The “Invention” of Architecture

PreHistoric Architecture

PRE - HISTORIC HISTORY - PRESENT

Late Modern /
Palaeolithic Neolithic Ancient Age Medieval Age Modern Age
Contemporary

2.5 million 10,000–4,500 3000 BC – AD 5th to late 15th 15th to 17th 18th Century
years ago to BC 500 Century Century to Present
10,000 B.C.
 Paleolithic: 2.5 million -
10000 BC

Mesolithic: 30000 –
Stone Age: 2.5 million BP -
PREHISTORIC AGE

9000 BC
3000 BC
Neolithic: 9000 - 3000 BC
Bronze Age: 3000 BC –
900 BC

Iron Age: 12th - 9th The definition of prehistoric architecture is, quite
century BC
literally, pre-history. In other words from a time
before mankind was capable of recording its history
in writing. This makes the prehistoric era one that is
very difficult to define, dating back tens of
PALEOLITHIC (20,00,000 BC)

NEOLITHIC (10,000 BC)

EARLY CIVILIZATION (3,000 BC)

• Hunters and gatherers • work as farmers • priests and nobles

• Nomadic • Live in permanent villages • Merchants and artisans

• Simple tools and • Use domesticated plants • Slaves

weapons and animals
• Rise of cities
• Large villages
• Use of fire
• Organized governments
• Increased status for males
• Spoken language
• Job specification
• Warriors assert power
• Burial of dead over others • Growth of social disease

• Belief in a spiritual • More personal • System of writing

world possessions

• Trade
• Creation of cave • New technologies
paintings
• Complex religion

https://youtu.be/ZjejoT1gFOc
PALEOLITHIC DWELLINGS

OVAL HUT

A Paleolithic village was successfully excavated in Mezhirich in the

Lower Paleolithic
Ukraine dating back to approximately 15,000 BCE. The village revealed
Terra Amata, France
a cluster of huts made of woolly mammoth bones which provided an
intricate framework for structures. These huts ranged in diameter
from 13 to 33 feet, some with ashes and charred bones suggesting the
presence of a hearth inside.
MAMMOTH HUT
MESOLITHIC DWELLINGS

HUTS
The structure mainly comprised of bamboos. Plans were trapezoidal
in shape. They had wide entrances facing the water bodies (rivers).
Floors were plastered with lime. Posts were reinforced with stones.

PIT – HOUSE
A pit-house is a building that is partly dug into the ground, and
covered by a roof. Besides providing shelter from extremes of
weather, these structures may also be used to store food and for
cultural activities.
NEOLITHIC PERIOD
It is the moment in which the
first constructions arise. The
Neolithic inhabitants began to
use wooden elements such as
main structure of their houses,
and branches covered with
clay for the walls. These
settlements began to spread.

During the years from

Paleolithic towards Neolithic
the patterns of human
activities changes:

• Permanent Settlement
• Development of Agriculture
• Change in temperature led
to change in architecture
NEOLITHIC DWELLINGS
It was a long narrow timber dwelling
built by the first farmers in Europe
beginning at least as early as the
period 5000 to 6000 BC. house
were rectangular structure, 5.5 to
7.0 m wide, of variable length,
around 20 m up to 45 m.
LONG HOUSE

The Stone houses with 3m thick cavity

walls were made of dry stones and the
interiors were covered with domestic
refuse. Rectangular plan with circular
corners. with a smoke hole at the top
positioned over central hearth.

DRY STONE HOUSE

SAKARA BRAE, SCOTLAND https://youtu.be/1pvJ9_Q88Y0
=-
Çatalhöyük,Turkey (7500 - 5700 BC)
The oldest and largest Neolithic city found
With 8000 residents
Formed an agriculture and trade centre
co n n e c te d The inhabitants lived
in mudbrick houses that were crammed
together in an aggregate structure. No
footpaths or streets were used between the
dwellings, which were clustered in a
honeycomb-like maze. Most were accessed by
holes in the ceiling and doors on the side of the
houses, with doors reached by ladders and
stairs. The rooftops were effectively streets. The
ceiling openings also served as the only source
of ventilation, allowing smoke from the houses'
open hearths and ovens to escape. with
northern volcanic area to the fertile
crescent of Palestine and Mesopotamia.
Typical houses contained two rooms for On-site restoration of a typical interior
everyday activity, such as cooking and crafting.
https://youtu.be/mrxh2H7JlP8
 MONUMENTAL ARCHITECTURE

