THE EARLIEST ARCHITECTURE

Architecture has always been commonly regarded as

one of the arts. It has indeed been called the 'mistress
art'. But unlike the other arts it alone is useful in the
ordinary sense of the word. Unlike pictures, poems,
sculpture and music, it protects us from the rigours of
the environment. In it, artistic expression and
functional fitness are inextricably mixed together.
• Architecture is also recognized as having a socio-
political function, reinforcing the authority of
those who seek to organize the society in which
they live, for architecture represents an
influential picture of the ideal world, drawing
mankind along various paths of social
development and evolution.
At its most basic, the term "architecture" can also be used to
describe any structured object. In this sense the cathedral, the
bicycle shed, and even the pine tree, the ants' nest or the sea
shell could all be described as architecture. This view is a
useful stimulant to our appreciation of a built form even if we
take the more conventional view and believe that architecture
only correctly describes a building which does serve a basic
function and delight the senses, such as the great temples and
places and other habitable products of famous designers.
As there is no universally agreed definition - even
the Concise Oxford English Dictionary is rather
vague, defining architecture as "... thing built,
structure, style of building, construction“-
architecture may be taken to mean any habitable
building with a form dictated by considerations
beyond pure utility.
The earliest surviving examples of stone-built architecture date back six
thousand years but the roots of architecture go back further still. The
tendency for mankind to organize its communities and habitations into
meaningful shapes seems instinctive, like the drive to make pictures, to
dance or to sing. Impermanent architecture probably flourished (within
the limits of its builders' resources) for many millennia until human
resources made it possible to give architecture a more lasting and
permanent expression. Archaeologists recording evidences of Neolithic
settlements have uncovered evidence of fairly extensive village
complexes. Lines of post-holes preserved in the old layers of clay give a
clue to kind of structures (that) these prehistoric people built.
However, there is little evidence of the architecture of these
peoples in the sense of the aesthetic effect sought after and the
means by which it was achieved. While the traces are of
intense academic interest, they supply us with little
information as to how the building actually looks. However,
this ephemeral architecture is not entirely lost to us beyond all
conjecture. In order to imagine some of its probable forms, we
need only to look at contemporary buildings of culture with
strong Neolithic roots.