Piet De Jong/The Palace of Nestor at Pylos, Princeton Univ. Press

Hearths, such as those found at Ekron (see photograph), were common features of Aegean as well as Cypriot architecture. This artist’s rendition of a megaron (a large building with central hall, side chambers and an open-fronted porch) at Pylos, in Greece shows the important place accorded the hearth.