The Historical Timeline of Architecture

Pre-historic and Early Civilization

What is Pre-History?
• Cultures who lived before the time of writing and so of recorded history.
• only evidences were founded about the earliest dwellings of ancient people.

Introduction
• Direct human ancestors evolved in
Africa from 2.3 million years ago
• Humans spread from Africa into
Southern Europe, Asia .
• Could not settle far north due to the cold
climate .
• From Siberia by foot into North America
• From Southeast Asia by boat into
Australia
• No organized religion
• The dead are treated with respect -
burial rituals and monuments .
‫ العمارة البدائية‬and Early Civilization
Pre-historic
‫الحضارات‬
Primitive ‫عصور ماقبل‬
Architecture:
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic 500000) B. C).
2. Middle stone age (Mesolithic 15000B.C).
3. Modern stone age(Neolithic 8000 B.C).

NOTE : It can be said that the stone formations which carried out in these Ages are only the beginning of the
art and mystery of Architecture .
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic) :
• The Stone Age is the longest age between the other ages .
Human Environment:
• Man was a hunter and a food gatherer , that’s why he was
unsettled(Nomadic) , moving from place to other in search of
food , water and good weather , Usually move about in small
bands of less than 15 persons , their life style made them
barely able to survive.
• The use animal skins for implantation.
• Making primitive hunting tools as a weapon to protect
against life conditions – made of stones , wood and bones .
• The discover of Fire , it been used for protection, Hunting and
cooking .

weapons
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
1. Old stone age (Paleolithic) :
Architecture Character :
• There is no trace of human intervention in any kind of
civilization , because , Don’t need to a permanent
shelter or settlements .
• Cave dwellings : Caves were early human living spaces
,Man made use of natural and man-made caves both
below and above ground as a shelter.
• This shelter for protection , and there was an
architectural treatment such as smoke exit vents .
Water cave , Found traces
Of human life within it
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization

Cave entrance
shows the
Human
influence in
Design.

• Caves were, however, more popular as dwelling

• Caves used by Stone Age people have been found in many
regions of the world .
• A good example is the cave at Lascaux in France .
• Discovered in 1940
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
• Evidence of human occupancy of
caves comes from the painting that
were made with only fire-light as
illumination. The intention of the
paintings were not for decoration
but rather to provide images that Lion Panel, Chauvet Cave, Ardeche, France.
might grant mystical power over 15,000 – 10,000 BC
haunted animals.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
2. The middle stone age (Mesolithic) :
• This age is shorter than the first one .
Human Environment:
• In this age the first attempts to Settlement was near the sources
of fresh water , also he began to raise animals, and tried to
produce the food , Still also gathering food.
Architecture Character :
• This age also recode the beginning of architecture , by Construct a
temporary shelters from perishable materials such as tree trunks
and leaves.
• Used simple, easily available materials , Usually of plants and
animal materials such as wooden poles, grasses , and animal skins.
• Construction system was also simple , Usually involves digging
holes, putting wooden poles in holes and burying them . The poles
are tied together to create the shell of the building .The shell is
covered with grasses, leaves or animal skins .
 2. The Tongues Hut
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

1. The HUTS : 1. The Bambuti Hut

• Bambuti Hut : huts show
evidence of use of leaves to
cover hut.
• The Tongues Hut : show
evidence of use of grass to make
huts.
• The huts protected the old man
from:
 Inclement elements of weather
such as sun, wind and rain.
 The huts gave him security from
wild animals.
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

2. The Lapp tent :

• The Lapp tent shows the
use of animal skins .
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

2. The Lapp tent :

Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

2. Brushwood Hut:

• Space inside is organized for different

uses.
• The hut was used by a band of people
for limited hunting days .
• It is left to collapse after use and new
huts built over by the next years hunting
season .
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

3. Inuit- Igloo (Eskimo ):

• The snow house or the Igloo of the Inuit people
is a circular construction built from blocks of
snow.
• The blocks are laid up in concentric circle of
diminishing size to form a dome.
• An entrance tunnel of snow blocks is angled to
prevent penetration by prevailing winds, and
it includes a space to accommodate dogs.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):
• Within the house skins are used to line the
house, leaving an air space that helps to
insulate the interior while preventing the heat
from melting the snow dome.
• Raised platforms lift the interior floor level and
also act as a substitute form of furniture
• The domed exterior form is strongly resistant to
high winds in winter.
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Temporary Structures( First shelter ):

4. Mongolian yurt :
• The yurt is a structure with an
enclosing wall of lattice strips (grid)
supporting a roof structure of poles.
The exteriors are covered with
skins or mats. Inside, boxes to hold
possessions rugs and stools create
spaces with considerable aesthetic
character.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Human Environment:
• Discovery of agriculture and food production.
• Multiple professions like (hunter, farmer and craftsman , …
etc.) ,and that’s Is the basis for the city emergence .
• Stability concept more developed next to the sources of
fresh water , and the formation of primitive society and
tribes . Mobility was in groups controlled by the head of the
tribe . Agriculture in Prehistoric times

