UNIT I:

PREHISTORIC
AGE
Deepika Varadarajan
CULTURE
 “Culture” refers to the customs, beliefs, art, music, and
all the other products of human thought made by a
particular group of people at a particular time.
 Culture is the characteristics of people: the sum total
of ways of living built up by a group of human
beings, transmitted from one generation to another.
Culture is manifested in human artifacts (An artifact is
any object made or modified by a human culture, and
later recovered by an archaeological endeavor) and
activities such as music, literature, lifestyle, food,
painting and sculpture, theater and film.
CULTURE
 “Culture” can be defined as the human thought, concept, and
belief appearing in four ways:
• Social behavior
• Common characteristics in society
• Social activities, and
• The creation in society
 “Culture” in general may be divided into two main groups : -
Material Culture : All the concrete things that were created by
man, such as houses, clothes, instruments etc. - Non-material
Culture : the quality concerning human mind, concept, emotion,
philosophy, religion etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
1. Culture is learned:
Culture is not inherited generally but it must be learned and acquired. A child
is instilled with cultural values at an early age. Cultural learning can occur by
informal learning and by formal learning. Enculturation is the process of
learning values of one’s own culture from childhood. If a person learns the
culture of a society other than the one in which he is raised, the process of
acculturation occurs.
2. Culture is dynamic:
Culture is not static it is dynamic. It evolves according to changing social,
political, economical and technical environment.
3. Culture is shared:
Culture is socially shared, based on social interaction and creation. It cannot
exist by itself. It must be shared by the members of a society. Cultural values
are widely held. Each culture has certain widely held and commonly accepted
values that differentiate it from other cultures. The sharing of values is
facilitated by language.
ELEMENTS OF SUBCULTURE
 1. Belief
Beliefs consist of large number of verbal or mental statement about any object
based on person’s specific information and judgment of something about that
object. Based on beliefs person decides what is right wrong, what is good or
bad. Belief about anything has different dimensions.
 2. Value

Values are also beliefs. But, these are those beliefs which are less in number,
core in nature and very difficult to change and is shared by most of the
member of the society values guide that what is good and desirable versus
what is bad and undesirable.
 3. Customs

Customs are apparent modes of behaviour that form culturally approved or

acceptable ways of behaving in particular situations. They consist of every day
or routine behaviour. For example, bargaining for goods and services is
common in India. In west it could be considered rude
ELEMENTS OF SUBCULTURE
4. Rituals
A ritual is a series of symbolic behaviours that occur in fixed sequence and are repeated most
often. In India, Dhothi and Kurta of Khadi was ritual during the independence movement.
5. Language and symbols
Language is considered to be a system of communicating with other people using sounds, symbols
and words in expressing a meaning, idea or thought. Many languages use gestures, sounds,
symbols, or words, and aim at communicating concepts, ideas, meanings and thoughts. This
language can be used in many forms, primarily thought oral and written communications as well as
using expressions through body language. Symbol is anything that sands for something else. The
symbolic characteristics of culture are a subtle, notion, as are all symbols. Symbols are seen in
every act of faith.
6. Stories
Culture is often embedded and transmitted through stories, whether they are deep and obviously
indented as learning device or whether they appear more subtly. The power of stories is in when
and how they are told, and the effect they have on their recipients.
7. Artifacts
Artifacts are the physical things that are found and that have particular symbolism for culture,
when people see them, they think about their meaning and hence they are remind of their identity
as a member of the culture, and by association, of the rules of the culture.
CIVILIZATION
 The word civilization came from the Latin adjective civil, a reference to
citizen. Citizen willingly being themselves together Political, Social, economic
and religious organizations- they merge together that is in the interests of
larger Community. Over the time the word civilization has come to imply
something beyond Organization-it refers to particular shared way of
thinking about the world as well as a reflection on that world in art
literature drama and a host of other cultural happenings. Its original
meaning is the manner or condition in which men live together as citizens.
 A Civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by
dependence on agriculture, long distance trade, state form of Government,
occupational specialization urbanism and class stratification. Along with this
core elements, civilization is often marked by combination of a number of
secondary elements , including a developed transportation system, writing,
standards of measurement, formal legal system, great art style,
monumental architecture, the mathematics sophisticated metallurgy, and
astronomy.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CIVILIZATION
1. Civilization is distinguished by traits
Civilization have been distinguished by their means of subsistence,
types of livelihood, settlement Patterns, forms of government, social
stratification, economic systems, literacy and other cultural traits.
2 . All human Civilizations have depended on agriculture for
subsistence
Growing food in farms results in a surplus of food, particularly when
people use intensive agricultural technique such as irrigation and crop
rotation. A surplus of food permits the people to do things besides
produce food for a living and also results in a division of labour and a
more diverse range of human activity.
3. Different Settlement Patterns
Civilizations have distinctly different settlement patterns from other
societies.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CIVILIZATION
4. Complex Political Structure
Compared with other societies civilizations have moved to complex political structure
namely the State. There is a greater difference among the social classes. The ruling
class normally concentrated in the cities, has control over much of the surplus and
exercises through the actions of a government or bureaucracy.
5. Display more complex patterns of ownership
Living in one place allows people to accumulate more personal possessions than
nomadic people. Some people also acquire landed property or private ownership of
the land.
