House of the tiles
Encyclopedia
The House of the Tiles is an Early Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 archaeological site in Lerna
Lerna
In classical Greece, Lerna was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. Its site near the village Mili at the Argolic Gulf is most famous as the lair of the Lernaean Hydra, the chthonic many-headed water snake, a creature of great antiquity...

, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. It is notable for several architectural features that are advanced for its time, notably its roof covered by baked tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...

s, which gave the building its name. The building belongs to the corridor house type.

The structure stems from the Early Helladic period II
Helladic period
Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history...

 (2500–2300 BC) and is referred to as a palace or administrative centre, although it has also been suggested it was the common property of the townspeople. The exact function remains unknown due to a lack of small finds indicating uses of the building.

The house had a stairway leading to a second story, and was protected by a tiled roof. Debris found at the site contained thousands of terracotta tiles having fallen from the roof. Although such roofs were also found in the early Helladic site of Akovitika and later in the Mycenaean
Helladic period
Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history...

 towns of Gla
Gla
Gla was an important fortified site of the Mycenaean civilization, located in Boeotia, mainland Greece.-Location:The site is located on a limestone outcrop or hill that jutted into Lake Kopais or formed an island within it. The flat-topped outcrop rises up to 38m above the surrounding area. It...

 and Midea
Midea, Greece
Midea is a village and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafplio, of which it is a municipal unit. with a population of 6,724...

, they only became common in Greek architecture in the 7th century BC. The walls of the House of the tiles were constructed with sun-dried bricks on stone socles.

Carbon-14
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

 dates indicate that the place was finally destroyed by fire in the 22nd century BC. Not long after the destruction, the place was cleared in a such a way as to leave a low tumulus
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...

over the site.
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