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Introduction

DEFINITIONS
History of Architecture
"It is a record of man's effort to build beautifully. It traces the origin, growth and decline of
architectural styles which have prevailed lands and ages."

Historic Styles of Architecture

"The particular method, the characteristics, manner of design, which prevails at a certain place and
time."

Factors Affecting the Styles of Architecture

1. History 4. Geography
2. Society 5. Geology
3. Religion 6. Climate

Reasons Why Man Sought for Shelter

1. Protection
a. from elements of nature
b. from wild animals
2. Comfort
c. a place to sleep and rest
3. Food storage
4. To perpetuate human life

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PRE-HISTORIC ARCHITECTURE

INFLUENCES
A. HISTORY

CULTURAL STAGE:
1. STONE AGE

Paleolithic people
 Nomadic hunters and gatherers
 Used caves as shelters
 Used fire and stone tools

Upper Paleolithic
 evidence of communal hunting, constructed shelters, and belief systems centering on magic
and the supernatural
 rock carving and paintings reached their peak in the Magdalenian culture of cro-magnon
man

Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age)

 began at the end of the last glacial era, over 10,000 years ago.
 gradual domestication of plants and animals
 formation of settled communities
 use of the bow
 development of delicate stone microliths and pottery

Neolithic Age (New Stone Age)

 vary with geographic location – the earliest known Neolithic culture developed from the
Natufian in Southwestern Asia between 8000 – 6000/9000 -7000 B.C.
 people lived in settled villages,
 cultivated grains and domesticated animals,
 developed pottery, spinning, weaving and
 evolved into the urban civilizations of the Bronze Age
 in Southeast Asia a distinct type of Neolithic culture cultivated rice before 2000 BCE
 New World peoples independently domesticated plants and animals, and by 1500 BCE.
Neolithic cultures existed in Mesoamerica that led to the Aztec and Inca civilization.

B. RELIGION
 no organized religion
 burial rituals and monuments

C. CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM

Megalithic
• use of large stone to construct a structure or monument either alone or with other stones
• rock(s) hewn in definite shapes for special purposes
• use of stones by an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement
• Ancient Greek:
Megas ( great) + Lithos (stone)
• Many Megaliths are thought to have a purpose in determining important events such as the
solstice and equinox dates

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• The construction of these structures took place as late as neolithic age and continued to the
Bronze and/or Iron Age

D. MATERIALS
Animal Skins
Wooden Frames
Animal Bones

E. ORIENTATION
• towards cardinal points

EXAMPLES
1. DWELLINGS:
a. Rock Caves
• Use of natural stone/rock formations
• Artificial caves below ground
• Caves above ground
Cave at Lascaux, France,
Cro-Magnon people (15,000-13,000 BCE)
“Fresco" and "found relief" includes paintings of bulls, horses, deer, bison, etc.

b. Huts
• Made of reeds, grass, leaves, tree branches, twigs, wattle and daub, etc.
• Covered or sheathed by animal skin
• Lake dwellings or huts on posts/trees

c. c. Houses
• Made of stone and/or mud
Neolithic houses at Skara Brae, Orkney, Scotland
• Made of ice

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2. RELIGIOUS STRUCTURES:
a. Monoliths/Menhirs
Men (Stone) + Hir (Long)
• Tall stone usually rough, standing upright either as part of a circle
or row or alone.
• 63 ‘ (18.9 m) high and about 14’ (4.2 m) wide at the base
• religious purpose

b. Dolmen/Cromlechs
1. Dolmen (Hole of Stone)
• consist of a large flat stone laid across two upright stones.

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• prototype of the post and lintel construction.

• may be used as tomb or monument.

2. Stone Rows
• Made up of a number of stones spaced apart into 10
o 18 lines and one line or row may stretch for about 3
miles.

3. Cromlech (Standing in semi-circle)

• three or more upright stones capped by an unhewn stone.
• enclosure formed by huge stones planted on the ground in
circular form

4. Stone & Wood Circles

The two circles are complimentary to each other
• Stonehenge is aligned with the midwinter solstice sunset
• Durrington's timber circle is aligned with the midwinter solstice sunrise.

STONEHENGE, Chalk Down, Salisbury, UK (3050-1600 BC from Neolithic – beginning of Bronze Age) --
designated as UNESCO World Heritage Site

c. BURIAL MOUNDS/TUMULI (TUMULUS) OR BARROWS

• Earliest Neolithic earthen mounds
• Long Barrow
a. Communal graves used between 4000-3000 BC.
b. Typically 99 feet long with walls of chalk.
c. People were laid to rest in their own side chambers, facing
eastward. (England )

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• Round Barrow
a. Circular mounds, typically used to bury community
leaders.

OTHER PREHISTORIC STRUCTURES - Stone Forts

REFERENCES
Books:
De la Croix, Horst and Richard Tansey. Gardner;s Art Through the Ages. Ancient, Medieval and Non-
European Art. 7th ed. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. USA. 1976.
Fletcher, Bannister, A History of Architecture 20th Ed., The Royal Institute of British Architects and
The University of London: 1996
Hadingham, Evan. Circles and Standing Stones. Anchor Press/Doubleday. Garden City, New York.
1976
Osborne, Ken. Stonehenge and Neighboring Monuments. English Heritage, London. 1995
Salvan, George S., Architectural Character & the History of Architecture, JMC Press: 1986
The World Atlas of Architecture, Portland House: 1988

Internet Sources:
Megaliths and Monuments. http://www.megaliths and monuments.html. June 2007

DVD Sources courtesy of Prof. Norma I. Alarcon:

What the Ancients Did For Us: The Pagans. BBC.

Other Sources:
Lecture notes of Arch. Clarissa L. Avendaño
History Powerpoint from the Center for the Designed Professions (CDEP)

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