Materials, Tools and Methods Used in Design and Construction

PALEOLITHIC
 Materials:
- Earliest dwellings from this era were caves, huts or tents.
- As the Paleolithic era progressed, dwellings consisted of Huts and Tents;
these were made from the materials of Mammoth bones or tusks supporting
the roof, and skulls forming the walls of the tents; other long narrow dwellings
were made from sticks and twigs
 Tools
- From the period of hunters, this period covers the earliest toolmaking; tools
were made from knapped stones, wood and bones making hammerstones,
cleaver, flint scraper, hand axe, chopper and flake.
 Methods
- Dwellings/Structures from this era were made with the help of these
influences:
- Geological and Geographical: dwellings were constructed to adapt to the
Earth’s composition and their location
- Religion: people’s belief
- Social and Political: structures symbolize as power and authority
- Historical: the story of the people
MESOLITHIC
 Materials
- Still considered as a period of hunting, materials were made from wood and
animal bones and animal skin
 Tools
- Scraper, flint core, awls, burin ad blades were tools found in this era
 Methods
- Structures were more durable than past dwellings with posts reinforced with
stones and bamboos
NEOLITHIC
 Materials
- With the expansion of Agriculture, structures were more sophisticated with
dwellings being constructed with timber framing; materials were timber posts,
reeds, clay and stone for the foundation and walls, with roofs made from tree
trunks, reeds, clay and hay.
 Tools
- The final period of the stone age. Besides the use stone and rock, people had
access to bone, wood and grass and hide in which they made: Hand axes,
Choppers, Adzes, Celt, Scrapers.
  Methods
- The start of the fortification of structures with mudbricks and walls covered
with wattle and daub; dwellings were made more durable with the start of
structures having foundations.
BRONZE
 Materials
- This era continued the use of wood and mud bricks (bricks made from mud
and straw which are laid under the sun to dry). Dwellings were timber framed
with timber beams to support roofs; mudbricks arranged to form walls and
mortar to bind them
 Tools
- A new tool emerged in this era; the saw
- Chisels and Axes were modified were modified with edging made from bronze
or copper
 Methods
- Fortification of structures and the construction of walled cities.
- Structures were fortified with the use of mudbricks or clay walls.
IRON
 Materials
- Walls were covered with daub or made with timber planking.
- Roofs were conical that were made from wheat, straw and reeds.
 Tools
- Previous tools were modified with the material, Iron.
 Methods
- With the use of new and improved tools such as axes and saws, construction
of structures made from wood were more precise; logs were made into
square posts, sawed into planks, and split into shingles.