PREHISTORIC ARCHITECTURE

This was the type of architecture invented by the primeval man to get shelter and protection :

From variable extreme weather conditions.

From wild beasts and enemies.

PALEOLITHIC DWELLINGS

Structures created in wood and stone.

Fire used on paved hearths. No buildings for any special

purposes but dwellings. Categorized into 5 types:

CAVES

The oldest and most common types of dwellings.

Natural underground spaces, large enough for a human.

Example: Rock shelters, Grottos, Sea caves.

HUTS Located in southern

French cities. Oval in shape(8m-15m

X 4m-6m). Built close to sea

shores. Built using stakes with

stones as supports. Stout posts along axis. Floor made of organic

matter and ash.

MOLODOVA A more sophisticated sought. Wood framework covered with skins, held in place by

rough oval mammoth bones, enclosing 15 hearths.

DOLNI VESTONICE Palisade of mammoth

bones and tusks set into ground, filled with brush wood and turf.

Oval shape(16m x10m) Limestone used for

walls Central hearth capped

with an earthen dome. Summer structure

open to sky.

MEZHIRICH Consisted of

foundation wall of mammoth jaws and long bones, capped with skulls.

Roofed with tree branches, overlaid by tusks.

LEAN TOS Erected against one

wall of cave. Defined at base by

stones(12m x 4m). Skin curtain and roof

draped over posts. May have two

compartments, each having an entrance on the longer side.

TENTS Skirts weighed down

with pebbles. Paved interiors. Open air hearths. Wooden posts driven

into earth covered with skins.

At a later stage, were secured by reindeer antlers.

PIT HOUSES

More common in eastern Europe with severely low temperatures.

Oval trapezoidal, pear shaped size(5m-8m x2.5m-3.5m). Central post holes indicating existence of roof. Constructed by making shallow depressions in the ground

surrounded by a ring of mammoth bones and tusks.

MESOLITHIC PERIOD Villages arranged systematically. Houses aligned in rows. More regular plans. Artefacts came into existence. Settlements began around water bodies. Fishing, cultivation of cereals and vegetables

began. Animals were domesticated, farming tools were

developed. Dwellings were more durable as compared to that in

the Paleolithic age.

HUTS

The structure mainly comprised of bamboos.

Plans were trapezoidal in shape.

The size varied from 5.5-30m.

They had wide entrances facing the water bodies (rivers).

Floors were plastered with lime.

Posts were reinforced with stones.

PIT HOUSES Shallow oval pits

6m-9m long and 2-5m wide.

Roofs were made of timber.

Stone hearths were used as working slabs.

NEOLITHIC PERIOD Many changes took place. Production of food. Developments in agriculture lead to

settling down. Dwellings became more sustainable. Houses were built with

square/rectangular plans, with sections divided with animal skins.

TIMBER FRAMED HOUSES

Square plans:25’ x25’ Mud walls with 3’ deep

footings. These were more

durable as compared to the earlier ones.

Pitched and thatched roofs with overhanging caves.

Interiors raised, plastered with sunken hearths.

LONG HOUSES Rectangular plans(20’ x26’-150’). Oak posts made the framework covered with clay. Floors were defined with layers of clay over a base

of logs. It consisted of 3 types of plans:

TRIPARTITE: Entrance facing the east. Central part being the living

room. The third part containing deep

storage area.

BIPARTITE: Entrance Living room combined with

storage.

SINGLE BAY HOUSES:

Having living rooms only.

DRY STONE HOUSES Stone built houses with 3m thick cavity walls. Inner, outer caves were made of dry stones and the interiors

were covered with domestic refuse. Rectangular plan with circular corners. Thatched roofs with a smoke hole at the top positioned

over central hearth.

MONUMENTS

Settlements lead to building of monumental stone architecture.

These were mainly collective tombs. PASSAGE GRAVES GALLERY GRAVES

MEGALITHIC PASSAGE GRAVES

Covering mound (38m x32m) surrounded by wide space with wide ditch beyond.

Entrance passage 1m wide and 1.5m high. burial chamber(5sqm)

Smooth walls built with rectangular blocks and fine joints.

Three cells at three sides of the chamber.

Built mainly with masoned walls and corbelled roof.

MEGALITHIC GALLERY GRAVES

23m long chamber divided into twelve sections.

Covered with a rectangular mound .

EARTHERN LONG BARROWS

Trapezoid mound(40m x6m approx.) Wide entrance and porch with 4 posts. Earthen mound surrounded by a bedding trunch

over 1m deep and 0.5 m wide. Timber retaining wall 2m high. Mortuary houses exactly behind entrance,

constructed using three split tree trunks(600mm dia app.) placed 1m apart from each other supporting a ridge post.

