclopedia of Science and Technology*, a hydraulic cementing agent (typically Portland cement), aggregate, water, and frequently regulated proportions of entrained air combine to form a flexible engineering material called "concrete." Concrete starts out as a flexible, workable slurry that can be shaped into a variety of forms. The hydration process between cement and water produces strength. The byproducts, which consist mostly of calcium silicates, calcium aluminates, and calcium hydroxide, are relatively insoluble and bond the aggregate in a cemented matrix [1].

Concrete is popular due to three distinguishing characteristics: plasticity, durability, and economy. When wet, concrete may be poured into almost any form, fit into almost any space, fill almost any vacuum, and coat nearly any surface. However, once it has dried and cured, it retains its shape, growing stronger, harder, and more settled over time [2].

Concrete may be waterproof, stormproof, and fireproof if it is built with the appropriate concentration and under the right circumstances. And because of its endurance, it may be expected to survive indefinitely. When all the steel we used to create our planet has rusted through and the wood has rotted into dust a million years from now, only concrete will remain.

Concrete is not a new or recent material. Like many other methods of building and development, it evolved over time. Our human ancestors discovered naturally existing materials that they could utilize to enhance essential components of their infrastructure, including houses, fences, wells, and so on. The generations that came after built on that knowledge, making small improvements until the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which accelerated building development to its current level [3].

The first concrete-like constructions were established in approximately 6500 BC by the Nabataean merchants, or "Bedouins" as they were called, who inhabited and ruled several oases and established a small empire between the north of Jordan and the south of Syria. They eventually discovered the benefits of hydraulic lime or cement that can gain strength and harden under water. Around 800 BC, they used kilns in the production of mortar to construct homes with rubble walls, floors using concrete, and subterranean watertight cisterns.

The Nabataeans knew the need of keeping the mixture in a dry or low-slump condition while creating concrete, as too much water produces cavities and flaws. Their construction methods included tamp down the fresh produced concrete using a special tool. This tamping process creates an additional gel, which is formed by chemical interactions that occur during hydration and bonds together the particles and aggregate [4].

More than 5000 years ago, its believed that the Egyptians used an early form of concrete to build pyramids. The blocks were limestone blocks hauled from quarries nearby. To hold those blocks together, the builders combined straw with mud consisting of crushed limestone, gypsum, and clay [3].

Around the same period, people in the north of China utilized a sort of cement in the construction of boats and the "Great Wall." Testing revealed that glutenous, sticky rice was a significant element in the mortar utilized to construct the Great Wall and many other ancient Chinese monuments. Some of these monuments have survived for a very long time and even recent demolition attempts [3, 5].

The Greeks found a natural pozzolanic mineral having hydraulic characteristics when combined with limestone around 600 BC, but they were not creative in using concrete like the Romans. After about 400 years, the Romans effectively employed concrete in their construction, but it was not the same as the concrete utilize today. It was more like solidified debris rather than a plastic, flowing substance poured into shapes.

The Romans built most of their constructions by piling up stones of varying sizes and filling in the gaps between the stones with mortar by hand. Above the ground, the walls were coated with bricks made of clay on both the interior and exterior, which also functioned as a form of concrete. The brick was structurally insignificant and was used mostly for decoration. Prior to this period, and in most areas at the time, mortars were made of a slowly hardening lime cement as it reacted with carbon dioxide from the air. These mortars were not effective because no obvious chemical hydration occurred [6].

It wasn't until the mid-18th century, when John Smeaton discovered a more contemporary technique of manufacturing hydraulic lime for cement, that technology advanced significantly. He utilized limestone that included clay and was burned until it became what is called a "clinker," which was then crushed into powder. This material was utilized in the reconstruction of the historical Eddystone Lighthouse in Cornwall, England [7].

Portland cement was developed in 1824 by Joseph Aspdin, who burned finely powdered chalk and clay until the carbon dioxide was eliminated. The cement was named after high-quality construction stones mined from Portland, England [3, 8].

Industrial structures improved greatly in the 19th century. Francois Coignet, who inserted rods made of steel into concrete to prevent the outside walls of construction to spread out, was the first to utilize iron-reinforced Portland cement concrete in houses in France and England.

*Characterizations of Cement and Modern Sustainable Concrete Incorporating Different Waste… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.100447*
