Historical Development of Tile

Its use began in the early Western Zhou Dynasty.In 1976, a group of large building footprints was discovered in Fengshi Village, Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, which were dated, according to radiocarbon measurements made on a charred wooden pillar, to the early Western Zhou Dynasty around 1000 BC. A small amount of tile was found in the roof pile, which was presumed to have been used only on important parts of the roof and part of the ridge at that time. Meanwhile, a large Western Zhou building base site complex was also found in Zhaochen Village, Fufeng, Shaanxi, and the superstructure was constructed in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty, judging from the excavated pottery. Many types of slate tiles, tube tiles, and half-tiles were found at the site. (Slab tiles were laid on top of the roof, tube tiles were laid between two rows of slab tiles, and half-tiles were the heads of the tube tiles in front of the eaves.) The tiles have nails and rings to hold them in place. A tile fragment was found in Fengshi Guest Province Zhuang in Shaanxi, the cross-section of which was in the shape of herringbone, probably used for ridge tiles on the ridge of the roof; tile blanks not yet burned were also found, and it is assumed that there was a handicraft workshop specializing in the burning of tiles here. In Henan Luoyang Wangwan, Beijing Liulihe Dongjialin and other places also found in the late Western Zhou Dynasty tile. It is assumed that the early Western Zhou palace buildings began in the roof of the local (possibly in the ridge, etc.) with the tile, the late Western Zhou to the early Eastern Zhou most of the roof cover tile.