THE CONSTRUCTION OF EARLY HELLADIC II CERAMIC  ROOFING TILES FROM MITROU, GREECE: INFLUENCE  AND INTERACTION

Authors

Roofing Tiles, Early Bronze Age, Greece, Corridor House Culture, Chaîne Opératoire, Early Helladic Ceramics, Architecture

Ceramic roofing tiles were first invented during the Early Bronze Age (or Early Helladic [EH] period, ca.

3100-2000 BCE) and have been identified at 22 sites in mainland Greece. In this paper, I present a newly

discovered assemblage of EH tiles from the site of Mitrou (East Lokris) and offer the first detailed,

comparative analysis of EH tile production. I demonstrate that there was a shared tradition for the

appropriate form and dimensions of tiles in mainland Greece. This uniformity, however, belies

heterogeneity in production among sites and through time. The reconstructed chaîne opératoire of Mitrou‟s

tiles, for instance, has affinities with the tiles of Zygouries (Corinthia) and Kolonna (Aegina), but not of the

later House of the Tiles at Lerna and most tiles from Tiryns in the Argolid. With these results, I reveal a

distinct network of interaction in mainland Greece in which construction knowledge was disseminated and

maintained.