The earliest finds of roof tiles in archaic Greece are documented from a very restricted area around Corinth, where fired tiles began to replace thatched roofs at two temples of Apollo and Poseidon between 700 and 650 BC.[7] Spreading rapidly, roof tiles were within fifty years in evidence at a large number of sites around the Eastern Mediterranean, including Mainland Greece, Western Asia Minor, and Southern and Central Italy.[8] Early roof-tiles showed an S-shape, with the pan and cover tile forming one piece. They were rather bulky affairs, weighing around 30 kg (66 lb) apiece[9] - more expensive and labour-intensive to produce than thatch. Their introduction has been explained by their greatly enhanced fire-resistance, which gave desired protection to the costly temples.[10]