6. Development of Writing
Writing, developed first by people in Sumer, is considered a hallmark of civilization.
Trader’s bureaucrats relied on writing to keep accurate records. Like money, writing
was necessitated by the size of the population of a city and complexity of its commerce
among people who not personally acquired with each other.
BENEFITS OF CIVILIZATION
 Administrative system
 Protection from chaos
 Protection from hunger, shelter etc.
 Sewage system
 Technological invention
 Innovation, learning, etc.
 People working towards a common goal to survive
 People are not independent, so that everyone works,
forming an economy, making the group self dependent
 People can work together to solve problems and create new
things
CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
 According to Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary culture is “the custom
and believes, art, way of life and social organization of a particular
country or particular group.” On the other hand, civilization is “a state of
human society that is very developed and organized” and “all people in
the world and the societies they live in, considered as a whole.
 The relationship with our daily life differentiates between culture and
civilization. Culture is what people pass down from generation to
generation and what people do in their daily life. In addition culture and
social structure influence each other. On the other hand civilization is what
people create by advancement of human’s wisdom.
 Moreover culture is a generic form of life style, religion the way of thinking
and so on and civilization is general term of development of technology
and economy in order to make more convenient life. Therefore culture
maintains forever or for a long time unless cultures are not forced to change
or people who have unique culture die out. However civilization may vanish
stop developing and new civilization occur.
CULTURE VS CIVILIZATION
 Civilization is a bigger unit than culture because it is a complex of
the society that dwells within a certain areas along with its form of
government norms and even culture.
 Culture is perennial and has impact on humanity as a whole.
Civilization is synchronous and keeps pace with the present.
 A culture ordinarily exists within a civilization in this regard each
civilization can contain not only one but several cultures.
 Culture can exist in itself where as civilization cannot be called a
civilization if it does not possess a certain culture. Hence a
civilization will become empty if it does not have its culture, no
matter how little it is.
 Culture can be something that is tangible and it can be something
that isn’t. But civilization is something that can be seen as a whole
and it is more or less tangible though its basic component, like
culture can be immaterial.
 CULTURE VS CIVILIZATION
CULTURE CIVILIZATION
Civilization includes all those things by means of
Culture includes religion, art philosophy, which some other objective is attained. Type
literature, music, dance, etc. which brings writers, motors, etc. come under this category.
satisfaction and pleasure to many. It is the Civilization consists of technology or the authority
expression of final aspects of life. of man over natural phenomenon as well as social
technology which control man's behavior.
Culture is what we are. Civilization is what we have.
Civilization has a precise standard of
Culture has no standard of measurement because
measurement. The universal standard of
it is an end in itself.
civilization is utility because civilization is a means.
Civilization is always advancing. The various
Culture cannot be said to be advancing. It cannot
constituents of civilizations namely machines,
be asserted that the art, literature, thoughts are
means of transportation, communication, etc. are
ideals of todays and superior to those of past.
constantly progressive.
Culture is internal and an end. It is related to Civilization is external and a means. It is the
internal thoughts, feelings, ideals, values, etc. It is means for the expression and manifestation of the
like the soul of an individual. grandness, it is like the body of an individual.
PALEOLITHIC AGE
 The Paleolithic Age is a prehistoric era distinguished by the
development of the most primitive stone tools yet discovered and
covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory. During the
Paleolithic, humans grouped together in small societies such as
bands, and subsisted by gathering plants and hunting or scavenging
wild animals.
 The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and
interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated
between warm and cool temperatures. The Paleolithic is the first
period of the Stone Age. Traditionally, it is divided into three
(somewhat overlapping) periods. The subdivisions are:
 Lower Paleolithic (c. 2.6 or 2.5 Ma–100 ka)
 Middle Paleolithic (c. 300,000–30,000 BP)
 Upper Paleolithic (c. 45,000 or 40,000–10,000 BP).
PALEOLITHIC TRIBE
PALEOLITHIC AGE
 Paleolithic people of the old stone age used simple stone
tools, and were the earliest people that we know of who
had the ability to make tools. Hunting was a huge part of
the Paleolithic peoples lives, they were nomads, because
their food sources; buffalo, horses, bison, etc, all migrated
and/or had vegetation cycles. They learned to lit fire by
hitting two fire stones and rubbing sticks.
 Religious behavior is thought to have emerged by the Upper
Paleolithic. Religious behavior may combine rituals,
spirituality and mythology .
 When they buried their dead, they buried tools and utensils
along with the dead body as they believed that the dead
person might need it in the afterlife.
NEOLITHIC AGE
 Nomadic Paleolithic people began to learn to farm
and domesticate animals. This produced a surplus of
food, growth in population, and the settlement of
people in one area. This led to the growth of the
first Villages.
 With a surplus of food and increased population
people began to specialize in jobs. Some of these
jobs included farmer, artesian, priest, rulers, and
warriors. These small villages grew into the first
civilizations.
NEOLITHIC EARLY VILLAGES
NEOLITHIC AGE
 With the Neolithic Revolution civilizations now began popping up in unsurprising
locations - river valleys. These river valleys provided people with fertile soil
due to their floods. These floods, combined with the new-found knowledge of
farming and animal domestication, allowed for a stable food supply and so the
Neolithic people settled down around these rivers.
