The modern use of concrete developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from the interest in archaeology, the observation of some vernacular building techniques and some construction-site practices that had survived locally from the times of ancient Rome. In parallel, the increasing need for efficient mortar and the arising of modern chemistry supported the development of modern cement. Archival sources and technical literature are essential tools to investigate these topics - and even more so, if we consider that most concrete constructions of those times cannot be analysed directly nowadays since many were foundations, while several above-ground buildings are no longer available. This presentation will first give a short overview of the resumption of concrete use in the eighteenth century and then, some key episodes of the early history of modern German concrete will be analysed in detail.