SEM 1 History Of Architecture I

Module 1
• Introduction

• Introduction to pre-historic civilization

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• Introduction to river valley cultures
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Pre-history and History

• The term "prehistory" was coined by French scholars, referring to the time before
people recorded history in writing.

• This is the longest period in the past of modern man (homo sapiens) that lasted
about 400,000 years.

• History is the period of recorded events of man. History refers to the time after
invention of writing. The history of the world is the memory of the past experience of
Homo sapiens around the world, as that experience has been preserved, largely in
written records.

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Factors influencing Architecture

• Geography

• Geology

• Climate

• Religion

• Social and Political

•History

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Origin SEM 1 History Of Architecture I

• They required only the simplest kinds of buildings, though the purposes which they
served were the same as those of later times in civilized communities.

•A hut or house for shelter, a shrine of some sort for worship, a stockade for defence, a
cairn or mound over the grave of the chief or hero, were provided out of the simplest
materials, and these often of a perishable nature.

• There were mainly 3 types of primitive dwellings :

1) Caves – or rocks for those occupied in hunting or fishing
2) Huts – for agriculture
3) Tent – for those such as shepherds who led a pastoral and nomadic life

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Huts
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Caves
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Tents
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Paleolithic (20,00,000 Neolithic (10,000 BC) Early Civilization

BC) (3,000 BC)
• work as farmers
• Hunters and gatherers •Live in permanent • priests and nobles
•Nomadic villages •Merchants and artisans
•Simple tools and •Use domesticated plants •Peasants
weapons and animals •Slaves
•Use of fire •Large villages •Rise of cities
•Spoken language •Increased status for •Organized governments
•Burial of dead males •Job specification
•Belief in a spiritual •Warriors assert power •Growth of social disease
world over others •System of writing
•Creation of cave •More personal •Trade
paintings possessions •Complex religion

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•New technologies
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The remains of the Stone Age can be classified into :

Monoliths or Menhirs :

• A prehistoric monument consisting of an upright megalith, usually standing alone but

sometimes aligned with others.

• their size can vary considerably, but their shape is generally uneven and squared,
often tapering towards the top.

• menhirs are widely distributed across Europe, Africa, and Asia but are most numerous
in Western Europe: particularly in Ireland, Great Britain and Brittany.

• they were constructed during different periods across pre –history as part of a larger
megalithic culture that flourished in Europe and beyond.

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• the major function of Menhirs have variously been thought to have been used by
Druids for human sacrifice, used as territorial markers or elements of a complex
ideological system, or functioned as early calenders.
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Menhir at Carnac, Brittany – 63 feet high, 14 feet in diameter
and weighing 260 tons
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Cairn : A heap of stones piled up as a monument, tombstone, or
landmark.
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Tumulus : An artificial mound or earth or stone, esp. over an ancient
grave.
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Dolmen : A prehistoric
monument consisting of
two or more large upright

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stones
supporting a horizontal
stone slab, found esp. in
Britain and France and
usually regarded as a
tomb.
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Cromlech : A circular arrangement of
megaliths enclosing a dolmen or burial mound.
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Henge :

•There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely
called henges.

•The essential characteristic of all three types is that they feature a ring bank and ditch,
but with the ditch inside the bank rather than outside.

• Due to the poor defensive utility of an enclosure with an external bank and an internal
ditch, henges are not considered to have served a defensive purpose

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Henge
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There are three types of henges :

1. Henge - The word henge refers to a particular type of earthwork of the Neolithic
period, typically consisting of a roughly circular or oval-shaped bank with an
internal ditch surrounding a central flat area of more than 20 m in diameter.

There is typically little if any evidence of occupation in a henge, although they may
contain ritual structures such as stone circles, timber circles and coves.

2. Hengiform monument (5 ≤ diameter ≤ 20 m). Like an ordinary henge except the

central flat area is between 5 and 20 m in diameter, they comprise a modest
earthwork with a fairly wide outer bank. Mini henge or Dorchester henge are
sometimes used as synonyms for hengiform monument.

3. Henge enclosure (> 300 m). A Neolithic ring earthwork with the ditch inside the bank,
with the central flat area having abundant evidence of occupation and usually

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being more than 300 m in diameter. Some true henges are as large as towns, but
lack evidence of domestic occupation. Super henge is sometimes used as a
synonym for a henge enclosure. However, sometimes Super henge is used to
indicate size alone rather than use,
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STONEHENGE I : c.3000 BC
• About 91 m across
• Ditch and bank: work began c.2800 BC
• Probably a place of Neolithic astronomical observations, worship, and burials
for about 7
centuries.
• Unknown purposes
• Re-used for burials of cremated human bones (c.2200 BC)

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STONEHENGE II
• Introduction of a new axis, a more east than previous one.
• Addition of the Avenue (510 m).
• Addition of the Bluestones
• 1.8 m apart
• Came from Preseli Mountains, 135 miles from Stonehenge

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STONEHENGE III-a SEM 1 History Of Architecture I
• 2000 BC
• Composed of 30 upright stones in uniform height capped by a horizontal ring
of stone
lintels.