 Sometime around 3000 BC, the Neolithic people around these river valleys
learned how to make and use bronze tools and weapons. This in part allowed
these peoples to construct permanent shelters and homes since they no longer
were nomads, following their food source and looking for caves as shelter.
 The floods that helped to provide the fertile soil for survival also posed a
problem. The floods were sometimes massive and could wipe out an entire
village if uncontrolled.
 After 10.000 BC humans settled down in villages. One of the best preserved is
the Neolithic village at Catal Huyuk in Anatolia (now modern Turkey).
THE ARCHITECTURE OF
EGYPT, THE ANCIENT NEAR
EAST, ASIA, GREECE AND
THE HELLENISTIC KINGDOMS
THE PREHISTORIC NEAR EAST
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 Permanent buildings in pre-dynastic Egypt and the ancient Near East were of 2 kinds, possibly derived from
earlier temporary shelters.
• Single-cell type, beehive-shaped, round or oval in plan
• Multi-celled collection of rectangular rooms
NATUFIAN/ MIDDLE MESOLITHIC PERIOD
 Early housing in the South-west Asia was mostly circular in plan.
 Between 9000 and 7000 BC, transition happened to houses with rectangular rooms.
 In most of the areas, transition was from semi-subterranean drystone huts, to apsidal houses in mud or stone,
and to finally rectangular houses in tauf ( loaf-shaped bricks of mud and straw) or mud brick.
 The development of moulded mud bricks helped in the precision of construction.
 Features like external buttresses were added for visual effect.
LATE MESOLITHIC PERIOD
 In Egypt, the transition to rectangular mud- built town houses took place by the end of the Mesolithic period.
 They were constructed using wattle and daub – on rough stone foundation
 Two- roomed houses – walled open courts adjoining the streets
 Graves became increasingly elaborate
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
NEOLITHIC PERIOD
 In the Near East, similar sized houses were superimposed one above the other.
 Constructed of mud and rebuilt by each generation, earlier buildings being absorbed by
settlement mounds or tells.
 Early tells were simply organised – no palaces, rich houses or non-residential buildings.
 During 8000 – 6000 BC, in the ancient Near East, small communities were composed of
• Single roomed houses with flat roofs
• Built of mud or stone
• Walls and floors buttressed
• Mud- plastered internally
• Painted in variety of earth colours
• Most villages had contiguous dwellings accessed by way of the roofs.
• Small villages had narrow alleys and courtyards.
• Only Catal Huyuk in Anatolia had large number of elaborate shrines. In other places,
architecture was usually limited to fortification walls within which settlements were housed. Eg:
Jericho, stone pavements at Munhata.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 During the Neolithic period, the character of these simple villages
changed in 4 ways:
• Improvements in construction and planning – resulted in multi-
roomed, thin-walled houses of mud brick
• Emergence of non-residential buildings for work, storage and ritual
purposes – resulted in monumental temple architecture of the Ubaid
period in Mesopotamia
• More open forms of village layouts – streets came into existence
• More widespread construction of walls for many purposes including
defense
 During 4000 BC, by the end of the Ubaid period, number of
villages increased drastically in many areas with regional diversity
in layout and spatial forms of domestic buildings.
 Larger townships were formed, with fortifications.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 Storage buildings – Rectangular rooms on either side of
a central courtyard
 Shrines - with rooms in sequence – occasionally followed
a megaron- like plan
 Both types of building – regular and symmetrical
layouts
 Initially, specialised buildings were contiguous with
houses within the settlements.
 Later, they were free-standing.
 Occasionally, temples and storage blocks were
grouped around 3 sides of a courtyard.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 Striking monuments of the Neolithic period in the Near East – Temples
of the Ubaid. They were:
• Rectangular mud brick buildings on platforms of clay or imported stone
• Elaborately decorated
• Rectangular rooms flanked on the long sides by small cells
• About 10m (33 ft) long with broad platform on one end and a table or
small altar on the other side
• Smaller rooms occasionally had ladders with access to upper floors
• Buttresses used to articulate patterns of light and shade
 Terracotta scale models made to study the designs during construction
 Late temples – Friezes decorated with coloured ceramic cones and
bitumen
EXAMPLES – THE LATE MESOLITHIC AND EARLY
NEOLITHIC PERIODS
 Natufian dwellings were of two types:
• Flimsy brushwood shelters or windbreaks built in front of
caves on stone pavements
• Round or oval drystone huts built in open settlements near
water sources in limestone uplands
 The transition to rectangular, mud- brick houses also
happened during this period and continued into the Neolithic
period.
 Ain Mallaha
• Near Lake Hulen, Israel, around 9000 – 8000 BC, there
were about 50 drystone huts on an open site of about 2000
sq.m (21,500 sq.ft).
• The settlement had population ranging between 200 – 300.
• Most of them were circular, subterranean and rock-lined,
from 3m(10ft) to 9m(30ft) in diameter.
• The beehive forms were constructed using reeds or matting
and were probably supported on posts.
• The huts were dug into the bank on the upper side to a
depth of about 1.3m(4 ft), and the entrances were located
on the lower side.
• Some of the huts had stone paved floors and some had
walls finished with lime plaster painted with red ochre.
• Similar huts were found at Wadi Fallah and Nahal Oren,
and at Beidha in southern Jordan.
