09/02/2022

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND

CIVILIZATION-I
Unit 1- Prehistoric Civilization
Lecture 2- Neolithic Age

Mesolithic Age
• Disappearance of Ice Age - End of last glacial period, Retreat of
glaciers, changed ecological conditions- growth of forests in Europe,
deserts in Africa,
• Gradual domestication of plants and animals, domestication of dog
as hunting companion
• Formation of settled communities along rivers and lake shores
• Wide variety of Hunting, fishing, food gathering techniques
• Ertebolle culture (kitchen midden culture)- mollusk shell deposits
• Microliths, hand axe-> hafted axe, bone tools, use of bow, pottery
• Earliest known battle at a site in Egypt known as Cemetry 117

1
09/02/2022

2
 09/02/2022

NEOLITHIC AGE

9000- 3000 BC

3
 09/02/2022

Agricultural revolution
• People stopped wandering and settled down in
permanent settlements
• Discovered art of farming and animal husbandry
• Discovery result of population pressure
• Neolithic people acquired confidence in ability to tame
and control nature
• Period saw interest in natural cycles such as of
weather and heavenly bodies e.g. that of the sun and
moon
• Learnt to domesticate animals, farm and grow crops,
make pottery and weave cloth
• Skills were developed, marking start of civilization

Agricultural revolution
• People began to live in settled communities instead of being nomadic,
when food supply improved.
• By 8000 BC people began to grow wheat, barley and peas instead of
gathering them wild.
• By 7000 BC they domesticated sheep, pigs and goats. Horses were
domesticated in the steppes of Eurasia. Pottery was first made in the
middle east and South Africa.
• By 6000 BC they also domesticated cattle
• By 5000 BC farming has started in China and Indus Valley Civilization. They
learnt to dig canals to bring water from rivers to their crops. As a result
they began to farm the arid land between the Tigris and Euphrates. This
area came to be known as Mesopotamia
• By 4000 BC, people used oxen to plough and even wagons. Donkey was
also used.
• New skills were developed, example, making pottery using metals. Finally
they invented writing.

4
 09/02/2022

Neolithic Age
• Adoption of agriculture
• Polished stone tools, stone artifacts, tools for grinding,
cutting and chopping
• Evidence for trade- exotic goods
• Villages were established and grew, protected by walls,
ceremonial sites, temples
• Resources and cooperation to work on large projects
• Social hierarchies- Introduction of basic social organization
of society, complex stratified chiefdoms,
• People learnt to differentiate between spaces and places-
Sacred versus everyday places
• Architecture was born

Religion: Rituals

• Having fulfilled his basic need, Neolithic man sought to

conquer fear of the unknown
• Needed to understand forces of nature that both nourishes
and destroys
• Sought to understand the heavenly bodies and weather cycles
• Sought to control nature through rituals and magic
• Gradually introduced the idea of religion
• Confusion about death and life after death led to introduction
of tombs
• Tombs are evidence of social differences in the society

5
 09/02/2022

New Stone Age Architecture

• Architecture evolved when early Stone Age

man became settled
• Once settled, he learned to build permanent
structures
• Early dwellings were round beehive huts
• Mud was popular material, though
construction system varied by location and
availability of construction materials

• Round huts evolved to apsidal form and later

to rectangular around 9000 to 7000 BC
• Early villages were simple with no palaces, rich
houses or non-residential buildings
• Once settled Neolithic man sought to satisfy
his spiritual needs
• This led to the construction of monuments

6
 09/02/2022

Types - Examples
• Megalithic Monuments (monumental construction)
– Ritualistic: monoliths/ menhir (Eg. Stone alignment),
cromlech/ henges (Eg. Stone henge, Salisbury,
England)
– Funereal: dolmen (Eg. Dolmen tomb, Carnac, France),
tumuli, graves (passage grave/ gallery grave), cairns
– Religious: temples (Eg. Ggantija, Gozo, Hal Tarxien)
• Settlements & Lake Dwellings (Eg. Catal Huyuk, Jericho,
Skara Brae)

Types
• Menhir – monoliths, single large stones
• Dolmen- tombs, slab of stone supported over 2 or more
vertical stones
• Tumuli- burial mounds, tombs covered with mounds of earth
• cromlech/ henges - Groups in a circular/ other arrangement
• cairns- small heap of stones

7
 09/02/2022

MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTION
• Monumental construction. “Megalithic” means large
stone.
• setting up large stone blocks alone or leaning against
each other. Sometimes post and lintel (trabeated)
construction is used
• Very similar to the Egyptian pyramids
• Stone is quarried from rocks, transported by rollers
pulled by people
• Lever action is used to lift and place stone in position
• The secret of the construction lies in abundance of
labor, endurance of effort and availability of unlimited
time

• Very similar to the Egyptian pyramids

• Stone is quarried from rocks, transported by
rollers pulled by people
• Lever action is used to lift and place stone in
position
• The secret of the construction lies in
abundance of labor, endurance of effort and
availability of unlimited time

8
 09/02/2022

MENHIR

DOLMEN

9
 09/02/2022

Dolmen Tomb, Carnac, France

• Dolmen Tomb Carnacis a burial structure
• Consist of two upright stones slabs supporting a
horizontal cap stone
• All are held together by their weight
• The remains of a dead person is place in the
chamber formed by the stone blocks
• The entire structure is covered with a mound of
earth
• Stone age people built tombs because of the
belief that dead people needed shelter

