Scribd
Upload
303 views5 pages

Hoa Prehistoric Architecture

Primitive human dwellings began as shelters that imitated animal nests and lairs, such as arbours covered with mud or huts made of tree branches and turf. Over time, different structures developed for various purposes and environments, including wigwams for some American Indians, hogans for Navaho Indians, and igloos for Eskimos. Early dwellings also included caves, huts for agriculturists such as beehive huts in Ireland, and tents for pastoral nomads like Native American tipis. Prehistoric remains include single standing stones called menhirs, dolmens made of a flat stone balanced on upright stones, and cromlechs consisting of circles of standing stones sometimes used

Uploaded by

sha cats
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
303 views5 pages

Hoa Prehistoric Architecture

Primitive human dwellings began as shelters that imitated animal nests and lairs, such as arbours covered with mud or huts made of tree branches and turf. Over time, different structures developed for various purposes and environments, including wigwams for some American Indians, hogans for Navaho Indians, and igloos for Eskimos. Early dwellings also included caves, huts for agriculturists such as beehive huts in Ireland, and tents for pastoral nomads like Native American tipis. Prehistoric remains include single standing stones called menhirs, dolmens made of a flat stone balanced on upright stones, and cromlechs consisting of circles of standing stones sometimes used

Uploaded by

sha cats
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

1st

According to Vitrtivius, man in his primitive savage state began to imitate the nests of birds and the lairs
of beasts, commencing with arbours of twigs covered with mud, then huts formed of branches of trees
and covered with turf (No. 2 c).

Wigwam

An American Indian dwelling, usually of round or oval shape, formed


of poles overlaid with bark, rush mats, or animal skins.

Hogan

A Navaho Indian dwelling constructed usually of earth and logs


and covered with mud and sod.

Igloo

An Eskimo house, usually built of blocks of hard snow or ice in the


shape of a dome, or when permanent, of sod, wood, or stone.
2nd

Other writers indicate three types of primitive dwellings

the caves or rocks or those occupied in hunting or fishing,

the hut for the agriculturist,

Beehive hut-Kerry, Ireland.

A clochán is a stone beehive-shaped hut with a corbelled roof,


commonly associated with the Irish coastline.

and the tent for those such as shepherds leading a pastoral or nomadic

Tipi

A portable Indian shelter.


3rd

Structures of the prehistoric period, although interesting for archaeological reasons, have little or no
architectural value, and will only be lightly touched upon.

The remains may be classified under :

i. Monoliths, or single upright stones, also known as menhirs, a well-known example 63 feet
high, 14 feet in diameter, and weighing 260 tons, being at Carnac, Brittany. Another
example is at Locmariaker, also in Brittany (No. 2 B).
Menhir
Monolith; A prehistoric monument consisting of an upright stone, usually
standing alone but sometimes aligned with others in parallel rows.

ii. Dolmens (Daul, a table, and maen, a stone), consisting of one large flat stone supported by
upright stones. Examples are to be found near Maidstone and other places in England, also
in Ireland, Northern France, the Channel Islands, Italy (No. 2 F) and India.

County Donegal, Ireland.


It utilizes trabeation, the most basic construction system for
structures.
It consists of vertical supports called posts that hold up
horizontal elements called lintels.
iii. Cromlechs, or circles of stone, as at Stonehenge (No. 2 G), Avebury (Wilts), and elsewhere,
consisting of a series of upright stones arranged in a circle and supporting horizontal slabs.

Stonehenge
Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.

A megalithic monument consisting of four concentric rings of trilithons


and menhirs centered around an altar stone.
It is believed to have been used by a sun cult or for astronomical
observations.

iv. Tumuli, or burial mounds, were probably prototypes of the Pyramids of Egypt (No. 4) and
the beehive huts found in Wales, Cornwall, Ireland (No. 2 D, E) and elsewhere. That at New
Grange (Ireland) resembles somewhat the Treasury of Atreus at
Mycenae (No. 15).

Etruscan necropolis of Banditaccia at Cerveteri.


v. Lake Dwellings, as discovered in the lakes of Switzer land, Italy
and Ireland consisted of wooden huts supported on piles, and
were so placed for protection against hostile attacks of all kinds.

You might also like