EXAMPLES – THE LATE MESOLITHIC AND EARLY
NEOLITHIC PERIODS

 Khirokitia
• In Cyprus, , around 5650 BC , the
village of Khirokitia comprised of
round houses 3m to 8m (10ft to 26ft)
in diameter.
• Approached by stone paved roads
• Lower parts of the wall made of
limestone and the domed
superstructure of pisé or mudbrick.
• Some houses had double walls –
outer one acting as a retaining wall
• Some examples show lofts supported
on stone pillars and a number of
outbuildings used for grinding corn,
storage, cooking and workshops
• Most houses gave onto walled
courtyards.
EXAMPLES – THE LATE MESOLITHIC AND EARLY
NEOLITHIC PERIODS

 Arpachiyah
• Around, 5000 BC dwelling which were keyhole-shaped
in plan had walls up to 2m(7ft) thick.
• Rectangular anterooms were upto 19m(62ft) long and
domed chambers up to 10m(33ft) across.
• Walls were of plastered tauf, occasionally painted red,
and roofs were thatched
 Imiris Gora
• In Transcaucasia, around 4660 – 3955 BC, round or
oval houses, 3m to 4.5m (10ft to 15ft) in diameter, built
of mud brick on stone foundations.
• The population of the village ranged between 200-
250.
• Many of it were semi-subterranean
• Most of the houses had keyhole-shaped plans, with
internal buttresses to take the thrust were the domes
abutted
• Some had outhouses arranged around courtyards.
• Later, two-roomed houses evolved with buttressed walls
and flat roofs supported on timber posts.
EXAMPLES – THE LATE MESOLITHIC AND EARLY
NEOLITHIC PERIODS

 At Faiyum, in Lower Egypt, around 6000-5000 BC, only storage pits have
survived.
 Merimde
• Around 4500 BC, almost a century later, on the western edge of the delta
in lower Egypt, there is evidence of a village of huts with oval or horseshoe
shaped in plan 5m to 6m (6ft to 20ft) across.
• Constructed from a framework of posts and covered in reed matting.
• Huts were aligned in rows and some of them may have had fenced yards.
 Hammamiya
• In Upper Egypt, around 4000 BC, beehive-shaped huts of grass and reeds
have been found.
• Circular huts including storage and living rooms up to 3m (7ft) in diameter,
and sunk into the ground to a depth of about 1m(3ft).
 Naqada, another site in upper Egypt, consisted of a similar group of mud
and reed huts.
EXAMPLES – THE LATE MESOLITHIC AND EARLY
NEOLITHIC PERIODS

 The early Neolithic period (7500 to 6000BC) was marked by changes in

building form almost everywhere – round to rectangular buildings of mud.
 Rectangular houses built sometimes on top of earlier round drystone
buildings.
 Speed and mode of construction varied from region to region and with
cultural distinction in The Levant, Anatolia, Zagros, Transcaspian and
Transcaucasian Regions, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
 Shrine like buildings emerged from dwellings but were larger and more
elaborately decorated.
 By the end of the Neolithic period, these shrines had evolved as
predecessors of Mesopotamian temple architecture.
 In Egypt, tomb designs became more elaborate already possessing many
features of later monumental funerary architecture.
THE LEVANT
 The architecture of the Levant during the pre-
pottery Neolithic period was primarily domestic, but
shrines, workshops and storage buildings have also
been found.
 At the beginning of the 6th millennium, most of these
early pre-pottery townships were deserted and
within the ceramic Neolithic period, Anatolian and
Mesopotamian architecture became more
significant.
THE LEVANT – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Jericho
• Around 8350 to7350 BC, spread over 4 ha (10 acres) were the round and oval houses at Jericho.
• About 5m(16ft) in diameter and had evolved from Natufian drystone tradition.
• Built of loaf-shaped mud-bricks with indentations on the convex face to give a key to the clay
mortar.
• The bricks supported domed superstructures of branches covered with clay.
• These round houses were encircled by a stone wall 3m(10ft) thick, 4m(13ft) high and over
700m(2300ft) in circumference.
• The fortification underwent a complex sequence of rebuilding, including erection of cisterns and
storage chambers with roof entry set against the base of an apsidal watch-tower.
• Houses made of cigar-shaped mud bricks with thumb-print keys on the upper surface. Solid walls and
wide doorways with rounded jambs.
• Some had stone foundations and some upper floors made of timber.
• Houses were closely packed but intercommunicated through screen walls and courtyards.
• Highly burnished lime plaster floors laid on gravel and stained red, orange or pink and plastered
walls with red-painted dados. Some walls also had geometric designs.
• Similar houses were found in the Jordan valley, at Munhata during the same period.
THE LEVANT – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Mureybet
• In north Syria, the first two levels (8640BC and 8142 BC) consisted of round or oval
huts with red clay walls supporting a light timber superstructure.
• In level three (7954 – 7542 BC) there were rectangular houses and round huts.
• Both constructed using loaf-shaped pieces of soft limestone laid in a clay and
pebble mortar.
• Later stages had multi-roomed houses with access through roofs.
• One of the houses had a wall-painting showing a zigzag pattern in black on a buff
ground.
 Tell Abu Hureyra
• On the southern banks on Euphates in north Syria, similar houses were discovered.
• Rectangular mud-brick and tauf houses
• Floors made of stamped earth finished with red or black burnished plaster and
walls of white plaster decorated with red lines.
