History of Architecture – AR-224

PREHISTORIC
Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic
Ar.SOMANIL MISHRA
SOA,IPS ACADEMY INDORE
INTRODUCTION
 2 types of permanent buildings
– Single-cell type, beehive shaped, round or oval in plan
– Multi-celled collection of rectangular rooms
 Mesolithic
– Dwellings
 Wood shelters built in front of caves on stone pavements
 More frequently round or oval dry-stone huts built in open settlements near water
sources in the limestone uplands
 Transition to houses with rectangular rooms mostly took place in this period in most
of the regions
 Also transition from dry-stone huts to houses in mud and stone and finally to
rectangular houses in mud-brick / tauf (mud + straw)
 Development of moulded mud-brick encouraged precision of construction
– Settlements
 Small communities were composed of single-roomed houses with flat roofs, built of
mud and stone, with walls and floors buttressed, mud-plastered internally, and
painted in variety of earth colours
 Most villages had contiguous dwellings, but some had narrow alleys and courtyards
 Mostly dwellings and fortification walls, with the exception of Catal Huyuk where
large number of elaborate shrines were found
 Neolithic
– During this period, character of these simple villages changed in four ways:
 Improvement in construction and planning – multi-roomed thin-walled houses of mud-brick
 Emergence of non-residential buildings for work storage and ritual purposes culminating in
monumental temple architecture of Mesopotamia
 More open form of village layout including streets
 More widespread construction of walls for many purposes including defence
– Dwellings
 Almost everywhere change from round to rectangular buildings built of mud
 Houses superimposed one above the other - sometimes rectangular buildings built on top of earlier
round dry-stone buildings – sometimes rebuilt by each generation, the earlier buildings being
absorbed into settlement mounds
 Shrines and dwellings were planned the same way except that shrines were larger and elaborately
decorated
 Shrines were planned with rooms in sequence
 Storage buildings often consisted of rectangular rooms on either side of a central corridor
 Both storage and shrines tended towards regular and symmetrical layouts
– Settlements
 Number of villages had increased dramatically in many areas
 Trend was for larger townships, many of them fortified
 There was great regional diversity in layout and forms of domestic buildings
 Simply organized with no palaces
 At first specialized buildings were contiguous with dwellings, later free standing, and occasionally
(temples and storage blocks) grouped around three sides of a courtyard
Levant
 Primarily domestic but shrines, workshops and
storage buildings have also been found
 Flourished until early 6000BC

 Ain Mallaha, Israel, 9000-8000BC

– 50 huts with a population of about 200-300 on an
open site (2000m2) near lake Hulen
– The subterranean huts were dug into the terrain to a
depth of about 1.3m and the entrances were located
on the lower side
– Most of them circular from 3-9m in diameter
– Dry-stone huts some with stone paved floors
– Beehive forms were constructed of reeds or matting
and were probably supported on posts
– One had walls finished with lime plaster with red
colour
 Jericho, Israel, 8350-7350BC
– Round and oval houses over 4ha of land
– About 5m in diameter, mud brick construction
– Bricks supported domed superstructure of branches covered with clay

 Jericho, Israel, 7350BC

– Fortified township encircled by stone wall 3m thick, 4m high 700m in
circumference
– The fortification underwent rebuilding storage chambers, watch towers , etc.
– Houses highly packed, seem to have intercommunicated through sreenwalls and
courtyards
– Some had stone foundations and some had upper floors made of timber
– They had lime plastered floors
– Plastered walls with red painted dado
– Some walls also decorated with geometric patterns
– Had solid walls and wide doorways with rounded jambs
 Mureybet, North Syria, 8640-8142BC
– Round or oval huts with red clay walls supporting a light timber superstructure
 Mureybet, North Syria, 7954-7542BC
– Rectangular houses as well as round huts
– Both constructed from soft limestone laid in clay and pebble mortar
– By the end of this period, plan had evolved to include multi-roomed houses,
possibly with access through roofs
– Wall painting in one of the houses found

