UNIT 01 PREHISTORIC & EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

Old Stone Age - the Agricultural revolution – The New Stone Age - Nature of Art and Architecture - Factors influencing
Architecture - Outline of Architectural Character, Development of Shelter during prehistoric age.
Factors influencing Egyptian Architecture -Outline of Architectural Character of Egyptian architecture. Factors influencing
Architecture. Example- Pyramid of Cheops, temple of Amman, Karnak
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization

What is Pre-History?

• Cultures who lived before the time of

writing and so of recorded history.

• only evidences were founded about

the earliest dwellings of ancient
people.

• No organized religion

• The dead are treated with respect -

burial rituals and monuments
 • 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

• Direct human ancestors evolved in Africa from 2.3 million years ago
Primitive Architecture:
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic 500000) B. C).
2. Middle stone age (Mesolithic 15000B.C).
3. Modern stone age(Neolithic 8000 B.C).

NOTE : It can be said that the stone formations which carried out in these Ages are only the beginning of the
art and mystery of Architecture .
Factors Influencing Prehistoric Architecture

Geographical

Historical

Socio Political

Geological

Religious

Climatic
 Prehistoric Architecture 9000 BC
Outline of Architectural character-Dwellings
 Prehistoric Architecture 9000 BC

Outline of Architectural character

Religious Burial
Monuments Grounds/Mounds
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic) :

• The Stone Age is the longest age between the other ages .
Human Environment:
• Man was a hunter and a food gatherer , that’s why he was
unsettled(Nomadic) , moving from place to other in search of
food , water and good weather , Usually move about in small
bands of less than 15 persons , their life style made them
barely able to survive.
• The use animal skins for implantation.
• Making primitive hunting tools as a weapon to protect
against life conditions – made of stones , wood and bones .
• The discover of Fire , it been used for protection, Hunting and
cooking .
weapons
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic) :

Architecture Character :

• There is no trace of human intervention in any

kind of civilization , because , Don’t need to a
permanent shelter or settlements .

• Cave dwellings : Caves were early human living spaces

,Man made use of natural and man-made caves
both below and above ground as a shelter.
• Water cave , Found
traces Of human life
within it
 Cave entrance shows
the Human influence
in Design.

• 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 .
• Discovered in 1940
• Evidence of human occupancy of caves
comes from the painting that were made
with only fire-light as illumination. The
intention of the paintings were not for
decoration
but rather to provide images that might
grant mystical power over haunted Lion Panel, Chauvet Cave, Ardeche, France.
animals. 15,000 – 10,000 BC
2. The middle stone age (Mesolithic) :
• This age is shorter than the first one .
Human Environment:
• In this age the first attempts to Settlement was near the sources of fresh water , also he
began to raise animals, and tried to produce the food , Still also gathering food.

Architecture Character :
• This age also recode the beginning of architecture , by Construct a temporary shelters
from perishable materials such as tree trunks and leaves.

• Used simple, easily available materials , Usually of plants and animal materials such as
wooden poles, grasses , 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
building .The shell is covered with grasses, leaves or animal skins .
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

1. The HUTS :
• Bambuti Hut : huts show
evidence of use of leaves to
cover hut.
• The Tongues Hut : show
evidence of use of grass to make
huts.
• The huts protected from:
 Inclement elements of weather
such as sun, wind and rain.
 The huts gave him security from
wild animals.

1. The Bambuti Hut 2. The Tongues Hut

Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

2. The Lapp /Teepee tent :

• The Lapp tent shows the use of animal
skins .
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

2. The Lapp tent :

2. Brushwood Hut:

• 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
.
3. Inuit- Igloo (Eskimo ):
• The snow house or the Igloo of the Inuit people
is a circular construction built from blocks of
snow.

• The blocks are laid up in concentric circle of

diminishing size to form a dome.

• An entrance tunnel of snow blocks is angled to

prevent penetration by prevailing winds, and
it includes a space to accommodate dogs.
• Within the house skins are used to line the
house, leaving an air space that helps to
insulate the interior while preventing the heat
from melting the snow dome.

• Raised platforms lift the interior floor level and

also act as a substitute form of furniture

• The domed exterior form is strongly resistant to

high winds in winter.
4. Mongolian yurt :
• The yurt is a structure with an
enclosing wall of lattice strips (grid)
supporting a roof structure of poles.
• The exteriors are covered with
skins or mats. Inside, boxes to hold
possessions rugs and stools create
spaces with considerable aesthetic
character.
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Human Environment:
• Discovery of agriculture and food production.
• Multiple professions like (hunter, farmer and craftsman , …
etc.) ,and that’s Is the basis for the city emergence .
• Stability concept more developed next to the sources of
fresh water , and the formation of primitive society and
tribes . Mobility was in groups controlled by the head of the
tribe . Agriculture in Prehistoric times

Architecture Character :
• Established permanent dwellings , Constriction techniques
developed to use Mud , Brick and stone .
• This age also recode the emergence of urban communities
and housing units and the emergence of the concept of
residential communities(Villages) protected by high walls .
• Monumental construction .
 Megalithic Monuments
• Monumental construction by Neolithic man particularly in Europe.