THE LEVANT – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Beidha
• Around 7000-6000 BC in southern Jordan, the
huts were curvilinear.
• Semi-subterranean and up to 4m (13ft) in
diameter.
• The dwellings and storerooms were grouped in
clusters within walled courtyards.
• Entire village surrounded by a stone wall.
• At a later stage, this post-house style was
accompanied by free-standing polygonal
houses with rounded corners.
• Later followed by rectangular stone houses
• Followed by clusters of stone-built houses and
workshops.
• Each house had one room measuring 7m x
9m(23ft x 30ft).
• Floors and walls of white burnished plaster
decorated with a red stripe at floor level.
• Outside was an L-shaped, walled courtyard
and each had several workshops about
8m(26ft) long, clustered together.
THE LEVANT – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Cayonu
• Around 7500 – 6800 BC, in northern Syria, rectangular stone buildings 5m x 10m
(16ft x 33ft) in area were found in the lowest levels.
• A multi-roomed building with a hall and a square room, with two flanking rows of
three cubicles, and plastered floors, had grid-like foundations which may have
supported a suspended, timer-joisted floor.
• In the top levels, a workshop measuring 5m x 8m (16ft x 26ft) overall, made up of
6 or 7 small cubicles, each containing a set of tools
• The first mud brick were found and were simple rectangular one-roomed structures
measuring about 5m x 9m(16ft x 30ft).
• Houses had doorways with curved jambs located at the narrow ends and were flat-
roofed.
 Tell Ramad
• Around 6000 BC, southwest of Damascus, round or oval semi-subterranean houses
were superseded by rectangular one-roomed houses of mud brick on stone
foundations, supported by narrow alleys.
THE LEVANT - SHRINES
 Jericho
• Around 7000 BC, a number of shrine like buildings were found at Jericho.
• A small room, with a niche in which was placed a standing stone, may have been a
cult room.
• Another had a portico, which led to a vestibule and inner chamber containing a pair
of stone pillars symmetrically disposed about the axis of entry.
 Beidha
• Around 7000 BC, there was a group of three buildings approached by a paved
path.
• The earliest was round, with a door facing east, and a flagstone floor, a flat slab of
white sandstone was set outside, against the east wall.
• Followed by an oval building 6m x 3.5m (20ft x 11ft) with a paved floor, in the
centre of which was a large flat sandstone block, and another large slab with a
parapet was placed against the south wall.
• A third block lay outside the building, against the north-west corner of the wall and
to the south lay a basin 3.8m x 2.65m x 0.25m (12ft x 9ft x 10in)
THE LEVANT - SHRINES
 Munhata
• Around 7000 BC, vast circular structure over 300 sq.m in area,
function of which is not known.
• It consists of a platform of large basalt blocks carved with water
channels at the centre and surrounded by a zone of paved basins,
open areas, plaster floors and hearth.
 Cayonu
• Around 7000 BC, a shrine like building 9m x 10m(30ft x 33ft) with
internally buttressed stone walls was used.
• Highly burnished tessellated floor was paved with salmon-pink
pebbles between 100mm(4in) and 300mm(12in) long, set in a red
mortar.
• Across each side of the room were areas of white marble pebbles
500mm(29in) wide and 4m(13ft) long.
ANATOLIA
 Evolution of a highly complex society
 Dwellings at Catal Huyuk displayed an unusual
degree of standardisation and the inhabitants seen
to have participated in highly organised rituals.
 Settlements were fortified in the late period.
ANATOLIA – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Hacilar
• During 7500 – 6000 BC, rectangular dwellings with mud bricks on stone
foundations were built.
• Multi-roomed and plastered internally – painted cream and red bands.
• The dwellings were closely packed with access by way of the roofs.
• Later, during 5400BC, mud-brick rectangular houses measuring 10m x
4m (33ft x 13ft) were built with walls almost 1m thick.
• Some houses had vestibules flanked by lean-to brushwood and cooking
areas.
• Doorways usually located in the centre of the long sides with timber
thresholds and jambs designed to take double doors.
• Cupboards were let into the walls and the storage area was screened off
by using lightweight partitions made of sticks and plaster.
ANATOLIA – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
• Ceilings of stout timber beams were
supported on a pair of centre posts and
reinforced at the corners using cross-bracing.
• The posts may have carried a lightweight
upper storey of wood and plaster,
consisting of a verandah and a row of small
rooms.
• In the final stages, 5400 – 5000 BC, the
settlements were fortified using stone walls
enclosing an area of 70m x 35m (230ft x
115ft).
• Each settlement consisted of houses, a
granary, guard-house, potters’ workshop
and shrines.
• Hacilar was abandoned in 4800 BC, but
before that it was heavily fortified.
• It’s central courtyard was surrounded by
blocks of two-stored houses with access
by roofs and were separated by small
fenced yards.
ANATOLIA – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Can Hasan
• During 7500 – 6000 BC,
at Asikli and Suberde,
houses were close packed
– square or rectangular
in plan.
• Around 4950 BC, houses
were thick-walled and
built of mud bricks
reinforced with timber.
• Evidences of houses with
lightweight upper storeys
found.
ANATOLIA – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Catal Huyuk
• This city is located at the foot of the
Taurus Mountains in Anatolia.
• Around 6250 BC – 5400 BC and was
continually occupied
• Extended over 13 Ha (32 acres) and a
population of 4000-6000 people.
