Prehistory to Ancient Near East – Key Vocabulary

Time‐Measurement & Date Vocabulary

  • Key temporal units (based on Julian & Gregorian calendars)
    • Year: 1\;\text{year}
    • Decade: 10\;\text{years}
      • Example – “The 2020\text{s}”: \text{Jan}\,1,\,2020\;\text{–}\;\text{Dec}\,31,\,2029
    • Century: 100\;\text{years}
      • “The 21^{\text{st}} Century”: \text{Jan}\,1,\,2001\;\text{–}\;\text{Dec}\,31,\,2100
    • Millennium: 1000\;\text{years}
      • “The 3^{\text{rd}} Millennium AD”: 2001\;–\;3000
  • Abbreviations used in chronology
    • y.a. = “years ago” (for dates > 10{,}000 y.a.)
    • ca./c. = circa (“around” an inexact date)
    • b.p. = “before the present”
    • BC / AD (Christian): “Before Christ” / Anno Domini (Year of Our Lord)
    • BCE / CE (secular): “Before the Common Era” / “Common Era”
  • Illustrative date labels in architecture
    • Pyramid of Khufu: c.\,2680\;–\;2560\,\text{BCE}
    • Dome of Florence Cathedral: AD\,1420\;–\;1436

Framework for Studying Historical Architecture

  • People: leaders, population, ethnography, belief systems, behaviors
  • Object: structure, materials, form, function, design elements
  • Context: geography, site, climate, urban environment, cultural tradition

Stone Age Periodisation

  • Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) 2{,}500{,}000\;\text{y.a.} – c.\,10000\,\text{BCE}
    • Tools: chipped stone (“age of chipped stone”)
    • Lifestyle: hunter–gatherers; temporary shelters; cave art & small carvings
  • Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age): transitional; regionally variable
  • Neolithic (New Stone Age) c.\,10000\;–\;3000\,\text{BCE}
    • Tools: polished stone; pottery & weaving emerge
    • Lifestyle: agriculture, animal domestication, permanent settlements, villages
  • Bronze Age: metal technology after c.\,3000\,\text{BCE} in W. Europe

Two Universal Human Instincts (Earliest Roots of Architecture & Art)

  • Nesting instinct: desire for permanent or secure shelter
  • Artistic instinct: urge to impose visual order & significance on surroundings

Paleolithic Shelters – Evidence of Nesting Instinct

  • Terra Amata (Nice, France) c.\,400{,}000 – 300{,}000\,\text{y.a.} (Homo erectus)
    • 21 oval huts (7.9–14.9 m × 4–6.1 m)
    • Branch palisades \approx7.6\,\text{cm} dia.; stone ballast; central hearths
    • Seasonal rebuilding on dune shows planned occupation
  • Mammoth-Bone Huts (Ukraine & Moravia) c.\,23{,}000 – 12{,}000\,\text{BCE}
    • Round/conical frames of tusks & bones; rings of skulls for bracing
    • Indicate resourcefulness & climatic adaptation by Homo sapiens neanderthalensis

Paleolithic Cave Art – Artistic Instinct Manifested

General Techniques

  • Painting, engraving, scraping, shading, overlapping, use of natural rock relief
  • Pigments: iron oxide (rust red), manganese, charcoal (black), ochres (yellow)

Chauvet Cave (Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, France)

  • Age: \sim30{,}000\;\text{y.a.} (oldest known)
  • Content: >400 paintings/engravings; predominance of dangerous fauna (lions, rhinos)
  • Techniques & aesthetics
    • Perspective via overlap & partial frontal view
    • Shading gradients create volume
    • Limited palette: red, black, traces of yellow
  • Unique images: composite bison–human (“Sorcerer”), stenciled hands, bear skull altars

Lascaux Cave (Dordogne, France)

