Basic HTML Version
84
Flat (plain) or tongue-shaped tiles
Flat tiles are designated in German literature as “beaver tails” (
Biberschwanz
) or “bulls’ tongues”
(
Ochsenzunge –
Bender 1995, 32). From this designation the name used in Latvian has been derived –
mēles
or
mēlītes
(tongues). These roof tiles have been made as elongated plates with a rectangular upper
end and a rounded or triangular bottom end. On the back side of the upper end there was a peg or a
“nose”, which, according to the German tradition, was made by stretching out a projection from the just-
shaped clay of which the tile was made (Bender 1995, 126). During the making process the craftsman
sometimes made several vertical grooves that were meant for better draining away of rainwater and also
for decorative purposes.
Flat roof tiles were easier to be made than Monk and Nun tiles, and also their laying was simpler. In
the roof covering tiles were placed in a row close beside one another, hooking the peg on the horizontal
roof batten. Gaps between the “tongues” of the lower row were covered by tiles of the upper row that
were overlapping. For compact and waterproof roof covering it was necessary to cover these tiles with
large excess – the bottom end of the third-row tiles had even to slightly cover the upper end of the first-
row tiles. However, in general roof covering of flat tiles is lighter than Monk and Nun roofing. The roof
covered with flat tiles visually appears to be light since the flat surface creates little lights-and-shades. This
roofing is also decorative – the rounded or jagged shape of the bottom end of each tile creates a regular
horizontal ornament displaying a wavy (corrugated) or zigzag rhythm.
In Western Europe, in France and southern Germany, flat tiles appeared already in the 12
th
century
(Bender 1995, 51), but in northern Germany and in the Baltic they were distributed much later. Flat tiles
(
Tungenstein
) in the brick-kiln of Lüneburg were made in small amounts, and only in separate seasons
from 1589 to 1720 (Rümelin 1998, 41). In the 17
th
century documents of several Latvia’s brick-kilns
production of roof tiles is mentioned but no more detailed characteristics is given of their shape. From
the written sources it is known that in Jelgava, in 1746, not only large roof tiles for church roofs and
ridge tiles were produced, but also, in small amounts, the flat or tongue-shaped tiles with rounded ends
(
Bieberschwänze –
Zeida 1962, 144,146. Dunsdorfs 1937, 44).
In archaeological excavations of Bauska Castle it was found that flat tiles were used for roofing
only in the second half of the 16
th
century (Caune 1982, 69). Flat tiles in Bauska Castle are 39 cm
long. The most ancient articles, from the 16
th
century, are wider (19–20 cm, and thicker (2–3 cm),
but later these were made narrower (17–17.5 cm) and thinner (1.5–2 cm, Caune 1982, 68, 69). The
flat tiles of
Turaida
Castle are longer (41.5–49 cm), they are 16.5–18 cm wide and 2–3.5 cm thick.
Judging by Turaida finds, archaeologist J. Graudonis has calculated that for covering one square
metre at least 24 flat tiles were needed, and their weight could be 69 to 93 kg, depending on tile size
(Graudonis 1996, 91). Since for simultaneously made roof tiles moulds of similar sizes were used, it
can be supposed that roof tiles of Turaida Castle were purchased for several times, after definite time
periods.
In 1989, in the excavations of Turaida Castle ruins in the corner of a room in the southern end of
the northern outer bailey a storage of flat tiles was uncovered (Fig. 25). The excavation leader has stated
that in a pit dug into the ground flat roof tiles were stacked vertically one on top of other, in seven