• Mainly rectangular single-roomed
houses, each about 25 sq.m (270
sq.ft) with plastered walls and floors
• Densely packed and contiguous with
occasional open courtyards – but
each house had it own walls
• Floors covered with straw mats and
walls decorated with simple
geometric designs.
• Access was by ladder from the roof.
CATAL HUYUK
CATAL HUYUK - SETTLEMENT
ANATOLIA – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Mersin
• During 4500 – 4200 BC, the fortress of
Mersin in the plain of Cilicia – had a
tiered gateway and projecting towers.
• The garrison’s quarters, which surrounded
a central open courtyard, had flat roofs
and comprised rows of barrack-like
rooms which abutted the defense walls
at the rear and had small walled yards
to the front.
• Initially the rooms were
intercommunicating. But later, they were
self-contained with slit windows,
grindhouses, mud platforms and hearths.
• A larger, more elaborate house for the
commander of the garrison was located
to the right of the main gate.
ANATOLIA - SHRINES
 Catal Huyuk
• During 6250-5400 BC, richly decorated
and furnished buildings which seem to
have functioned as shrines were found.
• Laid out in the same way as the
residences, intermingled with them, but
were decorated heavily by paintings,
reliefs and engravings on themes
connected with fertility and death.
• Hacilar
• During 5400 BC, simple square rooms
with niches containing standing stones,
in front of which were libation holes were
found.
• Megaron-like plan with a porch and
anteroom.
• Decorated with geometric wall CATAL HUYUK
paintings.
ZAGROS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 This region did not produce shrines, although evidences of
large, multi-roomed dwellings were found.
 Ali Kosh
• Around 8000-6500 BC, small single-storey houses
• Rectangular in plan with thin walls
• Red clay bricks roughly 250mm x 150mm x 100mm (10in x
6 in x 4in)
• Large multi-roomed houses came later and rooms up to 3m
x 3m (10ft x 10ft)
• Untempered clay slabs 400mm x 250mm x 100mm (16in x
10in x 4in)
• Open courtyards and alleys separating houses.
ZAGROS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Ganjdareh
• Around 7289 – 7000 BC in western Iran
• Mud brick village with walls of tauf
• Small rectangular rooms, closely packed with access by roofs.
• Roofs made of beams supporting reeds coated with clay
• Walls and floors finished internally with mud plaster
 Tepe Guran
• Around 6500-5500 BC, started as a winter camp with wooden huts – each
with 2 or 3 rooms
• Later in 6200 BC, similar houses constructed in mud brick with built-in
mud benches and tables.
• Floors and walls finished with white or red plaster
• Courtyards with terrazzo made from white felspar chippings set in red
clay
ZAGROS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Jarmo
• During 6000 – 5500 BC in the Zagros Mountains
• Population of about 150 people.
• 20-30 small rectangular houses
• During 6500 – 6000 BC, houses built of tauf with mud floors laid on reeds
• Each house had an open courtyard measuring about 3m x 4m (10ft x 13ft) ad small
rectangular rooms, packed in a space of about 5m x 6m (16ft x 20ft).
 Tal- I- Iblis
• Around 4000 BC, houses were thick-walled, heavily buttressed storerooms
grouped at the centre surrounded by larger living rooms with red plaster floors.
• Siyalik
• Around 5500 BC, light structures using branches, mud and reeds
• Later replaced by houses with tauf walls and mud floors
• Again superseded by rectangular tauf structures on mud brick foundations
TRANSCASPIAN AND TRANSCAUCASIAN
REGIONS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Djeitun
• Around 5600 BC
• 30 houses for a population of 150 people
• Mud and sun-dried bricks tempered with straw
• Rectangular in plan with one room about 5m x 6m (16ft x 20ft)
• Some houses had plain interiors with a hearth located centrally in
one wall which some houses were more elaborate
• Walls coated with mud plaster and occasionally painted red or
black
• Each house had a courtyard and outbuildings and it was shared in
some cases
• Timber grain-drying platforms supported on parallel mud brick
walls in the open space of the village
TRANSCASPIAN AND TRANSCAUCASIAN
REGIONS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Hajji Fruz
• 5319 – 4959 BC in northwest corner of Iran
• Open village of single-roomed detached houses separated by lanes and
courtyards
• Yards with outbuildings made of packed mud
• Houses were 6.5m x 4m (21ft x 13ft)
• Mud brick and mortar
• Internal mud brick buttresses and wooden posts supported a roof of beams,
reeds and clay
 Monjukli Depe
• Around 5000 BC
• Interiors like Djeitun
• Houses separated by a lane into two groups
• Contiguous houses
TRANSCASPIAN AND TRANSCAUCASIAN
REGIONS – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 Chakmakli Depe
• Also divided by a lane into two groups
• Houses made of large mud bricks, 200mm x 500mm x
100mm (8in x 29in x 4in).
• Houses had 2 rooms – small kitchens and larger living rooms
in sequence
• In each group of dwellings there was one with red walls and
floors– might have been shrines
 Dashliji Depe
• Around 5000 BC
• Fortified settlement 45m x 38m (148ft x 124ft)
• Small mud-brick houses and large shrine-like structure
TRANSCASPIAN AND TRANSCAUCASIAN
REGIONS - SHRINES
 At Djeitun, shrine-like buildings similar in
layout but twice in size as houses were
found around 5600 BC.
