Jim Baird
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I was looking for egyptian building techniques and the best source was written in Italian---which I took to fill a language requirement once upon a time and then promptly forgot. But I was able to work through it enough to figure out that the text unfortunately was rather bland and the best info was in the drawings, mechanical illustrations, and the notes under the drawings.
So, the point is to look first on the web where there should be a fair amount. Also try searching on classics, latin, and by cities or building names. Also look through some of the college and university course outlines put up by departments for student use. The texts are usually cited along with the reading assignments and you can get some ideas from these. I went to the library (shock of shocks), and found the best sources on architecture and civil engineering in antiquity were in German then Italian and French. You have to physically look through them because often what you are looking for can be found in illustrations and with a dictionary you can usually get through enough of the text to get something out.
One of the best illustrations I ever saw on roman building techniques was in National Geographic from a few years ago, i.e. sometime in the mid-nineties. It showed how a building facade was laid out on a flat area of paving stones in front of the foundation, with scribed lines in the paving. Each piece of the mantle and decorative frieze were reproduced and the stones were cut to fit on the ground in front of the building, along with the complex moldings, corners and returns. Then the facade was build by just placing the pieces in place above the portal. It was very simple and once seen, very obvious way to do the construction. Archaeologists had uncovered an older layer of paving under a titled or finished surface and there were the scribed lines for the building adjacent to the paved area. It was very interesting because it was immediately obvious how you build the decoration for the front of a fancy roman building (especially given a some construction experience).
Chuck Grimes