 Cayonu, North Syria, 7500-6800BC

– The lowest level contained rectangular stone buildings 5x10m in area
 A multi-room building with a hall and a square room with 2 flanking rows of 3 cubicles
 Plastered floors
 Grid like foundation that may have supported timber floor
– The top levels
 Workshop measuring 5x8m made up of 6/7 small cubicles

– First mud buildings

 simple square or rectangular one-roomed houses about 5x9m
 Flat roofed
 Doors with carved jambs located at narrow end
 Beidha, Southern Jordon, 7000-6000BC
– Initially
 Were curvilinear
 They were semi-subterranean up to 4m in
diameter
 Dwellings and storerooms were grouped in clusters
within walled courtyards
 Whole village was surrounded by stone wall
– Free standing polygonal houses with rounded
corners
– Followed by rectangular stone houses
– Finally clusters of stone-built houses and
workshops
 Each house had one room measuring 7x9m
 Floors and walls of white burnished plaster
decorated with a red stripe at floor level
 Outside was L-shaped walled courtyard each had
several workshops about 8m long clustered
together
 Khirokitia, Cyprus, 5650BC
– About a 1000 houses approached by
stone-paved road
– Some had outbuildings for storage,
grinding corn, cooking, and workshops
– Most houses had wall courtyards
– Built round houses 3-8m in diameter
– Lower part of the walls made of local
limestone
– Domed superstructure of mud-brick
– Some houses had double walls, the outer
wall acting as retaining wall
– Some had lofts supported on stone pillars
 Shrine at Jericho, 7000BC
– A small room with a niche in which was placed
a standing stone may have been a cult room
– Another had a portico which led to a vestibule
and inner chamber containing a pair of stone
pillars symmetrically placed about the axis of
entry
 Shrine at Cayonu, 7000BC
– Shrine like building 9x10m with internally
buttresses stone walls
– Floor was paved with pink pebbles set in red
oxide
Anatolia
 The dwellings displayed a degree of standardization
 Inhabitants seem to have taken part in highly organized rituals
 Later in the period, many settlements were heavily fortified
 Hacilar, 7500-6000BC
– Dwellings closely packed with access by the way of roofs
– Built of mud bricks on stone foundations
– Appear to be multi-roomed, plastered internally
– Painted in cream and red bands
 Later in the period, substantial rectangular mud brick houses were built
10x4m
– Walls over 1m thick
– Doors were normally in the centre of long sides, timber thresholds and
jambs
– Cupboards were let into the walls
– Light-weight partition of sticks + plaster screened off the storage area
– Ceilings of stout timber beams were supported on a pair of center posts
– The posts may have carried upper storey of wood and plaster consisting of a
verandah and a row of small rooms
 In its final stages 5400-5000BC
– The settlement was fortified with stone wall, area about
2450sqm
– Consisted of houses, a granary, a guard house, potters’
workshops and shrines
– It was heavily fortified, the central courtyard was ringed by
blocks of 2-storey houses, with roof access, and separated from
each other by small fenced yards
 Can Hasan, 7500-6000BC
– Closely packed and square or rectangular in
plan
– Later buildings (4950BC) were thick walled
and built of mud brick reinforced with timber
– Some houses had lightweight upper storeys
 Catal Huyuk, 6250-5400BC
– Extended over 13 acres supported a population of 4000-6000 people
– Mainly rectangular single roomed houses each about 25sqm
– Plastered walls and floors
– Densely packed and contiguous with occasional open courtyards
– Each house had its own walls
– Floors were covered with straw mats and walls decorated with simple geometric designs
– Access was by a ladder from the roof