  • Age: \sim17{,}000 – 15{,}000\;\text{y.a.}
  • Architecture: “Great Hall of the Bulls” (66 ft × 16 ft)
  • Highlight works
    • “Great Black Bull” (5.2 m long) w/ red cow inside
    • Diverse species incl. horses, deer, felines, mythical “unicorn”
    • Shaft Scene: only human figure – bird-headed hunter vs. wounded bison; ritual or narrative symbolism

Altamira Cave (Cantabria, Spain)

  • Age: \sim11{,}000 – 9{,}000\;\text{y.a.}
  • First prehistoric polychrome cave discovered; ceiling bison in red, black, ochre
  • Purposes hypothesised: magical increase of game, ritual sacrifice shrine
  • Techniques: large‐scale, use of natural rock bulges for 3-D illusion; mixture of symbolism & naturalism

Paleolithic Iconography – Venus Figurines

  • Fertility symbols, tribal success & security
  • Venus of Willendorf (Austria) 24{,}000 – 22{,}000\,\text{BCE} , limestone 11 cm
  • Venus of Laussel (France) 22{,}000 – 19{,}000\,\text{BCE} , bas-relief “Woman with Horn”
  • Catal Huyuk Seated Goddess (c.\,6000\,\text{BCE}) – feline-flanked mother deity

Synthesis – Old Stone Age Manifestations

  • Life centred on shelter and symbolic art
  • Cave usage: habitation + ceremonial/religious rites
  • Paintings served 3 hypothesised functions
    1. Record hunted animals & predator awareness
    2. Mystical guidance to prey locations
    3. Ritual empowerment for successful hunts

Neolithic Revolution (c.\,10{,}000 \text{BCE})

  • Transition to food production & animal domestication → sedentism → villages
  • Consequences: population growth, specialised crafts (pottery, weaving), social stratification

Major Neolithic Sites & Constructions

Stonehenge (Salisbury Plain, England) 3500 – 1500\,\text{BCE}

  • Megalithic stone circle; post-and-lintel trilithons; astronomical & ritual alignments
  • UNESCO World Heritage (1986); showcases early engineering & religious pilgrimage

Skara Brae (Orkney, Scotland) 3180 – 2500\,\text{BCE}

  • Cluster of 10 stone homes; earth-sheltered into midden
  • Interior elements
    • Central hearth; right bed larger (possible male/female division)
    • Stone dressers facing doorway (symbolic display)
    • Stone furniture indicates adaptation to timber scarcity

Catal Huyuk (Anatolia, Turkey) c.\,7500\,\text{BCE}

  • “First City” concept; unfortified, honeycomb of mud-brick dwellings w/ rooftop access
  • Construction details
    • Sun-dried mud bricks in wooden moulds; timber frameworks; plastered interiors
    • Roof ladders double as smoke vents; courtyards occasional
  • Interior usage
    • Raised plastered platforms (sitting, working, sleeping, burials)
    • Wall paintings: aurochs’ heads, geometric motifs in red/yellow/black mineral pigments
    • Storage bins, ovens; rooftop grain drying sheds

Early Civilisations in the Ancient Near East

  • “Mesopotamia” = land \text{between Tigris & Euphrates}; part of Fertile Crescent; called “Cradle of Civilization”
  • Timeline overview
    • Sumerians: c.\,2800 – 2003\,\text{BCE}
    • Babylonians: c.\,2003 – 1171\,\text{BCE}
    • Assyrians: 884 – 612\,\text{BCE} (Neo-Assyria)
    • Neo-Babylonians: 612 – 538\,\text{BCE}
    • Persians (Achaemenid): 538 – 331\,\text{BCE}

Sumerian Innovations

  • Writing – Cuneiform \text{c.}\,3000\,\text{BCE} : wedge strokes in clay w/ reed stylus; motivated by record-keeping & law
  • Ziggurats: stepped temple-mountains symbolising link to gods
    • Great Ziggurat of Ur (Ur-Nammu, c.\,2100\,\text{BCE})
      • Base 210\,\text{ft}\,\times\,150\,\text{ft}; est. height >100\,\text{ft}
      • Mud-brick core, baked-brick facing w/ bitumen mortar
      • Three monumental stairways; terrace temple for Nanna/Sin (moon god)
  • Architectural Forms: arch, domes, barrel vaults; primary material – sun-baked mud-brick & reed

