Prehistoric and Ancient Architecture Notes

Definition: Derived from Latin vernaculus, meaning domestic or indigenous, often referred to as folk or traditional architecture.
Focus: Based on local needs and materials, reflects local traditions.
Evolution: Adapts over time to environmental, cultural, technological, and historical contexts.
Protection: Provides shelter against natural calamities and animals, representing a rearrangement of the environment into architecture.

Non-Professional Builders: Constructed by artisans or future occupants, rather than trained architects or engineers.
Natural Adaptation: Uses local materials that are natural to the geographical environment.
Intuitive Construction: Lacks formal blueprints; construction is based on intuitive thinking.
Balance of Functionality: Achieves a balance between social & economic needs and aesthetic features.
Architectural Evolution: Reflects prolonged evolution of design and styles unique to specific ethnic groups.

Simplified Technology: Demonstrates early technology’s achievements and limitations.
Structural Simplicity: Addresses common structural issues using logical arrangements of elements.

Defensive Locations: Early humans built shelters in defensible locations shielded from environmental hazards.
Types of Shelters: Caves, wooden huts, temporary structures were common before permanent settlements.
Caves as Homes: Caves offered natural protection, hence many early human remains and artifacts are found there.

Wood Huts: Erected around 380,000 BC, showcasing early human architectural ingenuity.
Cave Shelters: Served as a primary dwelling with found flint tools and remains within.

Paleolithic Age: Marked by the development of primitive tools.
Mesolithic Period: Emergence of early villages with systematic housing layouts.
Neolithic Period: Introduction of agriculture and development of more complex structures such as timber-framed buildings.
Megalithic Period: Characterized by large stone structures like tombs and ceremonial sites.

Huts: Oval in shape, often near shorelines, made from sticks and animal skins.
Lean-tos: Built against a cave wall, covered with organic materials, supported by posts.
Tents: Made from wood and covered with animal skins, secure with wooden pegs.
Pit Houses: Shallow excavations surrounded by posts and animal bones.

Structure 075, Wadi Faynan (9600 BC): Mud-plastered elliptical structure with benches for communal activities.
Skara Brae (3200 BC): Complex of interconnected cellular structures showcasing a tightly-knit community.

Characterized by covering mounds of stones, leading to burial chambers, with religious or ceremonial significance.

Complex structures divided into compartments with various architectural features like facades and apses.

Constructed during the Neolithic period, older than the Egyptian pyramids, believed to be sites of fertility rituals.

Civilizations include Mesopotamia, Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia.
Contemporary developments in urbanization and architecture across different regions.

Fertile crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, important for agriculture.
Early settlements began around 9000 BCE, evolving into cities.

Flourished along the Nile, significant for monumental structures such as pyramids and temples.
Use of abundant local stone, especially limestone and sandstone, for construction.

Monumentality and Solidarity: Structures display both mass and simplicity.
Construction Techniques: Predominantly used post-and-lintel systems, with lack of vaulted structures.
Funerary Structures: Included mastabas, pyramids, and rock-cut tombs, reflecting beliefs in afterlife.

Pyramids of Giza: Including the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the only remaining wonder of the ancient world.
Temples: Built for worship and funerary purposes, such as the Temple of Amun and Temple of Hatshepsut.

Consists of multiple periods ranging from Minoan civilization to Hellenistic period. Main features include use of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders in architecture.