Ar. Surabhi.

S Pai
Assistant Professor
Marian College Of Architecture & Planning,
Trivandrum – 695582, [email protected]
Ar. Surabhi. S Pai
Assistant Professor
Marian College Of Architecture & Planning,
Trivandrum – 695582, [email protected]
History of Architecture
"It is a record of man's effort to build
beautifully. It traces the origin, growth and
decline of architectural styles which have
prevailed lands and ages."
 Directhuman ancestors evolved in Africa from
2.3 million years ago - Homo habilis, Homo
erectus, homo sapiens, homo sapiens sapiens
PALEOLITHIC - OLD STONE AGE
2 MILLION YEARS AGO

MESOLITHIC - MIDDLE STONE AGE

20,000BC TO 9500 BC

NEOLITHIC - NEW STONE AGE

9000BC TO 4500 BC
ART
 Paleolithicart appears to have taken three
principal forms:
 Portable sculptures of women and animals,
 Paintings on the walls and ceiling of caves
 The decoration of artifacts with geometric
designs.
 CAVE ART
 Tools were made for a wide range of purpose and art
continued to develop.
 Cave paintings representing the life of Paleolithic age
and their hunting techniques

Lascaux is a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its

Paleolithic cave paintings.
TOOLS
 To hunt for food,
early humans formed
spears, first by
sharpening the ends
of sticks, but later by
attaching a sharp
stone spear-tip to
wood using animal
sinew.
 Food collecting, hunting,
CULTURE

Warfare, Dwelling
Division of Labor
 Men hunting game animals
 Women gathering fruits, berries, and other
edibles.

Spirituality and Religion may have begun to

develop
Nomadic hunters and food gatherers
20,000 BC - 9500 BC
 Small Composite flint tools,
 Fishing tackle,
 Stone adzes and
 Wooden objects such as canoes and bows
 Characterized by the introduction of agriculture.
Evolution of shelter from Paleolithic
ages
 This was the type of architecture invented by
the primeval man to get shelter and
protection :
 From variable extreme weather conditions.
 From wild beasts and enemies.

 Structures created in wood and stone.

 Fire used on paved hearths.
 No buildings for any special purposes but
dwellings.
 The Evolution of Shelters

CAVES
 The
oldest and most
common types of dwellings.

 Naturalunderground
spaces, large enough for a
human.

 Example: Rock shelters,

Grottos, Sea caves.
OVAL HUTS
 Located in southern French cities.
 Oval in shape(8m-15m X 4m-6m).
 Built close to sea shores.
 Built using stakes with stones as supports.
 Stout posts along axis.
 Floor made of organic matter and ash.
Terra amata, France
Animal skin supported by poles
MOLODOVA
A more sophisticated sought.
 Wood framework covered with skins, held
in place by rough oval mammoth bones,
enclosing 15 hearths.
MEZHIRICH HUTS ( Village in Central Ukraine)
 Consisted of foundation wall of mammoth
jaws and long bones, capped with skulls.
 Roofed with tree branches, overlaid by
tusks.
LEANTOS
 Erected against one wall of cave.
 Defined at base by stones(12m x 4m).
 Skin curtain and roof draped over posts.
 May have two compartments, each having an
entrance on the longer side.
TENTS
 Skirts weighed down with
pebbles.
 Paved interiors.
 Open air hearths.
 Wooden posts driven into earth
covered with skins.
 At a later stage, were secured by
reindeer antlers.
 Neolithic or New Stone Age (c. 6800-2500 BC)
that is the period from the beginnings of
agriculture to the widespread use of metal
tools;

 Bronze Age (c. 2500-1250 BC)

 Iron Age (c.1250 BC to AD 1).
CULTURE
It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or
grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals,
settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of
such crafts as pottery and weaving.
This is the final stage of cultural evolution or
technological development among prehistoric
humans.
New Stone Age is most
frequently used in connection
with agriculture which is the
time when cereal cultivation
and animal domestication was
introduced.
Because agriculture developed
at different times in different
regions of the world, there is no
single date for the beginning of
the Neolithic.
 The success of the human race was largely due to
the development of tools
 Humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe,
Asia
 Could not settle far north due to the cold climate
 From Siberia by foot into North America
 From Southeast Asia by boat into Australia

 Fertile soil and plentiful food

 Animal domestication for work, milk, wool
 People wanted to settle down, live in communities
 First villages in the Middle East, South America,
Central America, India and China
 Some people spent time on other work - pot-
making, metal-working, art and architecture!
RELIGION
 No organized religion
 The dead are treated with respect - burial rituals and
monuments
MATERIALS
 Animal skins, wooden frames, animal bones
CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
 Existing or excavated caves
 Megalithic, most evident in France, England and Ireland
DECORATION
 Caves paintings in Africa, France and Spain
 Sculpture
BURIAL SYSTEMS
( Neolithic Period)
MENHIR
 A single, large upright monolith
 Serves religious purpose
 Sometimes arranged in parallel rows,
reaching several miles and consisting of
thousands of stones

