Visiting Lecturer, Kyle Jazwa, Studies World’s Earliest Ceramic Roofing Tiles

CLST Visiting Lecturer, Kyle Jazwa, Studies World’s Earliest Ceramic Roofing Tiles

Duke CLST Visiting Lecturer, Kyle Jazwa, recently completed a two-year study of the Early Bronze Age (“EBA,” ca. 3100-2000 BCE) ceramic roofing tile assemblage from the site of Zygouries near Corinth (Greece). These tiles are among the world’s earliest and were produced at the settlement shortly after their invention in southern Greece. Although now ubiquitous in the Mediterranean, ceramic roofing tiles were relatively rare in the EBA and attest to a significant investment of labor and wealth for this highly visible architectural component.

Jazwa’s study will offer the first dedicated publication of a complete EBA tile assemblage. By closely examining minor impressions and markings on the surfaces of the tiles, Jazwa has also reconstructed the construction techniques used by the tilemaker’s more than 4000 years ago. These results have been compared to other tile assemblages to understand the networks of interaction in which this new technology was initially disseminated.

The 2018 study season of the “Zygouries Tile Project” was funded in part by the Mediterranean Archaeological Trust. Jazwa was assisted by an international team from The Netherlands, Canada, and Germany.