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STONEHENGE III-b SEM 1 History Of Architecture I
• Y & Z Holes
o 59 holes in all
o 59 days in 2 lunar months
• Bluestone Horseshoe
o 19 bluestones
o 19 cycles of the moon, crucial for the prediction of eclipses

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STONEHENGE III-C • Some bluestones in III-B SEM 1 History Of Architecture I
were re-used in III-C, some were shaped, and
some were jointed together.

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Stonehenge: SEM 1 History Of Architecture I

• Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England.

•Archaeologists believe it was constructed from 3000 BC to 2000 BC.

• Begun as a sinple earthwork enclosure, it was built in several stages, with the unique
lintelled stone circle being erected in the late Neolithic period around 2500 BC.

•Stonehenge remained important into the early Bronze Age, when many burial mounds
were built nearby.

•Two types of stone are used at Stonehenge – the larger sarsens and the smaller
“bluestone”.

•The sarsens were erected in 2 concentric arrangements – an inner horseshoe and an

outer circle – and the bluestones were set up between them in a double arc.

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•Probably at the same time the stone were being set up in the centre of the
monument, the sarsens close to the entrance were raised, together with the four
station stones on the periphery.

•About 200 or 300 years later the central bluestones were re-arranged to form a circle
and inner oval.
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•The earthwork Avenue was also built at this time, connecting Stonehenge with the
river Avon.

•One of the last pre-historic activities at Stonehenge was the digging Around the stone
setting of the two rings of concentric pits, the so-called Y and Z holes. They may have
been intended for the re-arrangement of the stones that was never completed.

•Immediately outside the north-east entrance is the Heel stone, a huge unshaped
sarsen boulder. It may have been an early stone at the site, raised upright from its
original position nearby.

•Also near the north-east entrance is the slaughter stone, a fallen sarsen that once
stoon upright with one or two other stone in the entrance.

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Alignments at Stonehenge:

• The main axis of the stone is aligned upon the solstitial axis.
• At midsummer, the sun rises over the horizon to the north-east, close to the Heel Stone.
• At midwinter, the sun sets in the south-west, in the gap between the two tallest trilithons,
one of which has now fallen.
•These times in the seasonal cycle were obviously important to the pre historic people
who built and used Stonehenge.

•The posts measured 4.1 mts high, 2.1 mts wide and 1.1 mts thick

•They were surmounted by 6 to 7 ton lintels that formed a continuous circle around the
top.

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Heel Stone
(Sunrise
Smaller summer)
Station Stone Sarsens

Sunset -
winter
Bluestones

Chalk Banks

Y&Z

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Holes
Sunrise -
Sunset - winter
winter
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Types of Burials and Graves by Pre-historic People:

• Tumuli or Burial Mounds – were prototypes of the pyramids of Egypt and the
beehive huts found in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland and elsewhere.

•A Tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. They
are also known as barrows, burial mounds, or Kurgans and can be found
throughout much in the world.

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• Lake Dwellings – as discovered in the lakes of Switzerland, Italy and Ireland consisted
of wooden huts supported on piles, and were so placed for protection against hostile
attacks of all kinds.

•They range in the dates between early Neolithic through Iron Age villages.

•People who lived in the lake dwelling settlements practised animal husbandry and
farming, as well as relied on fishing and hunting.

•Oval Hut, Nice – the oldest recognized buildings in the world are 12 4,00,000 year old
huts found in Nice, France in 1960.

•Evidence at Terra Amata indicates that early humans living there occupy oval huts that
are 15 m by 6 mts.

•This is the first evidence of housing construction.

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•A small hearth was found in the centre of each successive hut.

•The habitations dates to 3,80,000 BC, and included vestiges which suggested that the
inhabitants lived in huts on the beach. In the centre of each hut was a fireplace, with
ashes showing that the inhabitants had domesticated fire.
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• the inhabitants built the huts of animal skins supported by poles, with a hole in the center
for the smoke to escape.

•20 to 40 people could gather in such a shelter.

•These people, apparently Neanderthals, were hunters and the site contains remains of
the bones of a variety of animals, including elephant, rhinoceros, red deer, ibex and
giant ox.

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Lake Dwelling
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Oval Hut
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• Passage Graves– are amongst the oldest tombs.

• A passage grave or a passage tomb consists of a narrow passage made of

large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone.

• the building of passage tombs was normally carried out with megaliths and
smaller stones, they usually date from the Neolithic age.

•Those with more than one chamber may have sub-chambers leading off from
the main burial chamber.

•One common layout, the cruciform passage grave is cross-shaped.

•Sometimes passage graves are covered with cairn, especially those dating
from later times.

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•Not all passage graves have been found to contain evidence of human
remains.
•They have corbelled roofs rather than simple slab.

•The passage itself, in a muber of notable instances, is aligned in such a way

that the sun shines into the passage at a significant point in the year, for
example at sunrisr on the winter solstice or at sunset on the equinox.
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•Passage graves are distribute extensively in lands along the Atlantic seaboard
of Europe.

•They are found in Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, Northern Germany and the
Drenthe area of the Netherlands. They are also found in Iberia, some parts of
the Mediterranean and along the northern coast of Africa.