 At Pessejik, similar houses and shrines
were found were floors and walls were
decorated with polychrome paintings of
animals and geometric motifs.
 Yasa Depe
• Around 5000 BC, a more elaborate
shrine
• Larger and had two rooms
• Outer room – Decorated with wall
painting and contained a ritual hearth
• Inner room – Colonnades of wooden
pillars on the flank walls
• Doorway opposite to the altar decorated
with geometric wall paintings in brown,
red and white.
MESOPOTAMIA – RESIDENTIAL
BUILDINGS
 Umm Dabaghiya
• Around 5500 BC west of River Tigris was a small mound
100m x 85m (330ft x 280ft) by 4m (13ft) high in the
northern plain of Iraq
• Domestic architecture here was very neat
• Houses were oriented north-south
• Closely packed with each individual walls
• Each houses had – living room, kitchen, one or two
rooms 1.2m to 2m (4ft to 7ft) square.
• Constructed using tauf without stone foundations
• Walls buttressed internally with some houses having
acccess from the roofs
• Earliest form of construction of arches – One room
usually divided by an arch spanning its width
• Decorated internally with plaster and red paint and
wall paintings in black, red and yellow with hunting
themes
• At later stages, storage blocks were built around open
U-shaped courtyards
• Single-storey houses with roofs of branches and reeds
covered in plaster
• Small scale construction due to lack of timber locally
MESOPOTAMIA – RESIDENTIAL
BUILDINGS
 Tell Hassuna
• Around 5500 – 5000 BC
• Mound of about 200m x 150m (660ft x
490ft) with many levels of buildings
• Round structures 2.5m to 6m (8ft to20ft)
across and rectangular dwellings 10m x
2.5m (33ft x 8ft) in plan
• At later stages, passages and courtyards
were finished with gypsum plaster
separated large single-storey, multi-
roomed houses with flat roofs and interior
courtyards.
 Yaim Tepe
• 60-70 houses with population of about
400.
• Mud brick houses uniform in size, shape
and character and arranged in parallel
rows
TELL HASSUNA
MESOPOTAMIA – RESIDENTIAL
BUILDINGS
 Tell-es-Sawwan
• Around 5600-5300 BC
• East bank of River Tigris with an
area of about 220m x 110m
(720ft x 360ft)
• Farming village of several
hundred people
• Houses with stone foundations
with walls of moulded mud bricks
• Uniform in size throughout
• Walls and floors coated with
mud plaster
• Externally buttressed to take
beams supporting a roof of
reeds and clay
MESOPOTAMIA – RESIDENTIAL
BUILDINGS
 Choga Mami
• Around 5500 BC
• Enclosed by buttressed walls
• Houses were rectangular and multi-cellular
• One of them had 12 rooms packed in an area of 9m x 7m (30ft x 23ft).
• Construction similar to Tell-es-Sawwan
 Al’Ubaid
• Around 4500-4200 BC
• Set in the River Euphrates Valley
• Dwellings with flat roofs and walls formed of reed mats suspended
between palm stems and plastered with mud
• Some houses with roofs formed by bending bundles of reeds to form
arches.
MESOPOTAMIA - TEMPLES
 Tell-es-Sawwan
• Around 5300 BC
• Large T shaped building with 14 rooms immediately
overlying a cemetery
• Several rooms contained alabaster idols
• May have been a very small temple
 Eridu
• Around 5400 BC
• Is the oldest known settlement on the southern
Mesopotamian region
• 17 buildings have survived – superimposed one above
the other
• Earliest example – A small room about 3m (10ft)
square, constructed of sun-dried bricks
• Contained a cult-niche and a central offering table
• Another example – Approached by ramps, small
square room 3.5m x 4.5m (11ft x 15ft)
• Altar in the niche in the rear wall facing the entrance
and a pedestal as a offering table
• Most buildings had a central cella, entered through
vestibules with small rooms on either sides
MESOPOTAMIA - TEMPLES
 Tepe Gawra
• Around 3600 BC
• Temple sequence similar to Eridu
• Round building 18m (59ft) in
diameter containing 17 rooms
• Outer walls about 1m thick
• Eastern shrine was the earliest of
the group
• Planning similar to the ones in
Eridu
• Later examples had rectangular
sanctuaries – entered through
open porticoes having two
lateral chambers on either side.
EGYPT – RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
 El-Badari and Hierakonpolis
• Around 3200 BC
• Dwellings in these regions had two rooms, facing
courtyards
• Larger living rooms about 2m square
• Rectangular wattle and daub structure with
battered walls and a roof of thatch and mud
EGYPT – FUNERARY ARCHITECTURE
 Badari
• Several hundred burials grouped under dense clusters
 Naqada
• Similar to Badari in planning
• Naqada II tombs were more substantial. Walls of graves
strengthened by sticks and matting or wood-panelled chambers.
• Some had upper compartments to carry grave goods.
• Roofed with mud-plastered sticks and matting or planks
• One example – Stone superstructure like 4-tiered step pyramid on a
square base – 20m x 20m (66ft x 66ft)
• Beneath the pyramid – a pit dug into the sand to hold the corpse
and grave goods.
THE ARCHITECTURE OF
EUROPE AND THE
MEDITERRANEAN TO THE
RENAISSANCE
PREHISTORIC EUROPE
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
• Building technology began to develop early in this period.
