Fired ceramic roof tile
Teja cerámica de cubierta
- Date
- c. 1000 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Fengchu, Qishan, Shaanxi, China
- Credited to
- Western Zhou builders
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Fired clay pieces, flat and curved, that clad roofs at a slope that sheds rain. They replaced thatch and mud roofs, which burn and fail far more easily, and made it possible to cover large buildings.
Greek terracotta tiles appear at Corinth around the 7th century BC (Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia) and are regarded as an independent development. China's earliest case is the Fengchu finds of the Western Zhou.
What it led to
- durable, fireproof roofs on palaces and temples
- glazed tiles and decorative ridge ornaments in Chinese architecture
- flat-and-curved tile systems across the world