Earlier this evening I was reading-up on the development of the Gallup/Adair Long Hive, back in 1872. One of the materials they used to make roofs back then was ... wait for it ... paper !
Not just any old paper, of course, but roofing paper if possible - but if not, then thick brown paper as used to make potato or flour sacks. This was pasted onto the wooden roof structure, then given two coats of paint (white lead in those days). As Adair pointed out, paper neither shrinks, swells, cracks nor warps. Four years later, and those paper covered roofs were "as perfect as when made.". Extraordinary.
LJ