HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I MODULE

ND
NO. 1
A.Y. 2014-2015 2 Semester

PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE
I. Background
A. Prehistoric architecture relates to three consecutive time periods in prehistory that vary in
dates by region or continent. From 35,000 – 2000 BC the period of development are named
for their respective predominant tool-making technologies: STONE AGE (Paleolithic and
Neolithic), BRONZE AND IRON AGE.
B. CLIMATE
- The movement of the earth and glaciers affected the climate by changing the flow of
currents and temperature that allowed existing environment to adapt to sudden changes
and develop new methods to survive.
- Became cooler and drier, and seasonal similar to modern climate
C. GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY
- The northern latitudes and mountainous areas were subjected on successive occasions
to the advances and retreats of ice sheets.
- Valleys and terraces were formed, the present coastlines were established, and great
changes were induced in the fauna and flora of the globe.
- Drifting of continents resulted to differences in the landscape and the development of
fauna and flora. Open savannas gave humans opportunities for hunting and forest
provided shelter and protection against wild animals and extreme weather conditions.
D. RELIGION
- Religious behavior may combine ritual, spirituality, mythology and magical thinking or
animism
- Development of behavioral patterns such as burial rites that one might characterize as
religious, or ancestral to religious behavior
E. SOCIAL CONDITION
- During the prehistoric age, humans were consisted of nomadic bands formed by several
families then joined together to form bigger groups.
- From being nomadic, due to the abundance of food on certain regions, people began to
settle down into permanent locations, and began to rely on agriculture for sustenance in
many locations.
- Trades of resources and commodities were evident to help ensure survival.

II. Periods of Development

A. PALEOLITHIC (OLD STONE AGE)
1. WAY OF LIFE
- Implements were still crudely made. Men lived on hunting and fishing. They lived in
caves or dug outs or in tents of poles and hides
- At the end of the Paleolithic era, humans began to produce works of art such as cave
paintings, rock art, and jewelry and began to engage in religious behavior such as
burials and rituals
2. DWELLINGS AND SHELTERS
- Early men chose locations that could be defended against predators and rivals and
that were shielded from inclement weather.
- Early nomadic people were constantly on the move and did not require permanent
shelter or settlements. Dwelling consist of simple shelters such as rock shelter, cave
dwelling and temporary structures of plant and animal materials.
- As the era progresses, dwellings became more sophisticated and more elaborate,
and more house-like.

B. NEOLITHIC (NEW STONE AGE)

1. WAY OF LIFE
- Men learned to polish stone implements, to domesticate and raise animals and till
the soil.

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I MODULE
ND
NO. 1
A.Y. 2014-2015 2 Semester

- The development of sedentary lifestyle brought about permanent homes and

stabilized environment.

2. DWELLINGS AND SHELTERS

- From tents to round houses.
- New methods of building their house were introduced. Houses were built of poles
and reeds plastered with clay and with thatched roofs.
- More advanced materials were evident such as bricks shaped from mud and baked
hard in the sun and curved on its outer edge.
- Sometimes floors were raised above ground for protection and some are even built
on piles above water.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS
A. JERICHO – earliest known town covering 10 acres. With houses having rooms
suggesting arrival of the social and economic distinctions which have been a
feature of all developed societies.
- The floor of each house is excavated in some way down into the ground;
then both the floor and the brick walls are plastered in mud
- Roof of each room, still in tent style, is a conical structure of branches and
mud
B. KHIROKITIA – round tent-like house in a more complete form.
- Most rooms have a dome-like roof in corbelled stone or brick.
- One step outside, to keep out the rain, leads to several steps down into each
room; seats and storage spaces are shaped into walls; and in the least one
house there is a ladder to an upper sleeping platform
C. CATAL HUYUK – one to each is through the roof of the best preserved Neolithic
towns covering some 32 acres in southern Turkey.
- Houses are rectangular, with windows but no doors.
- Rooms adjoins each other like honeycomb, and the entrance

3. GRAVES, TEMPLES AND MONUMENTS

- In a grave, a stone passage leads into the center of the great mound of earth or
turf, where a tomb chamber – with walls made first of wool but later of stone –
contains the distinguished dead of surrounding community.
- Increasing large slabs of stones or megaliths were used for passage graves and an
astronomical theme is added.
- Graves begin to align in relation to the annual cycle of the sun.
- Stone circles with ritual purpose in many cases, have a solar alignment, usually
relating to sunrise at the summer solstice.

