pre-historic architecture
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE 1
Walther N. Ocampo
Prehistory (Pre-literary History)
The period between the use of the
first stone tools by hominins c3.3 M
years and the invention of writing
systems
The end of prehistory therefore came
at very different dates in different
places
Stone Age Bronze Age Iron Age
Stone Age
A broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools
with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface
The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 8700 BCE
and 2000 BCE , with the advent of metalworking
Paleolithic Chalcolithic
(Old Stone Mesolithic Neolithic
Age)
(Copper Age)
Lower Palaeolithic - Middle Paleolithic
c2.8 million BP-c50,000 BP
Genus Homo appears
Evidence of early human tools
Hunting-gathering
Control of fire by early humans
Anatomically modern humans (Homo
sapiens sapiens) appear in Africa
Out of Africa migration
Behavioral modernity
Cave dwellings
Upper Palaeolithic-Chalcolithic
c45,000 BP/43,000 BCE-c3000 BCE
Last Glacial Periods:
Last Glacial Maximum
Late Glacial Interstadial
Late Glacial Maximum
Humid Period begins in North Africa
Early agriculture (figs, wheat, barley)
Use of fibers to make baby-carriers, clothes, bags, baskets, and nets
Construction of different settlements
Catal Huyuk, Turkey, c5700 BCE
Copper Age walled city, Los Millares, Iberia
Jericho, Jordan
Protected by 5-foot-thick walls and at least one stone tower, 30 feet high and 33
feet in diameter
Amsa-Dong, S. Korea Shetland, Scotland
Sesklo, Greece Hagar Qim, Malta
Invention of cuneiform Stonehenge construction begins
Prehistoric Architecture
The architecture of constructions,
structures, and buildings of
the Prehistory period — the human
period before recorded history
Megalith
Large pre-historic stone that has been
used to construct a structure or
monument, either alone (monolith) or
together with other stones.
Erected between even before the
Neolithic period and through the
Chalcolithic period
Menhir
A prehistoric monument consisting
of an upright megalith
Usually standing alone but
sometimes aligned with others
Carnac, Brittany
Lagatjar, France
Carnac Stones, France
Cairn, Carn
A heap of stones piled up as a
monument, tombstone, or landmark
Cairn of the Neolithic passage grave, Gavrinis Island, Brittany
Tumulus, Barrow, Kurgans, Burial Mound
An artificial mound or earth or stone, esp. over an ancient grave
Mound of Dissignac, Saint-Nazaire, France
Wayland's Smithy, a chambered long barrow, Oxfordshire
Maghrib, Morrocco
New Grange, Ireland
3200 to 2500 BCE
Newgrange passage tomb, Ireland, Neolithic Period
Dolmen
Early Neolithic (4000–3000 BC)
A prehistoric monument consisting of
two or more large upright stones
supporting a horizontal stone slab,
found esp. in Britain and France and
usually regarded as a tomb
Dolmen at Ganghwa Island, South Korea
Trethevy Quoit Cornwall, UK, 3500–2500 BCE Kilclooney More, Ireland
Lancken-Granitz dolmen, Germany Dólmen da Aboboreira, Baião, Portugal
Cromlech
A circular arrangement of megaliths
enclosing a dolmen or burial mound
Avebury Circles
Avebury Circle
Third Millennium BCE
A Neolithic henge monument
containing three stone circles, around
the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in
southwest England
The largest megalithic stone circle in
the world
By the Iron Age, the site had been
effectively abandoned
Stonehenge
Stonehenge, England
c2800-500 BCE
Most spectacular and imposing of
monolithic monuments
The focal point of the densest
concentration of Neolithic and Bronze
Age
Undergone in 4 periods of building
and use
Stonehenge I
c3000 BCE
About 91 m across
Ditch and bank: work began c2800 BCE
Probably a place of Neolithic
astronomical observations, worship,
and burials for about 7 centuries
Ditch: 2.1 m deep, 6 m wide
Bank: 1.8 m high
Heel Stone
Heel Stone
Tertiary sandstone, 35 tons
Allows 250 men to transport and to erect it
24° angle of inclination
Aubrey Holes
Discovered by John Aubrey, (17C)
56 pits (56-day difference between
5 solar years and 5 lunar years)
1 m wide Ø, 4.9 m apart
Never held upright posts
Unknown purposes
Treated with chalks
The holes were immediately refilled
Re-used for burials of cremated
human bones (c2200 BCE)
Stonehenge II
Introduction of a new axis, a more
east than previous one
Addition of the avenue (510 m)
Addition of the bluestones
1.8 m apart
Came from Preseli Mountains,
135 miles from Stonehenge
Stonehenge IIIA
c2000 BCE
Sarsen Circle
Composed of 30 upright
stones in uniform height capped by
a horizontal ring of stone lintels
Sarsen Horseshoe
5 Trilithons or Central
Trilithons also accurately arranged
Sarsen stones from Marlborough
Downs, 20 miles to the north
Sarsen Circle
About 33 m in diameter
Originally comprised of 30 neatly
trimmed upright sandstone blocks
of which only 17 are now
standing
The stones are evenly spaced
approximately 1.0 to 1.4 meters
apart, and stand on average 4
meters above the ground
Diagrams showing how the sun’s rays (in grey) penetrate into the Sarsen Ring. Note
how the rays move over the surface of the trilithons progressively from sunrise
Trilithon
Lintel: 7 tons, Post: 25 tons
With mortise holes and tenon joints
Lintels are wider above and were cut
to curves
Slight convex outline
Illusion of increased height
Effect of verticality
Trilithon
A structure consisting of two large vertical
stones (posts) supporting a third stone set
horizontally across the top (lintel)
Mortise and Tennon
Stonehenge IIIB
Y & Z Holes
59 holes in all
59 days in 2 lunar months
Bluestone Horseshoe
19 bluestones
19 cycles of the moon, crucial
for the prediction of eclipses
Excavation of two quarries in Wales by a UCL-led team of archaeologists and geologists
has confirmed they are sources of Stonehenge's 'bluestones'- and shed light on how they
were quarried and transported.
Stonehenge IIIC
Some bluestones in IIIB were re-used
in IIIC, some were shaped, and some
were jointed together
Bluestone Circle: 60 stones
Bluestone Horseshoe: 19 stones
The final arrangement of the
bluestones
Primitive Dwellings
Prehistoric Dwellings
sources of images
illustratedcuriosity.com britannica.com tripadvisor.com.ph
cambridge.org amusingplanet.com summitpost.com
researchgate.org english-heritage.org.uk pinterest.com
mozaweb.com sites.google.com la.utexas.edu
science.howstuffworks.com stonehengefacts.net seanet.com
ucl.ac.uk metro.co.uk
sources of videos
youtube channels
cosmic eye project
national geographic channel
american museum of natural history
royal scoiety
science online