– Appears to have been unfortified

– Dense package of dwellings without streets
– Residents gained access to the dwellings across roofs
– High openings in the walls were for ventilation
– Mud-brick walls and a post-and-lintel timber framework enclosed rectangular spaces that
abutted the neighboring houses so that together they established the perimeter town wall
– With the houses were windowless shrines containing decorative motifs of bulls and cult
statuettes of deities
 Fortress of Mersin, 4500-4200BC
– Gateway with projecting towers
– Quarters surrounded a central open courtyard
– Had flat roofs
– Barrack-like rooms which abutted the defensive walls
at the rear
– Small walled yards in the front
– Originally intercommunicating but later self-contained
– Had slit windows
– Contained grindstones, mud platforms, and hearths
– To the right of the main gate was a larger and more
elaborate house for the commander of the garrison
 Shrine at Catal Huyuk, 6250-5400
– Richly furnished and decorated buildings
– Laid out in the same way as the residences
– Intermingled with them
– But decorated with engravings paintings and reliefs
 Shrine at Hacilar, 5400BC
– Usually simple square rooms with niches containing
standing stones
– One was planned with a porch and anteroom
– Shrines were decorated with geometric wall patterns
Zagros
 This region did not produce shrines although large multi room dwellings were found
 Ali Kosh, 8000-6500
– Plain small single storey thin walled houses of rectangular plan
– Clay bricks 250x150x100
– Larger multi-room came later which had rooms up to 3x3m made of clay slabs
400x250x100. There were open courtyards and alleys separated the houses
 Ganjdareh, 7289-7000BC
– Mud bricks
– Houses made up of small rectangular rooms, close packed with roof access
– Roofs made of beams supporting reeds daubed with clay
– Walls and floors finished internally with mud plaster
 Tepe Guran, 6500-5500BC
– Began as a winter camp
– Wooden huts with 2 or 3 small rooms
– Later (6200BC) similar houses in mud-brick and contained built-in mud benches and tables
– Floors and walls with red or white plaster
– Courtyards with terrazo with white felspar chippings set in red clay
 Jarmo, 6000-5000BC
– In the mountains, made up of 20-30 small rectangular mud
houses
– Population of about 150
– Each house had an open courtyard measuring roughly 3x4m
– Comprised of several rooms packed into a space of 5x6m
 Tal-i-Iblis, 4000BC
– Built with thick walled heavily buttressed storerooms grouped at
the centre and surrounded by larger living rooms with red
plaster floors
– One of the houses had an elaborate arch and contained infant
burials
 Transcaspian and
Transcaucasian Regions
 These regions produced standardised one-roomed houses and larger shrine
like buildings decorated with wall paintings
 Variety of village layouts – open, irregular free standing groups, contiguous
(each with a shrine and separated from others by street-like spaces) and
finally to walled settlements containing blocks of dwellings and shrines
 Djeitun, 5600BC
– Built with mud and sun-dried bricks tempered with straw
– 30 households, population about 150
– Rectangular in plan each with one room about 5x6m
– Some houses had plain interiors with a hearth located centrally on one wall while
others were more elaborate
– Walls were coated with mud plaster, occasionally painted red and black
– Each house had a courtyard and outbuilding sometimes shared with a neighbour
– In the open space of the village were timber grain drying platforms supported on
parallel mud-brick walls
 Hajji Fruz, 5319-4959BC
– Open village of single room detached houses separated by lanes and
courtyards
– Made of mud-brick and mortar
– Had outbuildings
– Houses were 6.5x4m
– Internal mud-brick buttresses and wooden posts supported a roof of
beams reeds and clay
– Roof may have been pitched
 Chakmakli Depe, 5000BC
– Divided by a lane into 2 groups
– Houses made of large mud bricks 500x200x100
– Had 2 rooms, small kitchen and larger living room in sequence
– In each group, one dwelling had red floors and walls which may have
served as a shrine
 Dashliji Depe, 5000BC
– Fortified settlement 45x38m
– In which stood small mud brick houses like those in
Djeitun and a larger shrine like structure