D. BRONZE and IRON AGE

1. WAY OF LIFE
- More advanced works of carpentry and masonry.
- Iron was introduced but did not affect much the method of construction. It was
mostly used as weapons for hunting.
- Architecture moved away from the building of massive sacred stones and the idea of
the of camps on hillside were developed.
- The hill camps were developed due to more sophisticated weapons made first by
bronze and then with lead.
2. ARCHITECTURE
- Improved dwellings on land
- Circular or oval roofs assumed rectangular in shape
- The conical and domical roofs of the earlier huts were replaced by pitched roof with
longitudinal edge.
- Centered on a series of detached housing (homesteads, farmhouses, granaries, and
communal gathering areas. Surrounded by at least one concentric bank and ditch.
- Featured gateways, barbicans, guardhouses, towers, palisades and parapets.

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I MODULE
ND
NO. 1
A.Y. 2014-2015 2 Semester

III. Building Typology

A. SHELTER
1. ROCK CAVE
2. HUT –branches of trees, combination of animal skin and leaves
3. TENT – branches of trees as framing and animal skin for covering
4. MUD HOUSES – bricks mad of mud without or with minimal window openings
5. LAKE DWELLINGS – wooden hut built over water and stilted on timber piles
6. TEPEE – conical tent with poles for framework and bark and skin for covering
7. IGLOO – an Eskimo house constructed of snow blocks with an entrance tunnel known as
the tossut
8. WIGWAM – an American Indian dwelling, round or oval in plan with rounded roof
structure consisting of bent pole framework coverd by pressed bark or skin
9. HOGAN – Indian primitive structure constructed usually of earth and logs and covered
with mud and sod
10. TRULLO – a dry walled, rough stone shelter, circular in plan with a corbelled Dominican
roof
11. PUEBLO – communal dwelling usually of stone built by the Indians of southwestern
USA; built in excavated hollows in the faces of cliffs or on valleys.

B. MONUMENTS AND RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES

- Monumental construction took the form of megalithic monument that means large stone,
that involves setting up large stone blocks alone or leaning against each other
sometimes post and lintel construction.
- Stone is quarried from rocks, transported by rollers pulled by people. Lever action is
used to lift and place stone position.
- The secret of the construction lies in abundance of labor, endurance of effort and
availability of unlimited time

1. MENHIR – sacred structure made of one large stone; single stone block\
2. DOLMEN – two or more stones supporting a horizontal slab
3. CROMLECH – three or more upright stone capped by unknown flat stone; altar of sacred
circles.
a. STONE CIRCLE at Averbury – stone arrange in circular pattern
b. STONEHENGE, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England – most imposing (3000 – 1000 BC);
external diameter is 420 feet; 40 degrees latitude; 140 stones; highest stone is 24
feet.

C. STONEHENGE – a concentric ring of stones oriented toward the sun’s position in the
summer solstice
1. OUTERMOST RING – made up of 30 massive hardstones
2. SECOND RING – made up of igneous materials also called as BLUESTONES weighing 4
tons each and SARSENS (sandstone)
3. TRILITHONS – third ring of pair of stones with lintels; forming a horseshoe pattern
defining the axis of the circular plan
4. FOURTH RING – similar to the second ring
5. BARROWS OR TUMULI – earthen burial mounds
- Containing upright and lintel stone and forming a chamber for consecutive burials
for several to hundred persons
- TUMULUS – round and long mound of earth generally covering a burial tomb
- CAIRN – round and long mound often covering a chamber or burial
6. SACRIFICIAL STONES – simple stones either encircled by a shallow trenck and bank or by a
few big stones

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I MODULE
ND
NO. 1
A.Y. 2014-2015 2 Semester

Arch. Ralph Intal 4|P age

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE I MODULE
ND
NO. 1
A.Y. 2014-2015 2 Semester

REFERENCES:
A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
Fiske M. Kimball and George Harold Edgell

A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
ON THE COMPARATIVE METHOD
Sir Banister Fletcher

PRIMITIVE AND PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE

http://thefreemanarchitect.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/6/2/5862311/prehistoric_architecture.pdf

PALEOLITHIC ARCHITECTURE: SHELTER OR ART

https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/prehistoric-art-
2/the-paleolithic-period-45/paleolithic-architecture-shelter-or-art-271-5308/

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE
http://historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistoriesResponsive.asp?
groupid=1511&HistoryID=ab27&gtrack=pthc

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