House of bricks

Coordinates: 37 ° 33 ′ 4 ″  N , 22 ° 43 ′ 5 ″  E

House of bricks​

Greece

Remnants of the stairs

The House of Bricks is an archaeological site from the Early Helladic Era (= early Bronze Age of mainland Greece) on the south-eastern outskirts of Lerna ( Greece ). Today it is under a protective roof and is open to the public.

The building house of brick had an unusual design, like a of fired bricks existing roof , which was eponymous. The building belongs to the type of the so-called corridor house.

The building is dated to the Early Helladic II (2500-2200 BC) and viewed as a palace or administrative center, although a function as a parish hall was assumed. The exact purpose of use remains unclear due to a lack of small finds. However, quite a large number of seals were found in the house.

The brick house had some features of high technical standards, including a staircase leading to the second floor and a tiled roof, which in classical antiquity did not exist until the 7th century. v. Was widespread in Greece, although tile roofs were also found in the Early Helladic Akovitika and later in the Mycenaean sites of Gla and Midea . Cultural debris found at the site contained thousands of terracotta bricks that once covered the roof. The walls of the 'house' were built with mud bricks on a stone foundation.

Radiocarbon measurements showed that the square was in the 22nd century BC. Was destroyed by fire. Not long afterwards, the rubble was piled over the site as a small tumulus .

literature

• John L. Caskey: Lerna in the Early Bronze Age. In: American Journal of Archeology , Vol. 72, No. 4 (October 1968), Archaeological Institute of America, pp. 313-316 (online, accessed April 13, 2016) .
• John L. Caskey: Exvacations at Lerna. In: Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens .
  • 1952-1953. In: Vol. 23, No. 1 (January - March 1954), pp. 3–30 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).
  • 1954. In: Vol. 24, No. 1 (January - March, 1955), pp. 25-49 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).
  • 1955. In: Vol. 25, No. 2 (April - June, 1956), pp. 147-173 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).
  • 1956. In: Vol. 26, No. 2 (April - June, 1957), pp. 142-162 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).
  • 1957. In: Vol. 27, No. 2 (April - June, 1958), pp. 125-144 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).
  • 1958-1959. In: Vol. 28, No. 3 (July - September, 1959), pp. 202-207 ( online, accessed April 16, 2016 ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} John C. Overbeck: Greek Towns of the Early Bronze Age . In: The Classical Journal , Vol. 65, 1969, pp. 1-7, here p. 5.
2. ^ Joseph W. Shaw: The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form . In: American Journal of Archeology , Vol. 91, 1987, pp. 59-79.
3. ^ ^{A b} John C. Overbeck: Greek Towns of the Early Bronze Age . In: The Classical Journal , Vol. 65, 1969, pp. 1-7, here p. 6.
4. ↑ Cf. Caskey: Exvacations at Lerna 1952-1953 , pp. 23 and 39.
5. ↑ Joseph W. Shaw, Jan. 1987, pp. 59–79, here p. 59.
6. ↑ Orjan Wikander: Archaic Roof Tiles: the First Generations. In: Hesperia , Vol. 59, No. 1 (January - March 1990), pp. 285-290, here p. 285.
7. ^ Joseph W. Shaw: The Early Helladic II Corridor House: Development and Form . In: American Journal of Archeology Vol. 91, 1987, p. 72.
8. ^ Ione Mylonas Shear : Excavations on the Acropolis of Midea: Results of the Greek-Swedish Excavations under the Direction of Katie Demakopoulou and Paul Åström , In: American Journal of Archeology , Vol. 104, 2000, pp. 133-134.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} J. L. Caskey: Lerna in the Early Bronze Age . In: American Journal of Archeology , Vol. 72, 1968, pp. 313-316, here p. 314.