Structure Served As Places Places For Tracking The Course

For The Dead Of Time And Understanding
The Cosmos

‘Mid the uneasy wanderings of Paleolithic man, the dead were the first to have a permanent
dwelling: a cave, a mound marked by cairn, a collective barrow’
Lewis Mumford
 MEGALITHIC STRUCTURES
A number of types of structures
differ in size and spatial complexity:

1. Menhirs

2. Dolmens

3. Passage graves

4. Long barrow grave

MENHIRS
1. freestanding stone columns

2. Erected vertically

3. Set in circular patterns or parallel rows

4. Marking a spot for some ritual purpose

5. Celtic word means: long stone

The oldest Menhirs these of Brittany in France with
rows of stones (4500-3300 BC)
DOLMEN
There a r e a few surviving megaliths known a s dolmens built of massive stones.

A dolmen, also known a s a portal tomb/ portal grave , is a type of single-chamber Megalithic to m b ,
usually consisting of two or mo re upright stones supporting a l a rge flat horizontal c a p s t o n e .
 Stone

Supporting
Stone

Burial
Chamber

Archeologists have found many bone fragments in these

structures and so can be almost certain they were used as
burial grounds. Dolmens would have a funeral chamber
where people were buried and an access to that chamber.
STONE HENGE

A prehistoric monument in
Wiltshire, England.
Archaeologists believe it was
constructed from 3000 BC to
2000 B C . T h e s u r ro u n d i n g
circular earth bank and ditch,
which constitute the earliest
phase of the monument, have
been dated to about 3100 BC.
"Some have Stone Henge
as an ancient calendric
device to keep track of
solar n lunar cycles. Some
think it is another funeral
center."

Stonehenge's ring of standing stones are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of
Neolithic and bronze age monuments in England.
Whatever religious, mystical or spiritual elements were central to S to n e h e n ge , its design includes a celestial
observatory function, which might h a v e a l l o we d prediction of eclipse, solstice, equinox and other celestial
events important to a contemporary religion.
CONSTRUCTING THE MONUMENT

This drawing shows how a pit

was dug with three straight
sides and one angled. These
stones were slid into place on
rollers, and eventually rocks
were put around the base to
hold it firmly.

This illustration of the

laborious process of raising
and placing the lintel shows
how the workers used
platforms and crossed timbers
to support the lintel as it was
levered up inches at a time.
1. Marking out the location (3100-3050 BC):

- a rope fixed to a central stake used to

draw a circle (97.5m diameter) making a
ditch
- Two parallel entry stones on the northeast
of the circle
- Inner circle of 56 holes
2.The second phase (2100-2075 BC)

Crescent of 80 bluestone pillars were erected

inside the circle to form what was to be two
concentric circles, and aligned with two others
outside the entrance

3.The third phase (2000-1500 BC)

Sandstone raised to form a circular colonnade (up

to 9m high) closing the horseshoe

About 20 b l u e sto n e we re e re c te d i n a n
approximate oval setting within the sandstone
horseshoe
The Stonehenge was used as astronomical observatory

- The alignment of the heelstone with the stones in the

centre is done for the summer solstice, the sun would
have risen directly over the heelstone

- Other alignments suggested that it had been used to

mark the phases of the eclipses of the moon

https://youtu.be/wf7xwHFuH2o
PASSAGE GRAVE

A clearly distinguishable passage led to a circular of polygonal inner chamber

The New GrangeTome,Ireland (3200-3000 BC)
79-85m diameter, with 19m length
passage ends with domed inner
chamber
The tomb oriented to the southeast

The wall of the passage built with

stones added each year on the
morning of the winter solstice
Aligned in a way that a beam of
light penetrate all the way to the
back of the passage once a year on
that day
When completed, it was sealed at
the entrance leaving narrows slit
open at the tops, this opening
worked as a ‘channel of
communication between the living
and the dead’
LONG BARROW GRAVE
Rectangular of trapezoidal mounds, with an entrance leading to a large oblong chambers
West Kennet, England (2000 BC) Lay under a grass covered
mound overlaying a core of
Long barrow Grave boulders.
Eastern entrance, with long
burial chamber

A semicircular space behind the

entrance on which the burial
chamber opened.
The central gallery led to 2 pairs
of chambers
ASSIGNMENT 1

Mention the different elements and materials of Pre-Historic Architecture.

Next lecture .. River Valley Civilization