{{Short description|Bronze Age building in Lerna, Greece}} {{infobox ancient site | image = Lerna1.JPG | alt = Photograph of a ruined stone stairway | caption = Remains of the house's stairway | archaeologists = John Caskey | excavations = 1950s | type = Corridor house | coordinates = {{coord|37.5512|22.7183|display=inline,title}} | area = {{convert|12|x|25|m|ft|abbr=on}} | built = {{circa|2400 BC}} | cultures = Korakou culture | location = Lerna, Peloponnese, Greece | abandoned = {{circa|2150 BC}} | map_type = Greece Peloponnese | map_caption = Shown within the Peloponnese }}
The '''House of the Tiles''' is a monumental Early Bronze Age building (two stories, approximately 12 x 25 m) located at the archaeological site of Lerna in southern Greece.<ref name=Cline202>{{harvnb|Cline|2012|p=202: "The House of the Tiles was named for the enormous quantity of fired clay roof tiles associated with the building. It was built of mud brick over a substantial stone foundation course (ca. 12 x 25 m), with traces of wood-sheathed doorjambs and stucco-plastered walls in some rooms. It was two stories high, as indicated by traces of stairways, and may have had several verandas upstairs, partially covered by a pitched roof, as suggested by Shaw (1990). The House of the Tiles was preceded by an earlier structure of similar type, House BG. Those buildings sometimes also incorporated elaborate clay hearths that are decorated with stamped-seal impressions."}}</ref> It is notable for several architectural features that were advanced for its time during the Helladic period, notably its roof covered by baked tiles, which gave the building its name.<ref name=Cline202/><ref name=Overbeck5>{{harvnb|Overbeck|1969|p=5}}.</ref> The building belongs to the "corridor house" type.<ref name=Shaw>{{harvnb|Shaw|1987|pp=59–79}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pullen|2008|pp=36, 43 (Endnote #22): "A corridor house is a large, two-story building consisting of two or more large rooms flanked by narrow corridors on the sides. Some of those corridors held staircases; others were used for storage."}}</ref>
==History== ===Excavation=== thumb|Lerna archaeological site with remains of buildings and fortifications
The site was excavated during the early 1950s by the American School of Classical Studies under the direction of John Caskey of the University of Cincinnati.<ref>{{cite news|title=John Langdon Caskey, Professor of Archeology|newspaper=New York Times|date=8 December 1981|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/08/obituaries/john-langdon-caskey-professor-of-archeology.html|agency=Associated Press }}</ref>
===Structure=== The structure dates to the Korakou culture, also known as the Early Helladic II period (2500–2300 BC) and is sometimes interpreted as the dwelling of an elite member of the community, a proto-palace, or an administrative center. Alternatively, it has also been considered to be a communal structure, i.e., the common property of the townspeople.<ref name=Overbeck6>{{harvnb|Overbeck|1969|p=6}}.</ref> The exact function remains unknown due to a lack of small finds indicating the specific uses of the building.<ref name=Overbeck6/> The house had a stairway leading to a second story and was protected by a tiled roof;<ref>{{harvnb|Overbeck|1969|p=5}}; {{harvnb|Shaw|1987|p=59}}.</ref> it also contained storage areas.<ref>{{harvnb|Neer|2012|pp=44–45}}.</ref> Debris found at the site contained thousands of terracotta tiles having fallen from the roof.<ref name=Caskey314>{{harvnb|Caskey|1968|p=314}}.</ref> Although such roofs were also found in the Early Helladic site of Akovitika<ref name=Shaw72>{{harvnb|Shaw|1987|p=72}}.</ref> and later in the Mycenaean towns of Gla and Midea,<ref>{{harvnb|Shear|2000|pp=133–134}}.</ref> they only became common in Greek architecture in the 7th century BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Wikander|1990|p=285}}.</ref> The walls of the "House of the Tiles" were constructed with sun-dried bricks on stone socles.<ref name=Overbeck5/>
===Destruction=== Carbon-14 dating indicates that the House of the Tiles was finally destroyed by fire in the 22nd century BC.<ref name=Caskey314/> Not long after the destruction, the place was cleared in such a way as to leave a low tumulus over the site.<ref name=Caskey314/> The destruction of both the building and the building site was first attributed by John Langdon Caskey to an invasion of Greeks and/or Indo-Europeans during the Early Helladic III period.<ref>{{harvnb|Caskey|1960|pp=285–303}}.</ref> John Coleman, however, argued in 2000 that the elaborate structure of the tumulus built during the Early Helladic III period over the ruins of the House of the Tiles indicates a "showing of respect for their predecessors that one would not expect of invaders of a different culture."<ref>{{harvnb|Coleman|2000|p=106: "The people of EH III constructed an elaborate tumulus over the ruins of the EH II "House of the Tiles (Caskey 1960; 1965:144–145) showing respect for their predecessors that one would not expect of invaders of a different culture."}}</ref>
==References==
===Citations=== {{reflist|2}}
===Sources=== {{refbegin|2}} * {{cite journal|last=Caskey|first=John L.|title=The Early Helladic Period in the Argolid|journal=Hesperia|publisher=The American School of Classical Studies at Athens|volume=29|number=3|date=July–September 1960|pages=285–303|jstor=147199}} * {{cite journal|last=Caskey|first=John L.|title=Lerna in the Early Bronze Age|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=72|issue=4|year=1968|pages=313–316|doi=10.2307/503823|jstor=503823}} * {{cite book|editor-last1=Cline|editor-first1=Eric H.|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean|year=2012|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-987360-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9vueDKFX8rQC}} * {{cite journal|last=Coleman|first=John E.|title=An Archaeological Scenario for the "Coming of the Greeks" ca. 3200 B.C.|journal=The Journal of Indo-European Studies|volume=28|number=1–2|date=2000|pages=101–153|url=https://www.academia.edu/4908240}} * {{cite book|last=Neer|first=Richard T.|title=Greek Art and Archaeology|location=New York|publisher=Thames and Hudson|year=2012|isbn=978-0-500-28877-1}} * {{cite journal|last=Overbeck|first=John C.|title=Greek Towns of the Early Bronze Age|journal=The Classical Journal|volume=65|issue=1|date=October 1969|pages=1–7|publisher=The Classical Association of the Middle West and South|jstor=3295660}} * {{cite book|last=Pullen|first=Daniel|chapter=The Early Bronze Age in Greece|editor-last=Shelmerdine|editor-first=Cynthia W.|editor-link=Cynthia W. Shelmerdine|title=The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age|year=2008|pages=19–46|location=Cambridge and New York|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81444-7|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dF40qLIJlAkC}} * {{cite journal|last=Shaw|first=Joseph W.|title=The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|publisher=Archaeological Institute of America|volume=91|issue=1|year=1987|pages=59–79|doi=10.2307/505457|jstor=505457}} * {{cite journal|last=Shear|first=Ione Mylonas|author-link=Ione Mylonas Shear| title=Excavations on the Acropolis of Midea: Results of the Greek–Swedish Excavations under the Direction of Katie Demakopoulou and Paul Åström|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|date=January 2000|volume=104|issue=1|pages=133–134|doi=10.2307/506802|jstor=506802}} * {{cite journal|last=Wikander|first=Örjan|author-link=Örjan Wikander|title=Archaic Roof Tiles the First Generations|journal=Hesperia|volume=59|issue=1|pages=285–290|date=January–March 1990|jstor=148143}} {{refend|2}}
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Category:Ancient houses in Greece Category:Bronze Age sites in Greece Category:Buildings and structures in Argolis Category:Roof tiles Category:Helladic civilization Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 3rd millennium BC