The History of Clay TilesThe word ceramic derives from the Greek term KERAMIKÉ, which comes from the word KERAMOS or clay. It comprises those activities whose purpose is to obtain a wide range of objects made of all kinds of clay. In its "plastic" stage, clay is easy to shape and becomes easily hard when drying or through baking.Ceramics is certainly one of the oldest techniques of manufacturing tools and objects to be used in the building and decoration of homes, or in the storing and transportation of goods (such as food), among others. It is estimated that the use of red clay dates from the Neolithic period (8000 years B.C.).
At the end of the Stone Age, clay starts being baked in ovens, which enabled to obtain more resistant products. It is then that this raw material starts being used in more daring projects such as the famous Tower of Babel, the Great Wall of China, or the first hieroglyphic inscriptions in slabs of clay. The Romans developed and improved many ceramic techniques, and spread its secrets to the different peoples in their empire, which led to a more widespread use of clay for different kinds of buildings.
The word Tile originates from the Latin word Tegula, which was the word used by the Romans to define the different kinds of tiles used in roofs. Some of those tiles still have the distinctive mark of the manufacturer. It is thought that the use of tile is as old as the use of brick. However, the bad condition of the monuments before the Roman Age makes it difficult to know exactly how the roofs were and when tiles started being laid.
After its use became more widespread, and mainly due to its wide resistance and durability, the tile started being used for decoration as well. A new range of decorative items, such as women heads, flowers, leaves or animals were also laid as complement to the other tiles.
The Romans used two different kinds of tiles: the Tégulae and the Imbrices. The former were flat and rectangular, with edges on the longest sides and were on average 34 to 40 cm long and 23 to 27 cm wide. The latter had a semi cylindrical section, and were used to fill the joints left by the Tégulae.
Roman tiles were in use until the 18th century. But already from the 11th century onwards new models (such as the Champagne or Flemish tile and the concave or channel tiles) and new shapes (such as the trapezoidal ) appeared.
It was finally in 1841 that an invention came to revolutionize the production of tiles. This invention, ascribed to the Alsatian brothers Gilardon d’Altkirche, consisted of the emergence of the gutter tile.
It was this way that later a new tile emerges, resulting from the combination of the Tégulae and the Imbrice, which is the Lusa tile, also known in the south of Europe as Portuguese tile.
