Miscellaneous

21. Incised gameboard on roof tile Figure C, Figure 32

DP -2S-25. Three joining fragments, broken all around, of Lakonian-type pan tile with streaky black glaze on concave side, as no. 24 below. Max. pres. L. 0.142 m, max. pres. W. 0.075 m. Square gameboard, almost half preserved, incised after firing on the unglazed convex side, oriented at a 45º angle to original sides of tile, roughly parallel to the top and right-

hand broken edges of the fragment. Gameboard is formed by three concentric squares with sides bisected by perpendicular lines. L. of side of outer square 0.10 m, L. of intermediate square 0.08 m, est. L. of inner square 0.06 m. On glazed side of tile are two lines meeting at right angle, incised after firing; these are oriented parallel to the original sides of the tile, as indicated by the direction of the streaks of glaze and the curve of the tile as it approaches the lateral edge.

The game represented is Nine Men's Morris, a two-player game, also known as Mühle, or the Mill, and as Morelles, or La Merelle. On the play of the game and its wide popularity in antiquity, see Bell 1960, 93-95; cf. also Baran 1974, 21-23. The closest example known to me of this game in time and space to those of the Dema tower occurs at Gordion, incised on the underside of a reused block built into the foundation of the paved court for the Persian gate of the sixth century B.C. , published by Young 1955, 12, and figure 25 in plate 6.

22. Incised gameboards on roof tile Figure C, Figure 33

ASCS A-19. Single fragment, broken all around, of Lakonian-type pan tile, as no. 24 below. Max. pres. L. 0.125 m, max. pres. W. 0.091 m. Glaze not preserved. Lines deeply incised after firing on concave side to form gameboard, about half preserved. Gameboard is similar to no. 21 above, but design is less carefully executed and the configuration is rectangular rather than square; diagonal lines are added to connect the adjacent corners of the concentric rectangles. On the convex side are one or more attempts to outline a similar gameboard, without the diagonal lines, more lightly and more carelessly incised. This sherd is in the collection of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a surface find from the Dema tower, site A-19.

See no. 21 above. The variant of Nine Men's Morris with diagonal lines at the corners is also known today; see Gibson 1970, 32-33.

23. Incised roof tile Figure C, Figure 32

DP -4S-26. Single fragment, broken all around. Max. pres. L. 0.072 m. Fragment of a black-glazed Lakonian-type roof tile, as no. 24 below, with hatched lines incised after firing on glazed side.

Possibly a tally; cf. Talcott 1935, 516 figure 28c, and Lang 1956, nos. 2, 3, 63, and 84.

24. Lakonian-type roof tiles Figure D

Thousands of fragments of red- and black-glazed Lakonian-type roof tiles were recovered. There were no complete tiles, and none were restored to their full lengths. The most complete restored example of a pan tile has a width of 0.50 m, a max. pres. length of 0.735 m, and a max. thickness of 0.016 m. The best-preserved example of a cover tile has a width of 0.23 m behind the thickened lower rim, a max. pres. length of 0.28 m, a max. thickness of the lower rim of 0.034 m, and an average thickness of

Figure D

0.015 m. Thickness of fabric and details of rim profiles are variable, but the figures cited here and the pieces illustrated in figure D are representative of the whole lot, with the exception of the unusual, asymmetrical curve of the rim of the illustrated pan tile; typical examples have a symmetrical profile following the curve of the right rim of this tile.

These are typical examples of Lakonian-type roof tiles, the dimensions and profiles of which are fairly uniform through the classical, Hellenistic, and early Roman periods. Attention to details of glaze, fabric, and profile might allow more precise dating of roof tiles of this type. DEMA 185 n. 120 cites the opinion of Mrs. Carl Roebuck that the files of the type found at the Dema tower are datable to the fourth century B.C. See the examples cited by Orlandos 1955, 103; Martin 1965, 68-70; Olynthus VIII, 232, and figure 17, A and B; Stevens 1950, 174-88; "Dema House" 84-85, with notes 9-11. On the basis of the measurements cited in these works, the restored length of both cover and pan files from the Dema tower should be an average of 0.95 m, and it is probable that the cover files had one end, the upper, narrower than the other, tapering from 0.23 m to about 0.19 m. There are in fact cover tile fragments with both lighter rims and sharper curves than that of the illustrated example, and these would have been the upper rims of the cover tiles. Pan tiles may also have had a taper from 0.50 to about 0.45 m in width, but no measurements could be made from the joined fragments to confirm this possibility.

25. Twisted lead strip Figure 33

Two fragments of a lead strip, pointed at one end, twisted into a coil. The strip bears no trace of an inscription. Edge of the strip appears to have been cut by a sharp instrument. Apparently a piece of waste material that had been trimmed off and discarded.