LECTURE 2

PRE-HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE

Asst. Prof. Rehan Masood

 PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
PERIOD
Occurred before invention of written records
Also called Stone Age period because of the absence of metal implements
Occurred from Human Habitation of earth to 9000 BC
Sub-Division of Period:Period can be further subdivided into Early (or Paleolithic) Stone Age
and New (or Neolithic) Stone AgeEarly Stone Age-Up to 9000 BCNew Stone Age 9000 BC
to 3000 BC
LOCATION
Not restricted to any particular geographical region
Occurred in different localities,
Usually close to sources of food, near rivers
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
No written record from the prehistoric period
Information is gathered from scientific studies of prehistoric objects
Many academic disciplines are interested in studying human civilization-archeology,
paleontology, anthropology etc
The disciplines study prehistoric objects
They provide information about civilizations based on studies
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS & BELIEFS
Ways of life differed between the Early Stone Age period and the New Stone Age Period
We will examine each of the periods independently to understand the people and their
society
 EARLY STONE AGE
(BEFORE 9000BC)
Nomadic, always on the move
Move about in search of food, water,
and good climate
Got their food through food
gathering, hunting and fishing
Usually move about in small bands of
less than 15 persons
Their lifestyle made them barely able
to survive
Not much is known about their
beliefs
 NEW STONE AGE

(9000BC-3000BC)
People stopped wandering and settled down in permanent settlements
Discovered art of farming and animal husbandry
Discovery result of population pressure
Neolithic people acquired confidence in ability to tame and control nature
Period saw interest in natural cycles such as of weather and heavenly bodies e.g. that of the sun and
moon
Learnt to domesticate animals, farm and grow crops, make pottery and weave cloth
Skills were developed, marking start of civilization
Villages were established and grew, protected by walls
Introduction of basic social organization of society
People learnt to differentiate between spaces and places-Sacred versus everyday places
Architecture was born Having fulfilled his basic need, Neolithic man sought to conquer fear of the
unknown
Needed to understand forces of nature that both nourishes and destroys
Sought to understand the heavenly bodies and weather cycles
Sought to control nature through rituals and magic
Gradually introduced the idea of religion
Confusion about death and life after death led to introduction
of tombs
Tombs are evidence of social differences in the society
 ARCHITECTURE OF CIVILIZATION
INTRODUCTION
EARLY STONE AGE
Nomadic people constantly on the move
Did not require permanent shelter or settlements
Dwellings consist of simple shelters
Rock Shelter
Rock shelters and caves provided natural protection
Reconstructed image to the right shows the use of
rock formation as shelter

CAVE DWELLING
Caves were, however, more popular as dwelling
Caves used by Stone Age people have been found
in many regions of the world
A good example is the cave at Lascaux in France
 ARCHITECTURE OF CIVILIZATION
EARLY STONE AGE
CAVE AT LASCAUX, FRANCE
Discovered in 1940
Used about ten to twenty thousand years ago
Used by several generation of people
Entered through one entry to a large hall
From the hall, cave braches out into other spaces
Interior has elaborate paintings of animals and hunting
scenes
The artwork celebrates the hunting life of the early
stone age people