• Megalithic construction involves setting up large stone blocks alone or leaning against
each other.

• Sometimes post and lintel construction is used.

Monolithic Megalithic

Stone henge
MENHIRS
A menhir( standing stone ) is a large manmade standing stone. Menhirs may be
found only as monoliths or as part of a collection of similar stones.
Dolmen
• A dolmen is a type of single-chamber
megalithic tomb, normally consisting of two
or more perpendicular megaliths
shouldering a large flat horizontal capstone,
although there are also more complicated
variants. Most date from the early Neolithic
(4000–3000 BC).

• The word dolmen originates from the

expression taol maen, which means "stone
table" in Brittany. They built dolmens - sort
of structures in a form of a "table",
consisting of two huge standing stones
supporting a horizontal giant stone.
• Each of the stones weighs several tons, but
those huge stone blocks are laid one upon
the other without mortar. There were also
low dolmens only about 1.5 meters tall.
Originally, the dolmens were covered with
more stones and earth, but as time went on,
only the megalithic structures remained.
Tumulus
• A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised
over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known
as barrows, burial mounds or kurgans, and may
be found throughout much of the world.

• EARTHEN LONG BARROWS:A long barrow is a

prehistoric monument usually dating to the
early Neolithic period. They are rectangular or
trapezoidal tumuli or earth mounds traditionally
interpreted as collective tombs.

• Long barrows are also typical for several Celtic,

Slavic, and Baltic cultures of Northern Europe of
the 1st millennium AD.
• Gussage Down in the Cranborne Chase area of
Dorset, U.K.
Stonehenge, Salisbury, England
 Stonehenge, Salisbury, England
• LOCATION- Neolithic ritual monument located in
Salisbury England.
• Most important prehistoric structure in Europe.
• Stonehenge is a site in southern England, composed of a group of stones arranged in
concentric circles. This array of stones is not a single structure, but a series of
structures built and rebuilt over a period of about 1,500 years.

• This is the best preserved megalithic site in Europe.

• It included a large
external circle of
triliths (only in
Stonehenge the
dolmens are
called triliths;
trilith, literally in
Greek: three
stones), two
internal circles
built in a similar
manner, and
altar-shaped
stone in the
center.
• Today it is hard to distinguish between the circles because some of the stones were
gone and some have fallen out of position. In the heart of the inner circle stood a
group of stones arranged in a horseshoe shape.

• The open side of the horseshoe was exactly directing to the point where the sun
rises on the longest day of the year. During sunrise, the rays of the sun shine for
several minutes exactly into the central axis of the horseshoe.

• The round shapes repeated in Stonehenge are an example of a universal reference

to celestial events in prehistoric architecture.
 Bluestones
• Beyond trilithons a circle
of blue stones from
Wales, 200km away.

• Beyond blue stones, an

outer monumental circle
of large rectangular
blocks capped by
continuous lintel.
• Beyond the monumental
circle are 56 movable
marker stones in the
Aubrey holes.
• The whole monument is
isolated from the
landscape by a trench.
• A long avenue cut through
trench to trilithons.
• The actual function of the structure is still not
clear but it suggests that its functions are :
• Cremation / burial site.
• Astrological observatory.
• Solar calendar.
• Sacred site.
Neolithic Dwelling & Settlement:

Village of Catal Hüyük near Konya, Turkey 6900–5400 BC

• Jericho and Catal Hüyük were famous Neolithic
cities .
• Catal Hüyük was the largest and most cosmopolitan
city of its time , with a population up to (6000)
person.
• It had an extensive economy based on specialized
craft and commerce
• The city was a trading center.
• The size of the city and its wealth are a product of its
status as a trading center.
• Physically Catal Huyuk was highly organized with
elaborate architectural features .
• All the buildings at Catal Huyuk were
accessed from the roof-tops.

• The buildings comprised dwellings,

workshop, and shrine rooms.

• As the town had no formal

fortification, it is thought that the door
less and window less exterior walls of
the connected structure formed the
defensive perimeter for the
community.
• Houses were packed in one continuous block
punctuated by courtyards.
• Houses were of one floor mud construction.
• No streets in settlement and access to houses was
through the roof
• Movement from house to house through the
roof .
 Permanent Structures :
• Two types of houses were discovered there :
1. Houses had main rooms with in-built clay
furniture, fire places and ladder to the
roof.
• The chamber of each house had a raised
sleeping platform and a hearth for
cooking and heat. Access to the outside
was provided by a ladder to the roof
hatch that also served as a smoke vent. A
few wooden beams supported smaller
poles that in turn supported the roof
surface of clay or mud.
[Link] have cult rooms decorated with
bull heads .Some houses appear to be
shrines for worship.
Conclusion :

Old stone age Middle stone New stone age

(Paleolithic) age (Mesolithic) (Neolithic)
• Cave Dwelling • Handmade • History of
shelter Architecture
Began

• In organic materials such as mud or (in cold climates ) snow have limited lasting
qualities , while stone , although very durable ,is so difficult to work as to have had
very limited possibilities for shelter building.

• These realities mean that the materials surviving from prehistoric times are largely small
objects of stone such as arrow head sands pear points ,or large arrangements of stones
setup in patterns or assembled into structures .