History of Paleolithic Architecture

History of Architecture

• An architect should be educated, skilled in geometry, knowledgeable about history, attentive to philosophy, understand music, possess medical knowledge, know legal opinions, and be acquainted with astronomy and the theory of heavens.
• The earliest known architecture dates from the Upper Palaeolithic Age (Old Stone Age), around 40,000 BC to 7000 BC.
• Climate changes in Europe during the receding Ice Age influenced Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon humans' way of life, facilitating settlements and more elaborate shelters.
• Most archaeological evidence of these structures is difficult to reconstruct, due to the use of fibrous materials which decay over time.
• Palaeolithic humans began to define and structure the surrounding environment to create spaces, rather than "inventing" architecture.
• Stone tools suggest the creation of campsites dating back to prehistoric times, predating traditional views of architectural origins.
• Architecture describes an enclosure created with aesthetic intent.
• Aesthetic principles are revealed in the choice of camping sites, selection of building materials, and use of new techniques, such as binding, bundling, and staking.
• Cro-Magnon peoples crafted tools from bone and antler, adorned with animal images and organic forms, as well as painting hunting scenes on cave walls.
• The origins of architecture were connected to man's physical needs
• Protection from the inclemency of the seasons was the impetus for architecture.
• Man began to imitate the nests of birds and the dens of beasts, starting with arbors of twigs covered with mud, huts made of tree branches, and covered with turf.
• Caves or rocks were occupied in hunting or fishing.
• Huts were built be agriculturists.
• Tents were erected by shepherds leading a pastoral or nomadic life.
• Prehistoric structures have limited architectural value for archaeological reasons.
• Prehistoric remains can be classified as monoliths, dolmens, cromlechs, tumuli, and lake dwellings.

Monoliths

• Monoliths are single upright stones, called menhirs.
• One example stands 63 feet high, 14 feet in diameter, weighs 260 tons, and is located in Carnac, Brittany
• Large stone alignments can be found across Europe, such as the menhir alignment at Menec in Carnac, France, dating back to around 3700 BC.
• Rows of vertically placed rocks are called megaliths while upright, individually placed rocks are called menhirs.

Dolmens

• Dolmens consist of a large flat stone supported by upright stones.
• Examples are found in Maidstone, England, Ireland, Northern France, the Channel Islands, Italy, and India.
• "Dolmen" means table stone.

Cromlechs

• Cromlechs are circles of stone formed by arranging upright stones in a circle
• These structures likely had a ceremonial function, similar to megalithic tombs.
• Stonehenge, located on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England, dates from 3100–1500 BC.
• The cyclical nature of life and agrarian cultures were central to Neolithic peoples' beliefs.
• Stonehenge is a henge, made of megaliths in a post-and-lintel system, surrounded by a ditch.
• A second group of stones forms a horseshoe shape inside the circle.
• The summer solstice sun rises directly over the heel stone as viewed from the horseshoe's center.
• Stonehenge was transformed by the Beaker People around 2500 BCE from a lunar to solar monument
• The first version of Stonehenge, dating to about 3000 BCE, was consistent with the circular henges of that age, with one measuring 100 meters.
• The Beaker People integrated disparate technologies, transforming Stonehenge into a focal point for a larger entity.

Tumuli

• Tumuli (burial mounds) were likely prototypes for Egyptian pyramids and beehive huts found in Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland.
• Newgrange in Ireland resembles the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.
• Newgrange, Ireland, is dated from 3000-2500 BC.
• The tomb site at Newgrange has the most elaborate system of passage graves known today.
• The complex dates to around 3000 BC and consists of a series of burial chambers assembled of large rocks and covered with smaller rocks and dirt to create a mound.

Lake Dwellings

• Lake dwellings were discovered in Switzerland, Italy, and Ireland.
• The dwellings consisted of wooden huts supported on piles, placed this way to protect against hostile attacks.

Prehistoric Architecture timeline

• c. 15,000 BC: Mammoth-bone house, Mezhirich, Ukraine (Paleolithic).
• c. 6500 BC: Çatal Hüyük, village, Turkey (Neolithic).
• c. 3100 BC: Skara Brae, village, Orkney Islands, Scotland (Neolithic).
• c. 3100-1500 BC: Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England (Neolithic).
• c. 3000-2500 BC: Newgrange, tombs, Ireland (Neolithic).
• The Neolithic village called Catal Huyuk sat astride the river valley, dating back more than 9,000 years.

Skara Brae

• Consists of ten stone structures, near the Bay off Skaill, Orkney, Scotland.
• ‘Skerrabra', or ‘Styerrabrae', designated the "mound which buried the buildings of the village."
• Ongoing research reveals more Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites, revealing insights into prehistoric culture.