Prehistoric Architecture and Human Evolution

Prehistoric Architecture

• A history of architecture is a record of human efforts to build beautifully, tracing the origin, growth, and decline of styles across centuries and cultures.
• Architecture is concerned with sheltering humans and providing structures for their various needs such as worship, amusement, business, tombs, and more.
• The origins of architecture are in prehistoric times, stemming from humans’ basic needs for:
  • Protection from the elements and wild animals
  • Comfort for sleeping and rest
  • Food storage
  • Perpetuation of human life.

The Evolution of Man

• The evolution of man is divided into three cultural stages:
  • Stone Age:
    • Paleolithic: used stones and bones as tools, were nomadic, lived in caves and rock shelters.
    • Mesolithic: fashioned stone tools like bows, made canoes, and built huts from bone, animal hides, reeds, and grass.
    • Neolithic: polished stone tools for grinding, cutting, and chopping; developed agriculture and domesticated animals; built huts from stones and mud, and practiced burial rituals with tombs.
  • Bronze Age: metalworking with bronze was developed, houses were built from wood and stone with conical thatched roofs, the cuneiform and hieroglyphic writing systems were developed.
  • Iron Age: weapons were made of iron and steel, houses were built with mud, stone, and wood with thatched roofs, communities lived in hill forts with religious beliefs, traditions, and cultures.

Prehistoric Religious and Funerary Structures

• Megaliths: large stones, sometimes forming part of a group, used in diverse ways, such as tomb landmarks, astronomical observatories, or memorials.
  • Dolmen/Cromlech: two or more upright stones supporting a slab or capstone, served as tomb landmarks.
  • Stone Circle: upright stones in a circular arrangement, used for burials and social rituals.
  • Stone Row: upright stones in a linear arrangement, possibly marking a processional route and usually associated with stone circles.
  • Stone Alignment: upright stones aligned in many rows, thought to be religious or scientific in meaning.
• Monolith or Menhir: single, great upright stone with varying functions like astronomical observatories, landmarks, or memorials.
• Barrow/Tumulus: an earthen mound burial.

Prehistoric Settlements

• Stone Tower of Jericho, Palestine (8500-7000 B.C.E.): the oldest skyscraper, part of the earliest Neolithic settlement of Jericho, the oldest city on Earth. The Tower was linked to the summer solstice and may have been a symbolic shield against darkness.
• Catalhoyuk, Turkiye (7500 BC-5700 BC): a Neolithic settlement with rectangular, single-roomed huts with mud-plastered walls and floors. Houses touched each other, lacked doors, and were entered through holes in the rooftops. Having rooftops entrances were likely safer than having them on the walls.
• Skara Brae Neolithic Village, Scotland (3180 BC - 2500 BC): an UNESCO World Heritage Site (1999); residents used earth sheltering as insulation from winter.
• Choirokoitia Neolithic Settlement, Cyprus (7th-4th millennium BC): an UNESCO World Heritage Site (1998); the settlement had mud bricks and stone huts clustered around a courtyard where domestic activities took place. The dead were buried beneath these houses.
• Prehistoric Pile Settlements around the Alps (5000 to 500 B.C.): an UNESCO World Heritage Site (2011), these water settlements were raised above water by stilts.

Prehistoric Dwellings

• Rock Shelter: a shallow, cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff.
• Cave: a cavern or a natural void in the ground.
• Hut: a temporary shelter of simple construction built from tree barks and branches, animal hides, plant materials (thatch, straw), stones, bones, mud, or ice.
• Tent: a shelter consisting of sheets of animal hides or other material draped over or attached to a frame of poles or attached to a supporting rope. Used as shelter for nomadic tribes and temporary shelters during seasonal movements.

Examples of Religious and Funerary Structures

• Lanyon Quoit, England: a megalithic burial dolmen.
• Stonehenge, England (2750-1500 BCE): a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1986) and one of the most famous sites in the world, used as a burial and ceremonial site.
• Gobeklitepe, Turkey (9,600 - 8,200 BCE): believed to be the oldest place of worship/sanctuary, predating Stonehenge by 7,000 years, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2018).
• Mnajdra Temple, Malta (3500 – 2500 BC): a Neolithic megalith temple, ceremonial and astronomical observatory, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1992).
• Merrivale Stone Row, England (2500-1000 BC): a prehistoric Bronze Age ritual site.
• Rudston Monolith, Yorkshire, England: a 25’ stone likely marking a prehistoric holy place or worship center.
• Stenness Stones, Orkney, Scotland: a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1999).
• Calanais Standing Stones, Scotland (2900 and 2600 BC): a Neolithic ritual site believed to be 5,000 years old, predating Stonehenge by 2,000 years. May have been an astronomical observatory or a celestial calendar.
• Carnac Stone Alignment, France (3,300 BC): a Neolithic site with more than 3,000 prehistoric standing granite stones, forming the largest such collection in the world.
• Dilmun Burial Mounds, Bahrain (2200 -1750 BCE): the largest prehistoric burial mounds in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2019).
• Knowth Mounds, Ireland: a Neolithic burial consisting of 1 big mound and 17 smaller mounds, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (1993).

Explore the fascinating origins of architecture and its development alongside human evolution. This quiz delves into the structures created during prehistoric times and the cultural stages of human development during the Stone Age. Assess your knowledge on how these early societies met their basic needs through architecture.