Carnac, France
Menhir at Thrissur
DOLMEN

 Tomb of standing stones usually capped

with a large horizontal slab( often used as
burial chambers for dead)
 Megalithic dolmen Poulnabrone dolmen, the
in Amadalavalasa, Andhra Pradesh, India. Burren, County Clare, Ireland
Trethevy Quoit - Cornwall,UK
Dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea
CROMLECH
• Enclosure formed by huge stones(Dolmen) planted on
the ground in circular form

Eg - Stonehenge
Stonehenge, England (2800 – 1500 BC)
 Most spectacular and imposing of megalithic
monuments
 Outer ring, inner ring, innermost horseshoe-
shaped ring with open end facing east
 Largest stones weigh 45 to 50 tons, came from
Wales 200 km away
 Stones transported by sea or river then hauled
on land with sledges and rollers by hundreds of
people, raised upright into pits, capped with
lintels
 Genuine architecture - it defines exterior space
 A solar observatory - designed to mark the sun's
path during sunrise on Midsummer Day
Stonehenge 1 c. 3100 BC
 At this stage, it was a large circular ditch or "henge" with an
entrance at the northeast part, and a smaller entrance at the
south part.
 It was about 110 meters in diameter and enclosed a circle
comprised of about 56 holes that were about 1m wide by 1m
deep.
 Many people believed that these holes held large wooden posts
and created a circle of timbers. It seems that this stage was left
untouched for about a millennium the stone circle.
Stonehenge 2 c. 3000 BC
 This stage included the use of bluestones
which were arranged in concentric arcs.
These bluestones weighed about 4 tons
each, and
 evidence suggests that they were
transported from as far as 240 miles
away. Also, there was an "avenue" that led
to the entrance of the stone arch. The
entrance and the avenue were aligned
with the sunrise at Summer Solstice.
Stonehenge 3 c. 2600 BC
 This is the stage that is primarily visible today. The
perimeter was formed by 30 evenly spaced sarsen
stones that are placed upright in a circle. These stones
are topped by horizonatlly placed and interconnected
stones called lintels.
 The lintels were connected to each other via tongue and
groove joints and were connected to the upright sarsen
stones via tenon joints.
 Without mortar, these joints provided stability to the
outer structure. There are also 5 trilithons inside the
circle of sarsen stones.
 Each trilithon is made of 2 massive stones (over 40 tons)
that are topped by a third stone. There is also a Heel
stone located in the avenue about 70 to 80 meters from
the center of the stone circle.
 Dominant tomb type, a mound of earth and stones
raised over grave
 Corridor inside leading to an underground chamber
 Designed to honor the death
 A simple passage tomb in Carrowmore near Sligo in Ireland
 When covered in earth, a passage grave is a
one kind of burial mound which are found in
various forms all over the world.
 When a passage grave is covered in stone,
it is a type of cairn.
 The building of passage graves was normally carried out
with megaliths along with smaller stones. The earliest
passage tombs seem to take the form of small dolmens,
although not all dolmens are passage graves.
 The interior of passage graves varies in number of burials,
shape, and other aspects. Those with more than one
chamber may have multiple sub-chambers leading off
from the main burial chamber.
 Passage tombs of the cairn type often have
elaborate corbelled roofs rather than simple slabs.
 Megalithic art has been identified carved into the stones at
some sites. Not all passage "graves" have been found to
contain evidence that they were used for burial.
The main gallery of the tomb is entered
without first passing through
an antechamber or hallway.

There are at least four major types of

gallery grave

•Complex
•transepted,
•segmented, and
•wedge-shaped

and they may be covered with an earthen

mound (or "tumulus") or rock mound (or
"cairn").
 gallery grave was a form of community burial site. Those
placed in a gallery grave were most likely members of the
same family or hamlet, and probably were intended to
reinforce the sense of community.
 The walls of gallery graves were built of orthostats, slab-
like stones set upright in the earth
 They were roofed with multiple flat stones, although the
burial chamber (if one existed) was usually roofed with a
single large stone.
 Multiple burials could occur all at one time, the grave
could be reopened several times to accept new burials, or
the grave could remain open over an extended period of
time to accept multiple burials.
 Gallery graves will be as high and wide as
the side burial chambers, while in Passage
graves the passage is not high or wide as the
burial chambers.
 Secondly Gallery graves are usually topped
by V-shaped tumulus , while passage graves
are almost always covered by round
tumulus.
PRIMITIVE DWELLINGS
 Mostly had one room
 The development of more complex civilizations led to
division of the room into smaller ones for eating,
sleeping, socializing
 In places where no industrial revolution has occurred to
transform building methods and increase population
density, houses show little difference from primitive ones
Natural or Artificial Caves

