ON THE OLDER FORMS OF 



The antiquity of the sloping roof is hinted at in the 

 finding of cinerary vessels in the form of huts, and conse- 

 quently known as hut urns. These have been found in 

 Italy, Saxony and other parts of Europe. It is believed 

 that they were made before the age of iron in their respective 

 places. It is interesting to observe that all of them show, 

 not only a sloping roof but a thatched roof as well, with 



Fig. 3. 



Figs. 1-3. Hut urns from Saxony in Museum 

 filr Volkerkunde, Berlin. 



Fig. 2. In Vatican Museum, Rome. 



Fig. 4. From Alba Longa. A better figure 

 is given in Dennis's " Cities and Cemeteries 

 of Eiruria," Vol. l,;p. Ixix. 



the characteristic cross-pieces on the ridge, a feature of 

 the thatched roof which may be seen to-day in every part 

 of the world (figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4). 



The sequence in the development of the roofing-tile 

 will have to be studied in Asia Minor, or more probably 

 in China. From the high development and great antiquity 

 of the fictile art in China, and the early and artistic de- 

 velopment of the tiled roof in that country, one might be 

 led to believe that in China — the ancestral home of so 

 many arts — the roofing-tile originated. Graeber, in a 



