Pre-historic Architecture Timeline

• The historical timeline of architecture includes Pre-historic, Near East, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Early Christian, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, 18th-19th Century Revival, 20th Century Modern, Islamic, Indian, Chinese & Japanese, and Filipino styles.

Pre-historic Architecture

• Humans spread from Africa into Southern Europe and Asia
• People could not settle far north due to the cold climate
• Humans migrated from Siberia by foot into North America
• People migrated from Southeast Asia by boat into Australia
• Direct human ancestors evolved in Africa from 2.3 million years ago, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, and Homo sapiens sapiens.
• Tool development, from stone, wood, and bone, was largely responsible for the success of the human race
• Before 9000 BC, there was a nomadic lifestyle of hunting & food gathering
• Farming and agriculture was practiced by 9000 BC
• Fertile soil and plentiful food was available
• Animal domestication for work, milk, and wool was common
• People wanted to settle down and live in communities
• First villages were in the Middle East, South America, Central America, India and China
• Some people did not need to farm and spent time on other work pot-making, metal-working, art and architecture
• There was little organised religion
• The dead were treated with respect with burial rituals
• Materials included animal skins, wooden frames and animal bones
• Buildings existed in existing or excavated caves
• Megalithic structures were most evident in France, England and Ireland
• Decorations included Cave paintings in Africa, France and Spain, and sculpture

Menhir

• A single, large upright monolith
• Menhirs served for religious purposes
• They were sometimes arranged in parallel rows, reaching several miles and consisting of thousands of stones

Dolmen

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

Tumulus or Passage Grave

• Dominant tomb type
• A corridor leads to an underground chamber

Cromlech

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

Stonehenge, England (2800 – 1500 BC)

• The most spectactular of monolithic monuments
• The structure contains an outer ring, inner ring, innermost horseshoe-shaped ring with open end facing east
• Largest stones weighed 45 to 50 tons and came from Wales, 200 km away
• Stones were transported by sea or river, hauled on land with sledges and rollers by hundreds of people, raised upright into pits, capped with lintels
• The structure defines exterior space
• A solar observatory, designed to mark the sun's path during sunrise on Midsummer Day

Primitive Dwellings

• Mostly had one room
• The development of civilizations led to the division of the room into smaller ones for eating, sleeping, socializing
• Houses show little difference from primitive ones in places where there has been no revolution to transform building methods and increase population density

Wigwam or Tepee

• Conical tent with wooden poles as framework
• Covered with rush mats and an animal skin door

Hogan

• A primitive Indian structure of joined logs

Igloo

• An Innuit (Eskimo) house constructed of hard-packed snow blocks built up spirally

Nigerian hut

• With mud walls and roof of palm leaves

Beehive Hut / Trullo

• Dry walled rough stone shelter with corbelled roof

Iraqi mudhif

• Covered with split reed mats, built on a reed platform to prevent settlement

Sumatran house

• Designed for several familie
• Built of timber and palm leaves with a fenced pen underneath is for livestock

Explore the historical timeline of architecture, starting with the Pre-historic period. This era saw humans spreading across the globe, developing essential tools, and transitioning from nomadic lifestyles to settled agriculture.