Architecture Character :
• Established permanent dwellings , Constriction techniques
developed to use Mud , Brick and stone .
• This age also recode the emergence of urban communities
and housing units and the emergence of the concept of
residential communities(Villages) protected by high walls .
• Monumental construction .
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Megalithic Monuments
• Monumental construction by Neolithic man particularly in Europe.
• Megalithic construction involves setting up large stones.
• Blocks alone or leaning against each other.
• The constriction method were unknown , Very similar to the Egyptian
pyramids, Stones dragged from far away to this site .
• Megalithic Monuments , are consist of two types of arrangements :

1. Tombs – also called Dolmen

2. Non funereal structures:
– Single stones – Menhirs
– Stones composed in groups – Stonehenge Monuments

Megalithic means large stone

 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Megalithic Monuments
1. (Dolmens )Tombes:
• The arrangement of a large stone placed on top of
two or three upright stones ,so many dolmens
created the inner chamber of a tomb
• After the burial chamber was completed ,the whole
structure was buried under an artificial hill ,
Dolmens are more often liked to burial rites.

• Cueva de Menga in Spain is the largest dolmen in

Europe, built using 32 megaliths, the largest of
which weighs 180 tons, it was discovered and
opened in the 19th century, the skeletons of several
hundred people were found inside.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
Megalithic Monuments
2. Non funereal structures:
• Menhirs : A single, large upright monolith
,Serves a religious purpose , its shape like
irregular obelisk , with a semi-circular section
of more than 20 m 2. Arranged for thousand of
miles .

Menhirs means tall stone

 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Architecture Monuments:
2. Stonehenge :
• This arrangements of stones called
Alignments , Huge stones where
carefully placed to create interior spaces
with strong aesthetic impact, whether
they were originally open to the sky (as it
is now) or roofed with materials that have
since disappeared. The purpose seems
to have been connected with rituals
relating to the movements of the sun, Most important prehistoric structure in
Europe , Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England
moon and stars. The circular form is 2750-1500 BC
characteristic of many ancient human
constructions.
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
• The plan of Stonehenge is arranged in the
form of concentric circles , At the center
is an Alter , Around it five trilithons.

• Trilithon:

Dolmens
Pre-historic and Early Civilization

• The actual function of the structure

is still not clear but it suggests that
its functions are :
• Cremation / burial site.
• Astrological observatory.
• Solar calendar.
• Sacred site.
Pre-historic and Early Civilization
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Neolithic Dwelling & Settlement:
Village of Catal Hüyük near Konya, Turkey 6900–5400 BC
• Jericho and Catal Hüyük were famous Neolithic
cities .
• Catal Hüyük was the largest and most cosmopolitan
city of its time , with a population up to (6000)
person.
• It had an extensive economy based on specialized
craft and commerce
• The city was a trading center.
• The size of the city and its wealth are a product of its
status as a trading center.
• Physically Catal Huyuk was highly organized with
elaborate architectural features .
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :

• All the buildings at Catal Huyuk

were accessed from the roof-tops.
• The buildings comprised
dwellings, workshop, and shrine
rooms.
• As the town had no formal
fortification, it is thought that the
door-less and the window-less
exterior walls of the connected
structures formed the defensive
perimeter for the community.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Permanent Structures :
• Houses were packed in one continuous block
punctuated by courtyards.
• Houses were of one floor mud construction.
• No streets in settlement and access to houses
was through the roof
• Movement from house to house through the
roof .
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Permanent Structures :
• Two types of houses were discovered there :
1. Houses had main rooms with in-built clay
furniture, fire places and ladder to the
roof.
• The chamber of each house had a raised
sleeping platform and a hearth for
cooking and heat. Access to the outside
was provided by a ladder to the roof
hatch that also served as a smoke vent. A
few wooden beams supported smaller
poles that in turn supported the roof
surface of clay or mud.
 Pre-historic and Early Civilization
3. The New stone age (Neolithic) :
Permanent Structures :
2. Houses have cult rooms decorated
with bull heads Some houses
appear to be shrines for worship.
Conclusion :
Old stone Middle New stone
age stone age age
(Paleolithic) (Mesolithic) (Neolithic)
Conclusion :
• In organic materials such as mud or (in cold climates )
snow have limited lasting qualities , while stone ,
although very durable ,is so difficult to work as to have
had very limited possibilities for shelter building.
• These realities mean that the materials surviving from
prehistoric times are largely small objects of stone such
as arrow head sands pear points ,or large arrangements
of stones setup in patterns or assembled into structures .
Thank you …