History of Architecture

History of Architecture

• A record of human effort to build beautifully, tracing the origin, growth, and decline of architectural styles across lands and ages.

Historic Styles of Architecture

• Characterized by method and characteristics, manner of design prevailing at a certain place and time.

Prehistoric Architecture

• Structures built before written history, including early human shelters and monumental structures.
• Periods of Prehistoric Architecture:
  • Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age)
  • Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age)
  • Neolithic Period (New Stone Age)
  • Bronze Age
  • Iron Age

Influencing Factors

• Geographical
• Geological
• Climatic
• Religious
• Historical
• Social and Political

Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age)

• Materials used: natural materials like wood, stone, bone, and animal hides.
• Shelters: caves and temporary huts.
• Cultural Significance: Early human shelters reflect the nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherers.

Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age)

• Materials used: woods, stone, bone, reeds, and animal hides.
• Shelters: semi-permanent houses and pithouses.
• Cultural Significance: Indicates a transition from nomadic to more settled.

Neolithic Period (New Stone Age)

• Materials used: stone, mudbrick, wood, and thatch.
• Types of Structures:
  • Megalithic structures: menhirs, dolmens, stone circles
  • Longhouses: large communal dwellings, typically elongated rectangular structures
• Cultural Significance: Reflecting the transition from nomadic to settled agricultural communities.

Early Cities

• As settlements became more permanent, hunters started farming communities, and new architecture was developed to represent communal and spiritual values.

Examples of Prehistoric Architecture

• Lascaux Cave (France, 13,000-8500 BCE): cave with wall paintings and engravings of Paleolithic humans.
• Mammoth Bone Huts (Ukraine, 20,000-5,000 BCE): a winter settlement of Paleolithic hunters.
• Pit house: semi-subterranean dwelling dug into the ground, supported by wooden posts.
• Menhir (Brittany, France): a single structure consisting of an upright stone or aligned with others in parallel rows.
• Kilclooney (County Donegal, Ireland): utilizes trabeation, with vertical supports called posts holding up horizontal elements called lintels.
• Göbekli Tepe (Turkey): a Neolithic archaeological site with large circular structures containing massive stone pillars.
• Stonehenge (England): a megalithic monument consisting of four concentric rings of trilithons and menhirs centered around an altar stone.
• Jericho (Jordan): one of the world's oldest continually-inhabited cities, with stone houses, plaster floors, and high walls.
• Khirokitia (Cyprus): the earliest Neolithic Village, with a complex architectural system built according to a preconceived plan, suggesting structured social organization.
• Çatalhöyük (Turkey): the largest and most well-preserved Neolithic Village, with rectangular flat-roofed houses packed together into a single unit, with no streets or passageways.

More Examples of Prehistoric Architecture

• Tipi: used by indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies in North America.
• Beehive hut: some of the oldest known structures in Ireland and Scotland, dating back to 2000 BCE.
• Trullo (Italy): traditional Apulian dry stone hut with a conical roof.
• Wigman (North America): a type of house used mainly by Algonquian people.
• Hogan (Ireland): stems from Irish roots and means "descendant of the young warrior."
• Tumulus: a group of barrows dating to the Neolithic period.
• Igloo: invented by the Inuit, a means for hunters to survive brutal winters in a vast area.