Atop the Kadmeia: Mycenaean Roof Tiles From Thebes in Context

Abstract

Questions were raised in the past regarding the use of Mycenaean tiles as ‘roof tiles’ on the basis of the small numbers of them recovered in excavations and their overall scarcity in Mycenaean domestic contexts. The investigation of the Theodorou plot in 2008 in the southern part of the Kadmeia hill at Thebes yielded the single and, so far, largest known assemblage per square metre of Mycenaean tiles from a well-documented excavation. This material allows, for the first time convincingly, to identify the existence of a Mycenaean tiled roof. This paper presents the results of our work on the Theodorou tiles, placing emphasis on their construction, form and modes of production, offering the most systematic study of Mycenaean tiles to date. It also revisits contexts of discovery of similar material from excavations across Thebes. Popular as tiles might have been in Boeotia, and despite their spatially widespread attestation, their use in Aegean Late Bronze Age architecture appears, on the whole, irregular with central Greece and the north-east Peloponnese being the regions with the most sites known to have yielded such objects. Mycenaean roof tiles date mostly from the mid- and late fourteenth century bc to the twelfth century bc. A study of their construction, form, production and contexts suggests that their role, apart from adding extra insulation, might have been one of signposting certain buildings in the landscape. We also present the idea that Mycenaean tile-making was guided by a particular conventional knowledge which was largely influenced by ceramic-related technologies (pottery- and drain-making). While production of roof tiles might have been palace-instigated to begin with, it does not appear to have been strictly controlled. This approach to Mycenaean tile-making may also help explain their uneven (in terms of intensity of use) yet widespread distribution.

Regional and interregional networks of ancient Eleon during the early 12th century BCE as seen from the petrographic and neutron activation analyses of pottery

“…20–21). Importantly, two Mycenaean roof tiles from Thebes showed a similar composition (Aravantinos et al, 2020, p. 239).…”

“…477–493, with further bibliography), as well as by means of petrographic analysis (Day & Haskell, 1995; Haskell et al, 2011). The latter constitutes the only such analysis of LBA pottery from Boeotia, which was recently supplemented by analysis of two LBA tiles from Thebes (Aravantinos et al, 2020, p. 239).…”

Reconstructing the earliest known composite-tiled roofs from the Chinese Loess Plateau

“…Such tiles appear to have been used exclusively for larger building complexes 7 , 8 . It is of note that the interlocking components found in the composite-tile system in eastern Eurasia do not occur in western Eurasian contexts for another thousand years 9 (Fig. 1 A, SI Appendix, Table S4 ).…”