Beehive Hut
Trullo - dry walled rough stone shelter with corbelled roof
Wigwam or Tepee
 conical tent with wooden poles as framework
 Covered with rush mats and an animal skin
door
 Hogan - primitive Indian structure of joined
logs

Igloo
 Innuit (Eskimo) house constructed of hard
packed snow blocks built up spirally

 Nigerian hut - with mud walls and roof of palm

leaves
Göbekli Tepe - Located in modern-day Turkey, 10,000 to 9,000
years BC

• The oldest know example of monumental architecture

• The first structure human beings put together that was bigger and more
complicated than a hut.
 Gobekli tepe was created
thousands of years before
the appearance of human
towns and cities

starting as a sacred spot...”

• Gobekli Tepe is 6,000 to 7,000 years

older than Stonehenge
• means “hill of the navel”
a ring of stone T-shaped pillars.
 These pillars are big.
 Tallest are 18 feet high and weight 16 tons.
 The stones were quarried from the
surrounding limestone hills.
 The stones were quarried from the
surrounding limestone hills. Archaeologists
have found a pillar that was not completely
dug out.
 The surfaces of these pillars at Gobekli Tepe
are decorated with a menagerie of animal
 Gobekli tepe shows evidence of
pre-agricultural social interaction
and cult practice, feasting,
visual/architectural culture
gobeklitepe pillars and animal iconography
 The ‘hill sanctuary’ of Göbekli Tepe was created by communities
of complex hunter-gatherers at the dawn of the Neolithic
(10th/9th millennium BC)

 The site is comprised of a star-shaped, natural limestone

plateau, upon which an artificial mound or ‘tell’ has
accumulated.
 The site lies in Upper Mesopotamia, between the upper and
middle reaches of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, in the
foothills of the Taurus Mountains, in the region generally known
as ‘the Fertile Crescent’.
 The tell itself is 15m high, corresponding to an elevation of 785
metres above sea level, making it the highest point of the
Germuş mountain range.
 The monumental structures have been interpreted as
components of a supraregional Neolithic ritual centre and
appear as architecturally and artistically highly
sophisticated stone buildings dominated by T-shaped
pillars.
 These buildings were continuously (re)built, used and
then buried over a span of approximately 1,500 years,
and have been partially uncovered in excavations since
1995.
 The Neolithic structures are set on a limestone plateau
which creates not only a magnificent elevated setting, but
would also have provided the raw material for the stone
buildings erected within this landscape. The local origin of
the stone is attested by Neolithic quarrying activities
and workshop areas which have been identified on the
adjacent plateau.
Catal Huyuk
- In turkey
- 3000ft above sea lvl.
- Tell – 12 levels [oldest 6500BC]
- houses grouped around an open space
• Unbroken row of houses accessible only from roof,
instead of walls
• Controlled organic growth
• Rectangular repeater units
 Jericho in Levant
- Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest
continuously-inhabited cities in the world, with
evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BC
- 4 ha fenced by town walls est. 800 people
- no evidence of keeping of animals and useful plants
- hardly any evidence of trade
- mighty town wall (clay bricks)
JOMON CULTURE

10000 BC
JAPAN
Hunter gatherer
rich in tools and jewellery made from bone,
stone, shell and antler; pottery figurines and
vessels; and lacquerware
The culture was a degree of sedentism, Which
means they were starting to live in, small
villages and started farming.
 Their diet consisted of fish, deer, wild boar, squirrels,
small birds, berry's, herbs and spices.
 They used sharpened objects like rocks and sticks for most
of there tools.
 Sharpened sticks were used for hunting animals like fish
and birds.
 Sharpened rocks were used for knifes and to sharpen other
objects like arrows and spears.
 They used hands for most of there pottery work.
 Jomon culture is also well known for the expressiveness of
its ceramic art, for the variety of surface
textures, decorations, shapes and styles.
 The Jomon pots were
important to them because
it made food preservable
for the winter month.
 All Jomon pots were made
by hand without a aid of a
wheel which made making
pots a very time consuming
job.
 potter building or vessel
were made from the bottom
with coils and soft clay.
 Jomon Houses
 The earliest forms of Japanese architecture date
from the Jomon period. Human groups progressively
evolved from hunting and gathering to a more
sedimentary culture with early forms of agriculture
and intensive fishing.
 The main type of construction was the pit house.
 It consisted of structures built out of wood.
 Timber was used as inner posts to support the roof,
which was made with several layers of straw or other
dry vegetation.
 The walls were built similarly. Some houses were
circular, while others were elongated and they were
often partly dug into the ground, to keep the interior
warmer. Some constructions had floors paved with
stones.
OVAL HUTS
MOLODOVA
MEZHYRICH HUTS
LEANTOS