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Passage Grave
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• Gallery Graves–

•A gallery grave is a form of megalithic tomb built primarily during the Neolithic Age
in Europe in which the main gallery of the tomb is entered without first passing through
an antechamber or hallway.

•There are four major types of gallery grave - complex,transepted, segmented,

and wedge-shaped.

•The structure resembles a megalithic corridor under an elongated mound, though

sometimes they are cut in the rock.

•Two parallel walls of stone slabs were erected to form a corridor and covered with a line
of capstones. The rectangular tomb was covered with a barrow or a cairn.

•Most were built during the 4th millenium BC, though some were still being built in the
Bronze Age.

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•Some of the graves in Britain also has side chambers.
•Segmented graves with concave forecourts are found in Ulster and South-western
Scotland.
•In the Paris Basin the gallery graves have small round entrances and are lined with large
stone slabs.

The tombs are often associated with deities, whose representations are depicted on the
rock walls.
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Gallery Grave
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• they are distribued across Europe and they are usually subdivided by period, region and
also into more genric types of long barrows, chambered round barrows, etc

•In 2000 BC, new generation of tombs called Coves appeared.

•They consisted of 3 upright slabs set in configuration of a U facing east, open to the sky
and often surrounded by circular embankments and stone circles.

The difference between a complex gallery grave and a passage

grave (which also has smaller burial chambers opening off the main
passage) is two-fold. First, the gallery grave gallery will be as high and wide
as the side burial chambers, while in a passage grave the passage is not as
high or wide as the burial chambers. Second, gallery graves are usually

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topped by a V-shaped tumulus, while passage graves are almost always
covered by a round tumulus.
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Cove – Three standing stones, two on the sides and one at the back.
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Trilithon – A structure consisting of
two upright stones supporting a
horizontal lintel
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• Stone Cicles –

• At one time, there might have been more than 4000 of them.

•Two-thirds of which were erected in the major building phase between 3000 and 1300
BC.

•The earliest stone circles ranged in size from 18 to 30 mts in diameter, with the stones
standing shoulder to shoulder.

•For most part they were near a village or clan compound and were built with local
stones.

•They could be round or oval, they could have concentric embankments of stone circles,
and many had approach avenus.
•Some were associated with burials, others with cremation.

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•At Loanhead of Daviot, stones were not upright but flat on the ground and in the center
were the remnants of a fire pit with cremated human bones.

•Many had a central stone.

•Though debatable, they were meant to follow the movements of the moon and the stars
as would have been typical for agrarian based communities.
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Stone
Circle
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• Catal Huyuk -

•One of the world’s first permanent settlements.

•Populated 7500 – 5700 BC and flourished in 7000 BC
•Located in central Anatolia what is now Turkey
•Populated of about 8000 people.

•1000 dwellings crammed together like a honeycomb

•No streets – people climbed out through ladders in their ceilings.

•Supported by agriculture and animal domestication – barley, peas, wheat – cattle,

sheep.

•Famous because it is so well preserved. It lay in the centre of the metal trade

•The city was located next to a river that fed into a nearby lake.

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•Consisted of rectangular flat roofed houses packed together into single architectural
mass with no streets or passageways.
•Walls made of mud bricks reinforced by massive oak posts.

•Light entered through small windows high in the walls.

•If a family died out, the house was abondoned for a period of time and then eventually
reclaimed.
•Untill the house was reclaimed, it was used to throw garbage.
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•Typical residence consisted one large room connected with smaller storage rooms.

•The main room was equiped with benches, ovens and bins.
•Average size of a room – 5m X 6m

•Walls were plastered and many were decorated with spectacular hunting scenes, textile
patterns or landscapes.
•Raised benches on all three sides for sleeping and other activities.

•Horns of animals especially cattle were mounted on walls.

•Each house had its own shrine consisting of a wall decorated with bulls or horns.
•In some cases pair of horns were set in clay at the edge of platforms.

•The dead of the family were buried in this room and their bones incorporated in to the
shrine.

•Principal deity – mother goddess

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Factors affecting River valley Cultures :

• Approximately 5000 years ago the first complex, politically centralized civilizations
began to crystallize independently along a number of river valleys throughout the
southern half of Asia and northern Africa .

•These civilizations constitute the next step in the organization and centralization of
human economic, political, religious, and social institutions and practices.

• Rivers supplied a continuous if not always dependable flow and supply of water for
farming and human consumption.
• These rivers along with climate, vegetation, geography, and topography shaped the
development of the early river valley civilizations.
•However, while people of these civilizations were dependent on the rivers, the rivers also
inspired new technological, economic, institutional, and organizational innovations and
developments.

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•Between 3000 and 2000 B.C.E. such river valley civilizations formed independently of
each other along the Indus, the Nile, the Tigris and Euphrates, and the Yellow
Rivers. These civilizations shared certain characteristics that distinguished them from the
collections of Neolithic communities that preceded them.
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Slides (for sketches) – 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (1st picture), 24, 25, 29, 30, 33, 35,
37, 38, 42

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