? Why did early stone age people

adopt art as a tool of expression?
Explanation can be found in
constant struggle between life and
death for survival
Art provides a means to explore
the struggle
 ARCHITECTURE OF CIVILIZATION
EARLY STONE AGE
TEMPORARY STRUCTURES (HUT AT TERRA AMATA, FRANCE)
Early stone people constructed temporary shelters using available
materials
One of earliest known example discovered in 1966 at Terra Amata in
France
Dates back to 400,000 years
Oval in shape and constructed of tree branches
Space inside is organized for different uses
The hut was used by a band of people for limited hunting days
It is left to collapse after use and new
huts built over by the next years hunting
season
 ARCHITECTURE OF CIVILIZATION
EARLY STONE AGE
TEMPORARY STRUCTURES (HUT AT TERRA AMATA, FRANCE)
Example from the Modern World
Degradable materials means buildings cannot last long
Few have survived for us to study them
We can learn by looking at primitive societies of the modern age
Evidence show improvement in technology led to covering of buildings
Bambuti Hut: The bambutti huts show evidence of use of leaves to cover hut
The Tongus (thatch)Hut : The Tongus huts show evidence of use of grass to make huts
The Lapp Tent: The Lapp tenth shows the use of animal skins
Mud Construction: Gradual improvement in technology led to mud construction and
architecture
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
A history of architecture is a record of mans efforts to build
beautifully.
It touches the life of man at every point.
It is concerned not only in sheltering his person and
ministering to his comfort, but also in providing him with
places for worship, amusement, and business; with tombs,
memorials, embellishments for his cities, and other structures
for the varied needs of a complex civilization.
Everyone at some point comes in contact with the work of the
architect, and from this universal contact architecture derives
its significance as an index of the civilization of an age, a race,
or a people.
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
It is the function of the historian of architecture to trace the
origin, growth, and decline of the architectural styles which
have prevailed in different lands and ages, and to show how
they have reflected the great movements of civilization.
The migrations, the conquests, the commercial, social, and
religious changes among different peoples have all manifested
themselves in the changes of their architecture, and it is the
historians function to show this.
It is also his function to explain the principles of the styles,
their characteristic forms and decoration, and to describe the
great masterpieces of each style and period.
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
STYLE is a quality; the historic styles are phases of
development.
Style is character expressive of definite conceptions, as of
grandeur, gaiety, or solemnity.
An historic style is the particular phase, the characteristic
manner of design, which prevails at a given time and place.
It is not the result of mere accident or caprice, but of
intellectual, moral, social, religious, and even political
conditions.
Gothic architecture could never have been invented by the
Greeks, nor could the Egyptian styles have grown up in Italy.
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
STYLE
Each style is based upon some fundamental principle
springing from its surrounding civilization, which undergoes
successive developments until it either reaches perfection or
its possibilities are exhausted, after which a period of decline
usually sets in.
Thus the history of architecture appears as a connected chain
of causes and effects succeeding each other without break,
each style growing out of that which preceded it, or springing
out of the fecundating contact of a higher with a lower
civilization.
To study architectural styles is therefore to study a branch of
the history of civilization.
 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
STYLE
Technically, architectural styles are identified by the means they employ to
cover enclosed spaces, by the characteristic forms of the supports and
other members (piers, columns, arches, mouldings, traceries, etc.), and by
their decoration.
The plan should receive special attention, since it shows the arrangement
of the points of support, and hence the nature of the structural design.
A comparison, for example, of the plans of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak
and of the Basilica of Constantine shows at once a radical difference in
constructive principle between the two edifices, and hence a difference of
style.
 PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
Prehistoric remains have little constructive sequence, and are
merely mentioned here to show from what simple beginnings
the noble art of architecture was evolved, although
unfortunately the stages of the evolution cannot be traced,
owing to the fact that the oldest existing monuments of any
pretension, as in Egypt, belong to a high state of civilization.
Structures of the prehistoric period, although interesting for
archaeological reasons, have little or no architectural value,
and will only be lightly touched upon
 PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
The remains may be classified under :
1. Monoliths, or single upright stones, also known as menhirs, a
well-known example 63 feet high, 14 feet in diameter, and
weighing 260 tons, being at Carnac, Brittany. Another
example is at Locmariaker, also in Brittany (No. 2 B).
2. Dolmens (Daul, a table, and maen, a stone), consisting of one
large flat stone supported by upright stones. Examples are to
be found near Maidstone and other places in England, also in
Ireland, Northern France, the Channel Islands, Italy (No. 2 F)
and India.
3. Cromlechs, or circles of stone, as at Stonehenge (No. 2 G),
Avebury (Wilts), and elsewhere, consisting of a series of
upright stones arranged in a circle and supporting horizontal
slabs.
 PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
The remains may be classified under :
4. Tumuli, or burial mounds, were probably prototypes of the
Pyramids of Egypt and the beehive huts found in Wales,
Cornwall, Ireland (No. 2 D, E) and elsewhere. That at New
Grange (Ireland) resembles somewhat the Treasury of Atreus
at Mycenae.
5. 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.
Monoliths