Assyrian Empire Highlights

  • Militaristic empire (iron weapons); capitals – Akkad, Nineveh, Assur
  • Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (Nimrud) c.\,879 – 859\,\text{BCE}
    • Long narrow rooms around courtyards; clerestory‐like high windows
    • Walls: stone dado of low-relief narrative panels + painted plaster bands
    • Lamassu: colossal 5-legged human-headed winged bulls/lions (~14 ft, 16 tons) flanking gateways for apotropaic magic
  • Dur Sharrukin (Khorsabad): planned capital of Sargon II (722–705 BCE); citadel with ziggurat, palace, orthogonal streets

Neo-Babylonian Splendour

  • Ishtar Gate & Processional Way (Babylon) c.\,575\,\text{BCE} (Nebuchadnezzar II)
    • Glazed-brick revetment in cobalt blue with relief dragons (Mushhushshu) & striding lions
    • Part of 8-gateway defensive walls; one of ancient “Seven Wonders” (with Hanging Gardens)

Persian Achaemenid Achievements

  • Persepolis (Throne of Jamshid) founded by Darius I (518\,\text{BCE}); platform complex for ceremonies & governance
  • Key elements
    • Apadana (Audience Hall): 13,000\,\text{m}^2 hall; 36 stone columns 19\,\text{m} high w/ double animal capitals (bulls, lions, eagles)
    • Gate of All Nations, Tachara (Palace of Darius), Hall of 100 Columns
  • Construction system: stone columns + cedar/oak beams over vast spans → early hypostyle precedent influencing later Islamic & Mughal halls
  • Decorative arts
    • Bas-relief processions of tribute bearers; ritual & imperial propaganda
    • Luxurious metalwork (e.g., gold rhytons)

Mesopotamian / Near-Eastern Decorative Motifs

  • Conventionalised natural forms → later Islamic vocabulary
    • Rosette, Lotus flower, Palmette, Guilloche, Chevron/Zig-zag, Tree of Life composite
  • Materials & techniques: glazed brick, polychrome tiles, carved alabaster reliefs, coloured frescoes

Architectural‐Historical Connections & Legacy

  • Mesopotamian ziggurat → later stepped pyramids & terraced temples in Asia
  • Persian columnar hypostyle → influence on Islamic hypostyle mosques & Mughal audience halls
  • Lamassu concept → guardian figures (e.g., Chinese temple lions, Renaissance grotesques)
  • Decorative motifs migrated via Hellenistic & Byzantine art to Islamic & European medieval ornament

Ethical & Cultural Reflections

  • Early art depicts co-existence of awe and utility: animals are both revered and hunted
  • Monumentality served political-religious legitimation (kingship as divine mandate)
  • Heritage threats: modern warfare & looting (e.g., Nimrud destruction) highlight need for global preservation ethics

Numerical / Technical References (All in SI unless noted)

  • Terra Amata huts length 7.9 – 14.9\,\text{m} ; width 4 – 6.1\,\text{m} ; central posts 30\,\text{cm} dia.
  • Skara Brae dresser orientation: always opposite single doorway; underscores ritual display pattern
  • Great Ziggurat base area \approx 210\,\text{ft} \times 150\,\text{ft} = 31{,}500\,\text{ft}^2

Recommended Reading & Multimedia

  • Sherrill Whiton & Stanley Abercrombie, Interior Design & Decoration (Prentice Hall, 2002)
  • John Pile, A History of Interior Design (3rd ed.)
  • Jeannie Ireland, History of Interior Design (Fairchild)
  • Video: “Ancient Mesopotamia 101” (YouTube, \approx5\,\text{min}) – concise visual primer