 Yalangach Depe, 4500BC
– Enclosed by a massive defensive wall with round
towers
– In N-E corner of the township houses are arranged
around a central larger space possibly a shrine
 Mullali Depe
– Also walled and have round towers and a shrine at
the center
 Imiris Gora, Tanscaucasia, 4660-3955BC
– The village had an estimated population of
200-250
– Many were semi-subterranean
– Several houses had keyhole shaped plans
with internal buttresses to take the thrust
where domes abutted
– Some has outhouses arranged around
courtyards
– Were round or oval 3-4.5m in diameter
– Built of mud-brick on stone foundations
– Later 2-roomed houses evolved with
buttressed walls and flat roofs supported on
timber posts
 Shrine at Djeitun, 5600BC
– Similar in layout but twice the size
 Shrine at Pessejik
– Similar to that at Djeitun
– Floors and walls decorated with paintings of animals and geometric
motifs
 Shrine at Yasa Depe, 5000BC
– Was larger than others and had 2 rooms
– The outer room was decorated with wall paintings and contained a
ritual hearth
– The inner room had colonnades of wooden pillars on the flank walls
– The doorway os opposite the alter which was decorated with geometric
wall paintings in brown red and white
 Shrine at Dashliji Depe, 5000BC
– Was also painted in black and red
Mesopotamia
 In this region there was a succession of cultures
– Hassuna, Samarra, Halaf, Eridu and Ubaid
 An earlier occupation in the region of Umm
Dabaghiya which predated all of these
 Mud brick dwellings of Hassuna and Samarra
were large rectangular with many rooms
 Those of Halaf period reverted to tholos like
design
 Settlements of Eridu and Ubaid periods are in
the lines of development of monumental temple
architecture of Sumerian dynasties
 Umm Dabaghiya, Mesopotamia, 5500BC
– Pre-Hassuna mound 100x85m high in northern plains of Iraq
– Occupation passed through evolutionary stages of small oval temporary shelters
and storage pits, tauf-built houses, houses and storage blocks arranged around
central courtyards, and finally un-plastered storage cubicles with roof access
linked internally by corridors
– Domestic architecture was exceptionally neat
 Oriented north south
 Closely packed
 Each had living room, kitchen, and 1 or 2 more rooms, 1.2-2sqm
 Square, constructed in tauf without stone foundations
 Walls buttressed internally, some houses had access from the roof
 Usually 1 room was divided by an arch, one of the earliest uses of this form of
construction
 Houses decorated with plaster and red paint and wall paintings in black yellow and red
showing hunting scenes
 At a later stage storage blocks were built around U-shaped courtyards
 Buildings were single storey with roofs of braches and reeds covered in plaster and
furnished with trapdoors
 Small scale construction may be due to lack of timber locally
 Tell Hassuna, 5500-5000BC
– 200X150m
– Round structures 2.5-6m across and rectangular dwellings
10x2.5m in plan were found together in the lowest levels
– More recent levels had larger and more sophisticated buildings
in which passages and courtyards finished with gypsum plaster
– Separate large single storey multi-room houses with flat roofs
and internal courtyards
 Yarim Tepe
– Dated Hassuna period
– 60-70 houses with population of about 400
– Mud brick houses were uniform in shape size and character and
uniform arranged in parallel rows
 Tell-es-Sawwan, 5600-5300BC
– 220x110m
– Farming village of several hundred people
– Character differed from villages of similar date in that
had stone foundations
– Uniform in size
– Constructed of moulded mud bricks
– Walls and floors coated in mud plaster
– Externally buttressed to take beams supporting roof
of reeds and clay
– Roof of reed an clay
– Village surrounded by ditch cut into the bedrock
 Choga Mami, 5500BC
– Enclosed by buttressed walls
– Houses were rectangular and multi-cellular
– For eg., one of them had 12 rooms packed into an area of 9x7m
– Construction similar to that of Tell-es-Sawwan
 Arpachiya, Mesopotamian lowlands, 5000BC
– Beehive shaped houses
– Dwellings were keyhole shaped in plan. Rectangular anterooms were up to 19m
long and domed chamber up to 10m across
– Walls up to 2m thick
– Walls were of plastered tauf, occasionally painted red