Dolmens

Cromlechs
Tumuli

Lake Dwelling
 BUILDING & OTHER ARCHITECTURE ELEMENTS
Residential building and settlements varied between early and
new Stone Age periods
Early Stone Age:
Always on the move
Used temporary structures
Provided basic shelter and protection for short periods of time
1. Dwellings and Settlements
New Stone Age
Established permanent dwellings and settlements-Catal Huyuk, Jericho
Improvement in house form including change to rectangular rooms
Introduction of multi-room houses
Introduction of non-residential buildings-for work, storage & rituals
Open village layouts with streetsIncrease in number and size of
villages
 BUILDING & OTHER ARCHITECTURE ELEMENTS
2. Funereal and Religious Buildings
Funereal and religious buildings were introduced during new
Stone Age
Funereal Buildings
Were structures such as tombs used for rituals and burial for the dead
Example we studied is the Dolmen Tomb
Religious Buildings
Evidence of the first practices of religion
buildings used for rituals related to worship and religion
Example is found in the shrines that we saw embedded within Catal
Huyuk
 BUILDING & OTHER ARCHITECTURE ELEMENTS
3. Ritual Buildings
Buildings whose functions are not entirely certain
Usually associated with ritual ceremonial activities
Activities may be related to religion
Examples are the Stone alignment Carnac and the
Stonehenge, England
 MATERIALS, CONST SYST& TECH
Most popular construction materials were wood and tree saplings, leaves, grasses,
adobe, animal skins and stones
Availability of material and construction technology varied between locations
Materials and construction technology also varied between the early and new
stone age periods
Early Stone Age
Used simple easily available materials
Usually of plant and animal materials such as wooden poles, grasses, leaves,
and animal skins
Construction system was also simple
Usually involves digging holes, putting wooden poles in holes and burying
them
The poles are tied together to create the shell of the buildingThe shell is
covered with grasses, leaves or animal skins
There is no evidence of the use of technologies to modify the interior of the
hut
 MATERIALS, CONST SYST& TECH
New Stone Age
More diversified construction materials
Adobe and Stone most popular materials for houses
Large stone was used for monuments
Construction method also improved over time
Significant improvement in Adobe construction with time
In Stonehenge is also evidence of ability to quarry, shape, transport
and join large stones to create monuments
No evidence of the technology to modify interior conditions
 Principles of Arch. Organization
Possible to categorize principles that give form to architecture of period into two:
Principles and forces that determine form of dwellings and settlements
Principles and forces that determine the form of monuments
Dwellings and Settlements
Two forces shaped the form of Dwellings and settlements-functional need and
available construction materials and technology
Early Stone Age
Primary requirement is for temporary structure
No desire to invest in construction of dwellings
Constructed dwellings using available materials with form directly reflecting
natural objects
New Stone Age
Became settled requiring permanent dwellings
Also required durable construction
Desire to improve dwellings and settlements to meet needs Desire resulted in
change in form of house, introduction of furniture and differentiation of space
Also account for improvement in village form including introduction of streets
And to improvement in construction technology
 Principles of Arch. Organization
Monuments
Function was not an important issue in monuments
Product of desire to achieve higher emotional and spiritual needs
Also a symbol of the achievement of society
Understanding monument requires understanding meaning to its creators
Monuments also display an understanding of architectural principles
including:
Role of geometry in organizing architectural form
The differentiation of space for different activities and uses
Principles of locating objects in space and of channeling movement
Principles of space enclosure, including difference between boundless
space and full enclosure
Monuments represent the first instance of a principle of organizing space