Pre-Historic

INFLUENCES

HISTORY

Direct human ancestors evolved in Africa from 2.3 million years ago. They were also called as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, homo sapiens, homo sapiens sapiens. 

The success of the human race was largely due to the development of tools which were made of stone, wood and bone.Then humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe and Asia. But they could not settle far north due to the cold climate. They spread to North America from Siberia by foot. Like that they spread to Australia from Southeast Asia by boat. This was the mode of transport prevailed at that time.

Before 9000 BC, people lived in a nomadic life. Their main livelihood was hunting. By 9000 BC, farming and agriculture was practiced by the people due to the availability of fertile soil. They started animal husbandry for work, milk and wool. After that people wanted to settle down in a place and to live in communities. First they settled in the Middle East, South America, Central America, India and China.

But some people needed not farm, so they spent their time on other work such as pot-making, metal-working, art and… architecture.

RELIGION

There were no organized religion prevailed during that time.But the dead are treated with respect - burial rituals and monuments.

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

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

EXAMPLES

MENHIR

•  A single, large upright monolith

•  Serves a religious purpose

•  Sometimes arranged in parallel rows, reaching several miles and consisting of thousands of stones

DOLMEN

• Tomb of standing stones usually capped with a large horizontal slab

CROMLECH

•  Enclosure formed by huge stones planted on the ground in circular form

 

Stonehenge, England (2800 – 1500 BC)

• Most spectacular and imposing of monolithic 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

TUMULUS or PASSAGE GRAVE

• Dominant tomb type

• Corridor inside leading to an underground chamber

 

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

Click Here to join in our official Facebook Page.

Click Here to subscribe our official Archi World channel.