Sloping timber formed triangular framework(1.5m high, 2.4m wide) at groung level.

Fussel’s lodge

MENHIRS Large, upright standing

stones. Uneven textured, square

shaped, tapered towards the top.

May exist as monoliths or a part of group.

Existed as identification marks at burial sites or otherwise.

DOLMENS Two or more stones

supporting a large one at the top.

Burial features. Also called

cromlechs (brythonic origin).

HENGES Open air ritual structures. The plan comprised of

concentric circles. An altar located in the

centre. Surrounded by five

trilithon pairs of stones. Followed by a circle of

blue stones. Example: The stone

henge.

BRONZE AGE DWELLINGS Enclosed timber framed and dry stone

farmsteads. Cooking area and storage were added

features.

TIMBER FRAMED HOUSES

Log built houses with central houses and lateral wings.

Large proportions and layout.

Contained large central hall(10 x5m),attached six rooms, five of them contained hearths.

Logs interlocked by means of notches cut near the extremities.

Entrance porch facing the street, living area and loft accessible by ladder.

Stone hearth on the left of entrance with a family bed located against southern wall.

Wooden floors, thatched roofs. Houses placed in rows oriented east-west.

CIRCULAR BRONZE AGE Linked group of earthwork enclosures and hut

platforms(734m x55m). Principal enclosures surrounded by a timber fence. Containing 4-5 additional huts(4.8m dia), both with a ring

about 250mm wide. Ring containing timber uprights supporting a thatched roof. Porch at the entrance.

BURIAL MOUNDS

Single grave burials. Variable forms in exterior

and interior forms and arrangements and groupings.

In their simplest form, barrows consisted of earth or stone.

Others were timber mortuary houses or stone cists.

NEW GRANGE

Stone revetments retaining the side supports to the burial chamber.

Sandstone paved floor at the northern and reed floor on the southern end.

TEMPLES AND RITUAL STRUCTURES

Structures had three to four rooms.(8.8m x 5.2m) Megaron like porch leading to a room containing a

hanging altar. Followed by a large squarish room with plastered

frieze. Two raised altars on raised clay platforms set

against side walls. Six supports for a reed thatched roof.

DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES

Palisaded forts in low lying areas.

Massive encircling ramparts enclosing a roughly circular or oval area.

Plank walls erected 2-3m apart with tie beams in between.

Space between palisades filled with rubble and earth.

Upland forts had timber replaced with stones.

A third type, consisting of parallel rows of timber laid in consecutive layers at right angles; forming a grid.

Interstices filled with wood chips, earth and stones.

STONE TOWERS

Circular towers ranging from 10 to 15m in diameter.

Built in dry stone walling. Some having an internal

corridor.(3m high)

Main chamber roofed by means of false corbelling.

Served both defensive and ritualistic purposes.

IRON AGE

Development in domestic architecture.

Traditional farmstrade maintained.

TIMBER FRAMED HOUSES

Circular timber structures.(15m diameter)

Timber palisaded enclosure.(120 x90m)

Palisade consisting upright stakes edge to edge in a trench.(300mm deep)

Main house defined by 4 groups of post holes.

Outer rings supported wall. Posts had continuous lintels

with sloping rafters. Both sets of posts had

continuous lintels overlaid by horizontal members, thatched roof attached.

Raised canopied roof containing smoke hole.

Elaborate porch. Central loft Ancillary buildings and

storage pits excavated within palisaded enclosures.

woodburry

DRY STONE HOUSES East facing open courtyards. Main living room at the rear

end. On the left, front open, roofed

shelter. Storage room at the right. Drains, external terraced areas

were added features. Roofed with stone slabs. Internal radial walls tapering in

plan.

Chysauster

FUNERARY MONUMENTS

Artificial shafts, ritual wells sunken to 12 to 40 m.

Ditch and earthwork enclosures (10 x10 m approximately).

Long , parallel sided rectilinear enclosures containing standing stones, post holes and hearths.

DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES

Parapets varying from sloping front earth work backed by stone or timber revetting.

Stone cladded fortifications reinforced with timber, fired occasionally for vitrification.

Gates in the east and the west. Century later, eastern gates were elaborated with

claw like structures and the western gates were enlarged.

Ramparts were reinforced with stones.

FORTIFIED BUILDINGS BROCH Approximately 20m wide. 10-15m high. 5m thick wall at the bottom. 10m wide central court

leading to narrow doorways accessible by oval intra mural chambers with corbelled roof.

Timber galleried accommodation built against the inner wall leading to a spiral staircase within the wall accessing the rampart at the top.

DUNS Similar to broch in

size and structure.