PRE HISTORIC

ARCHITECTURE
history of architecture
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where it began...

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history of architecture diagnosis 3
Prehistoric man was essentially a nomad living in the laps of nature. He was guided by nature's wisdom. But man had the absolute god gift, i.e the
power to think, the absolute motivator of man. This helped him to later become the master of nature. The concept of a settled life was unknown to
him. His first thought on differentiating himself from animals, must have been towards providing a shelter for himself against other animals and
the elements. Once man began cultivating land he hit upon the concept of property and the crops gave him the idea of permanence. The natural
forces also motivated him to develop the concept of worship.
Man's first shelter was prefabricated- the cave, from where arose the concept of enclosures and ceilings. It protected him from the vagaries of
nature and from beasts.
Trees gave him the idea of structural stability- in the form of vertical supports.
The very original plans were circular in shape, where the plants were planted along the circumference and when they grew to suitable heights,
their tree ends were tied. These plants were slowly replaced by wood and thatch made daub. A stone was usually kept on top for the stability of the
structure. Finally the form of a hut came into being, initially rudimentary, then becoming more complex and sophisticated. The circular plans later
gave way to rectangular ones. The building materials taken into use were obtainable from natural sources. These included reeds, rushes, wattles
and thatch made daub.
Apart from residential structures, man also built structures for other uses
left:
right:
Nuraghe Ants Antine, Toralba(Sardina) Bronze age
Cave dwellings, Goreme, Turkey
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The first man made shelter was created from saplings. Saplings were planted in a circle. They were allowed to grow. Later they were tied to one
another at the top. A stone was placed on top for holding the structure in position. The weight of the stone kept the saplings from spreading apart
under action of elasticity. A circular plan was adopted for the ease of construction and because the circle gives centrality (possessiveness) to space.
Shelter for the dead was just as big a problem as the shelter for the living. Dolmen were type of prehistoric chamber consisting of two or more huge
uneven stone slabs, or megaliths, set edgewise in the earth and supporting a flat capstone that serves as a roof. Dolmens were sometimes covered
with immense artificial hillocks or tumuli, but at limes the covering of earth reached only the capstone. Many dolmens are surrounded by a circle of
megaliths collectively called a cromlech. Archaeologists believe that dolmens were burial chambers. They are known to have served as altars, as on
the island of Guernsey, where they were used by the Druids in the irreligious rites. Dolmens are particularly numerous in Ireland and Wales and in
the English Counties of Devon and Cornwall; in northwest France, especially in Bretagne; and in Spain.
They are also found in northern Africa, in Syria, and in other countries ranging as far east as Japan. Sometimes the mound enclosing the dolmen
was of great size, like that of Sidbury Hill, Wiltshire, England, which was 52 m (170ft) high and 96 m (316 ft) along the slope.
Dolmen
in anti-clockwise:
a dolmen in france
a dolmen in england
inside of dolmen del romeral
history of architecture specimens 4
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Stonehenge
Stonehenge is prehistoric ritual monument, situated on Salisbury Plain, north of Salisbury, England, and dating from the late stone and early
Bronze ages (circa 3000 -1000 BC). It is the most celebrated of the megalithic monuments of England. Stonehenge is surrounded by a circular ditch,
104 m (340 ft) in diameter and 1.5 m (5 ft) deep within which is a bank and a ring of 56 pits known as Aubrey holes (after their discoverer, the British
antiquarian John Aubrey).
At the northeast end a break in the ditch affords access to a ditch-bordered avenue that extends in a generally northeastward direction to the East
Avon River. The avenue is 23 m (75 ft) wide and nearly 3 km (2 mi) long.
The monument itself consists of four concentric ranges of stones. The outermost range is a circle, 30m (100 ft) in diameter, of large, linteled,
sandstone blocks called sarsen stones.
Within this circle is a circle of smaller blue stones consisting mainly of spotted dolerite, with four specimens each of rhyolite and of volcanic ash.
The latter circle enclosed a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of five linteled pairs of large sarsen stones. Within this arrangement is a smaller
horseshoe-shaped range of blue stones enclosing a slab of micaceous sandstone known as the Altar Stone.
history of architecture specimen 5
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Near the entrance to the avenue lies the so called Slaughter Stone, a sarsen stone that may originally have stood upright.
Grouped around the main structure are a number of barrows, some of which contain chips of a blue stone similar to that found in the concentric
ranges. The blue stones are from the north flank of the Prescelly Mountains in Wales. The Altar Stone is believed to have come from the region near
Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.
has long been a matter of conjecture. According to astronomers, the Stonehenge complex could have been used to
predict the summer and winter solstices, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and eclipses of both the sun and moon. Moreover, a variety of other
information pertaining to the sun and moon could also be predicted with remarkable accuracy. Hawkins concluded that Stonehenge functioned as
a means of predicting the positions of the sun and moon relative to the earth, and thereby the seasons, and perhaps also as a simple daily calendar.
The function of Stonehenge
history of architecture specimen 6