Dolmen Tomb, Carnac, France

10
 09/02/2022

Dolmen Tomb, Carnac, France

Stone Alignment, Carnac, France

• Northwestern France - Gulf of Morbihan, south coast of
Brittany . 4500 BC- 2000 BC (main phase approx 3300 BC)
• one of most extensive Neolithic menhir collections in the
world
• 3000 prehistoric stones local granite lime lined up for several
kilometers, 10-13 rows towards a circle
• erected by pre- Celtic people of Brittany
• Roman legion turned into stone by Merlin?/ Successive
generations visited the site to erect a stone in honour of the
ancestors
• first instance of a principle of organizing space
• an intermediate experience between openness and
enclosure, between boundless space and a wall

11
 09/02/2022

Stone Alignment, Carnac, France

Stone Alignment, Carnac, France

12
 09/02/2022

Stone Alignment, Carnac, France

Stone Alignment, Carnac, France

13
 09/02/2022

Stone henge
• Neolithic ritual monument located in Salisbury England
• Most celebrated Monument in England, Britain’s
national icon
• Most important prehistoric structure in Europe
• Symbolizes mystery power and endurance
• Purpose unclear- astronomical observatory/ burial/
something important to the ancients
• Subject of a very lively controversy and theories about
its function
• Prehistoric carvings on sarsen stones

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

14
 09/02/2022

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

15
09/02/2022

16
 09/02/2022

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

5000 yrs ago- Ring of
enormous stones
3100 BC- outer ditch and
banks built
1000 yrs later (2100 BC)- inner
part built
1500 BC- huge stones erected
topped by massive lintel ( 4
tons each brought from
preseli mountains, southern
Wales)

17
 09/02/2022

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

Summer solstice alignment

18
 09/02/2022

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

Stone henge, Salisbury, England

19
 09/02/2022

Stonehenge - a remarkable monument

Three reasons:
• It was not constructed to meet any practical
need of the people
• The level of accuracy in its construction
• The uniqueness of its geometry and form

Catal Huyuk, Turkey

• Occupied between
6300 BC to 5400 BC
• population of 6000
people
• It was the largest and
most cosmopolitan
city of its time
• The city was a trading
center- an extensive
economy based on
specialized craft and
commerce

20
09/02/2022

21
 09/02/2022

Courtyard planning ->

Roof access

House- Catal Huyuk

22
 09/02/2022

Shrine, Catal Huyuk

23
 09/02/2022

Figurine, Catal huyuk

Skara Brae, Orkney island, Scotland

24
 09/02/2022

Skara Brae

Skara Brae

25
 09/02/2022

Skara Brae

Skara Brae

26
 09/02/2022

Ggantija temple, Gozo, Malta

• 4100- 3000 BC
• Two massive temples in
Mediterranean island of Gozo
• The temples were possibly the site
of a Fertility cult; archeologists
believe that the numerous figurines
and statues found on site are
connected with that cult.
• According to local Gozitan
folklore, a giantess built these
temples and used them as places of
worship

27
 09/02/2022

Ggantija temple, Gozo, Malta

• Two massive temples built by Gozitans
between 4,100 and 2,500 BC

Ggantija temple, Malta

28
 09/02/2022

Hal Tarxien,
Malta

Neolithic site of Opovo,

Yugoslavia

29
 09/02/2022

Late Neolithic/ Early Eneolithic Vinca Culture 4400 BC- 4000 BC

Reconstructed projection of house Reconstructed projection of house
Neolithic site of Divostin, Yugoslavia Neolithic site of Opovo, Yugoslavia

30
 09/02/2022

Architecture of the Civilization

• Early Stone Age: Nomadic- temporary structures –basic
shelter for short term
• New Stone Age:
• Established permanent dwellings and settlements-
CatalHuyuk,
• Jericho–Improvement in house form including change to
rectangular rooms
• Introduction of multi-room houses
• Introduction of non-residential buildings-for work, storage
& rituals
• Open village layouts with streets–Increase in number and
size of villages

• Funereal Buildings– Were structures such as

tombs used for rituals and burial for the dead
• Religious Buildings– Evidence of the first
practices of religion–buildings used for rituals
related to worship and religion
• Ritual Buildings- functions uncertain. Usually
associated with ritual ceremonial activities.
Activities may be related to religion.

31
 09/02/2022

Materials & Construction Technology

• Early Stone Age

• Used simple easily available materials– plant and
animal materials such as wooden poles, grasses,
leaves, 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

Materials & Construction Technology

• New Stone Age
• More diversified construction materials–Adobe
and Stone most popular materials for houses–
Large stone was used for monuments
• Construction method also improved over time
• Significant improvement in Adobe construction
with time
• In Stonehenge is also evidence of ability to
quarry, shape, transport and join large stones to
create monuments

32
 09/02/2022

Principles of Arch. Org- Dwellings

• functional need
• available construction materials and technology
• Early Stone Age–
• Primary requirement is for temporary structure
• No desire to invest in construction of dwellings
• Constructed dwellings using available materials
with form directly reflecting natural objects

Principles of Arch. Org- Monuments

• Monuments- Role of geometry in organizing

architectural form
• The differentiation of space for different activities and
uses
• Principles of locating objects in space and of
channeling movement
• Principles of space enclosure, including difference
between boundless space and full enclosure
• Monuments represent the first instance of a principle
of organizing space

33
09/02/2022

34
09/02/2022

35