ACC1 – Architecture Comprehensive Course
Lesson 1: Pre-Historic Architecture
ARCHITECTURE, A solution to a basic need -
protection from weather, wild animals, and even.
Pre-Historic, in other words, from a time
before mankind was capable of recording its
history in writing.
FOUR STRUCTURAL PRINCIPLES OF
ARCHITECTURE
POST AND LINTEL
It is used in architecture in which two vertical
columns or pillars (posts) support a horizontal
beam or slab (lintel). Often, the vertical support
columns widen at the base and top.
ARCH AND VAULT
An arch is a curved form found in architecture
that can support itself. A vault is a structural
form used for support and created with multiple
arches.
CORBEL AND CANTILEVER
A corbel is a short structural cantilever member
projecting from a wall or a column for the
purpose of carrying loads.
TRUSS
Its distinctive feature lies in their triangular
arrangement of members, which ensures optimal
strength and stability.
Early Stages
STONE AGE
A. PALEOLITHIC
OLD STONE AGE, paleo (old), with lithic (stone)
• Hunters and Gatherers
• The use of basic stone and bone tools.
(hand axes, flake tools)
• Lived in caves and rock shelters
HOA1: Pre-Historic Architecture
• The use of controlled fire for warmth,
protection, and cooking
• Development of human culture
(development of language).
• Representational art in cave paintings
and figurines, the use of musical
instruments, and the practice of burying
the dead.
MAMMOTH HOUSE/HUT (Reconstruction)
A Paleolithic village was successfully excavated
in Mezhirich in the Ukraine dating back to
approximately 15,000 BCE. The village
revealed a cluster of huts made of woolly
mammoth bones which provided an intricate
framework for structures. These huts ranged in
diameter from 13 to 33 feet, some with ashes
and charred bones suggesting the presence of
a hearth inside.
B. MESOLOTHIC
MIDDLE STONE AGE, mesos (middle), with lithic
(stone)
• Development of Agriculture
• The use of fashioned stone tools
(chipped stone tools called microliths)
• The use of animal hides for body
coverings
• Building huts from bones, animal hides,
reeds and grass, and from tree trunks
and leaves
• Made the canoe for fishing
• They used animal hides because it is
warm and so that wild animals won’t see
them as a threat and attack them.
Page 1 of 3

C. NEOLITHIC
NEW STONE AGE, neo (old), with lithic
(stone)
• Dependence in domesticated plants
or animals over hunting and gathering
• The use of stone tools shaped by
polishing or grinding
• Pottery and Weaving
• The use of stone and mud for huts
• Burial rituals
SKARA BRAE
ACC1 – Architecture Comprehensive Course
TYPES OF PRE-HISTORIC STRUCTURES
DWELLINS
A. ROCK SHELTERS/ CAVES
(arch and vault system)
• Earliest form of dwellings (paleolithic)
• Early humans chose locations that could
be defended against predators and
rivals and that were shielded from
inclement weather.
• Rock shelters are often found beneath
waterfalls. It is a shallow cave-like
opening.
B. TENT
1. HUT

• A hut is a small dwelling, which may be

constructed of various local materials.
One particularly impressive Neolithic village is
• branches covered with turf
Skara Brae, located in the Orkney archipelago
of Scotland. Skara Brae consists of eight
clustered houses and is believed to have been
inhabited from 3180 BCE to 2500 BCE.
Structures like Skara Brae were built up of
HUT AND TEEPEE
layers of flat stones. Stacked up without
ARE EXAMPLES OF
mortar, the stones were layered to slope
inward and form a corbelled structural system.
TRUSS SYSTEM

BRONZE AGE 2. WIGWAM/ TEEPEE

characterized by the use of copper and bronze It was built using a

as the chief hard materials in the manufacturing number of long
of implements and weapons. poles as the frame.
The poles were tied
IRON AGE together at the top
and spread out at
characterized by the mastery of ironworking
the bottom to make
techniques, revolutionized the way people lived,
an upside-down
worked, and interacted with their environment.
cone shape. Then
the outside was
wrapped with a
large covering made
of buffalo hide.
HOA1: Pre-Historic Architecture Page 2 of 3
 ACC1 – Architecture Comprehensive Course
3. HOGAN
RELIGIOUS MONOMENTS
A. MONOLITH/MENHIR
• single upright stone
• The word menhir is Breton
(men, “stone”; hir, “long”)
• primitive Indian structure of joined logs
or occasionally stone covered with mud, B. MEGALITHIC
dirt, or sometimes sod. 1. DOLMEN (post and lintel system)
• dome-shaped
• two or more upright stone
4. IGLOO • (“DAUL” – table, “MAEN” – stone)
(arch and vault system) • to
commemorate the
Innuit eskimo, constructed on snow blocks with dead and also may
an entrance tunnel have acted as
5. TRULLO centres for various
ceremonies in the
(corbel and cantilever system)
area
• a dry walled rough stone shelter, circular
2. CROMLECH
with a corbelled roof
• cone-shaped roof • three or
more upright stone
6. SHEILINGS • Stone Circle,
huge (up to 6–7 m
• Usually rectangular with a doorway on high) free-standing
the south side and few or no windows stones that form
• often constructed of dry stone or turf one circle or several concentric circles.
7. NIGERIAN HUT • STONEHENGE- the earliest stage of
monument and one of the largest
• with mud walls and roof of palm leaves cremations cemeteries known in Britain
during Neolithic Age.
8. IRAQI MUDHIF
(location: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England)
• reed mats
BURIAL GROUNDS/ MOUNDS
9. SUMATRAN HOUSE
TUMILI/ BARROWS
• A traditional house
of the Batak tribe in • earthen mounds used for burials
northern Sumatra, • Each of the tumuli is composed of a
Indonesia, is built up off central stone chamber that is enclosed
the ground for protection by a low ring-wall and covered by earth
from water. and gravel.

HOA1: Pre-Historic Architecture Page 3 of 3