 Al’Ubaid, 4500-4200BC
– Consisted of dwellings with flat roofs and walls formed of reed mats suspended
between palm stems and plastered with mud
– Some houses with roofs formed by bending bundles of reeds to form arches
 Shrine at Tell-es-Sawwan, 5300BC
– A large T-shaped building with 14 rooms were
discovered immediately overlying a cemetery
– May have been a small one
 Most striking monuments of Neolithic period in the Near East were the temples of
Ubaid
– Rectangular mud-block buildings erected on platforms of clay or imported stones –
forerunners of Sumerian ziggurats
– Central rectangular chamber flanked on both sides by smaller cells
– A flight of stair led to a door on the long side of a room about 10mts long with broad
platform on one side and an alter/table on the other
– Ladders in smaller rooms occasionally gave access to upper floors / roofs
– Late temples had friezes decorated with coloured ceramic cones and bitumen
 Shrine at Tepe Gawra, 3600BC
– Sequence in temple building
– Round building 18m in diameter containing 17 rooms within its outer walls
– Outer walls were over 1m thick
– Possibly used for rituals in local tradition
 This temple existed alongside those of the Ubaid
– A group of 3 temples around a large courtyard onto which other minor buildings faced
– Similar to that of Eridu but lacked ritual objects
 Later, temples had rectangular sanctuaries and were entered through open porticoes
usually with 2 lateral chambers on either side
Europe
 Megalithic Tomb, Er-Mane, Carnac, Brittany, France, 4200BC
– Before 4000BC, chambered tombs of dry-wall masonry with corbelled roofs
 Newgrange passage grave, County Meath, Ireland, 3100BC
– Tombs were an expression of reverence for ancestors
– A means of establishing claims to land
– This grave located on the crest of the hill
– An earthen mound 300’ diameter and 36’ high
– Weight of the soil providing stability for the magaliths below
– Decorated boulders surround the perimeter of the mound
– Tomb approached by long passage of upright stones
– Passage 62’ from south sloped upward covered by stone lintels terminating in 20’ high chamber
 Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, southwestern England
– Distinct building phases can be observed
– 1st phase around 2900BC
 2 concentric circular ditches
 Inside the perimeter 56 evenly spaced holes (Aubrey holes) dug and filled with chalk
 Pointed upright stone ‘heel stone’ located axially outside the perimeter
– 2nd phase around 2400BC
 82 coffin-sized stones of grey-blue dolerite erected in double ring of 38 pairs and 6 stones defining the N-E approach axis
 At some point these stones were removed, referred to as O and R holes
– 3rd phase
 35 lintels
 40 sarcen (a form of sandstone) stones
 These were erected in a circle of 30 uprights enclosing 5 trilithons (2 uprights capped by a single lintel) arranged in U-
shape to focus on the avenue
Egypt
 Egypt
– Transition to rectangular mud-built town houses took place in 3400BC
– These were constructed on wattle and daub occasionally on rough stone foundations
– Houses were two-roomed with walled open courts adjoining the streets
– Graves became increasingly elaborate
 El-Badari, Egypt (3200BC)
– Residence
 Had 2 rooms, facing open walled courtyards
 Larger inner living rooms about 2m square
 Mud structure, roof of thatch and mud
– Cemetery at Badari
 Several hundred grouped in dense clusters
 No superstructure to mark the grave survive
– Cemetery at Naqada
 More elaborate
 Walls of graves strengthened by sticks and matting or wood panelled chambers were constructed
 Some chambers had upper compartments designed to carry grave goods
 Both types roofed with mud-plastered sticks and matting or planks
 One of the tombs had stone superstructure in the form of 4-tiered stepped pyramid on a square base
20mx20m
 Stones undressed, roughly coursed and beneath the pyramid a pit is dug
 Merimde, Lower Egypt, 4500BC
– Village of huts oval or horseshoe in plan
– 5-6m across
– Constructed from a framework of posts and covered with reed matting
– Huts aligned in rows
– Some of them may have had fenced yards
 Hammamiya, Upper Egypt, 4000BC
– Consists of a number of hut circles
– Included storage and living rooms up to 2m diameter
– Sunk into the ground to a depth of about 1m