• Structures built of wood and stone and fire was used and slept and worked in defined areas
• Only dwellings seem to have existed – no special purpose buildings.
 MESOLITHIC PERIOD
• Examples show villages were arranged systematically.
• Houses arranged in rows and more regular in plan.
 NEOLITHIC PERIOD
• First phase of agricultural expansion
• Greece – Settlement mounds made up of large number of small, detached, square or
rectangular, single-roomed houses, timer framing and wattle and daub infill.
• Mediterranean regions – Round or oval structures grouped together in large numbers
• Central Europe – Villages composed of rectangular or trapezoidal compartmented
longhouses – heavy posts supported a framework of wattle walls covered with clay
• North-West Europe – Small, isolated hamlets or clusters of dwellings built of wood or
stone. Major development of collective tombs and sacred monuments happened here.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 Neolithic funerary architecture – Large communal structures.
• Megalithic passage graves – Clearly distinguishable passage led to a circular or polygonal
inner chamber
• Megalithic gallery graves – Elaborate entrance led to a large oblong chamber- earthen
longbarrows which housed a large timber-framed communal mortuary house with an
earth mound with an internal gallery-like arrangement of separate burial compartments
 Neolithic ritual structures – Temples and free-standing ceremonial sites
• Megalithic temples/monuments found all throughout Europe
• Freestanding structures only in Britain
 BRONZE AGE
• Smaller and more flimsy dwellings than Neolithic Age.
• Central and Eastern Europe – Houses of megaron type built with timber and clay
• France, Switzerland, Northern Italy – Lakeside rectangular settlements of timber
• Mediterranean and British Isles – Drystone houses around shores
• Bodies cremated at later stages and was and urns placed in cemetery sites.
• Ritual architecture was limited – few temple like structures
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
 Fortifications – 2 kinds
• Earthworks and ramparts used to fortify settlements mostly in
Europe
• Defensive towers limited to Corsica and Sardinia
 IRON AGE
• Housing throughout European continent – Rectangular or oval timber
and stone-built houses within fortifed sites. Layouts varied from
small irregular groups of houses to larger settlements
• Housing in Britain – Isolated but architecturally more elaborate
structures
• Hillforts and ramparts built on a large scale
• Fortified towers became common in northern Britain.
• Ritual and funerary architecture – Limited to cult sites
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD
 Dwellings in this period were of 4 different
constructional types.
• The Hut
• The Lean-To
• The Tent
• The Pit House
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD- HUTS
 Terra Amata
• Southern French city of Nice
• Built on sandy beaches close to shoreline
• Oval huts ranging from 8m(26ft) to 15m(49ft) in length and
4m(13ft) to 6m(19ft) in width
• Walls made of stakes about 75mm(3in) in diameter, set in the
sand like a fence and braced on the outside by a ring of stones
• A line of stout posts, each about 300mm(12in) in diameter, was
set up along the long axis – but shape of roof has not survived
• Floors contained a thick bed of organic matter and ash
• Each hut had a central hearth
• The fireplaces were either pebble-paved surfaces or shallow pits
between 300mm (1ft) and 600mm(2ft) in diameter, scraped out of
the sand
• Both types of hearth protected from draughts by small pebble
windscreens.
• Tool manufacturing workshops were also discovered within the huts
• Huts believed to be annually rebuilt on the same site by nomadic
hunters during spring.
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD- HUTS
 Molodova I
 Much later than Terra
Amata and more
sophisticated huts
 Near village of
Molodova in Ukraine
 8m(26ft) by 5m(16ft)
internally
 Wood framework
covered with skins,
held in place by a rough
oval of mammoth bones
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD- LEAN-TOS
 Le Lazaret
• Earliest example of lean-to
• In Nice, France
• 12m x 4m (39ft x 13ft)
• It was erected against one wall of a cave and defined at
the base by rows of stones and maybe post supports
• A skin curtain and roof may have been draped over the
posts
• The lean-to may have had 2 compartments separated by
an internal partition – each with entrance on the long side
• Larger of the 2 compartments contained 2 hearths
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD- TENTS
 Plateau-Parrain
• In the Dordogne region of France
• Tent with floor area about 3m x 3m (10ft x 10ft)
• The skirts of the tents were weighed down using
pebbles
• Inside – Small paved area
• Outside – Tool manufacturing workshops
 Molodova V
• In Ukraine measuring about 4m x 5m (13ft x 16ft)
• Wooden posts driven into the earth and covered
with skins kept in place by large wooden pegs –
enclosed large single hearth
• On the same site, in a later example around
25m(80ft) square containing 2 hearths the skin was
kept in place using antlers of reindeer.
PALEOLITHIC PERIOD- PIT-HOUSES
 In Eastern Europe, where the climate was particularly severe, dwelling pits were more common
 Barca
• In the Czech Republic
• Oval, trapezoid and pear shaped examples have been found
• Measuring 2.5m to 3.5m (8ft to 11ft) in width to 5m to 18m(16ft to 59ft) in length
• Later examples in the same site show regular cross and H-shaped forms with different
activities performed in different areas within the pits
 Kostienki
• On the river Don in Russia
• Shallow depressions in the ground and surrounding these with a ring of mammoth bones
and tusks with hides draped over them
• Relatively large houses were found – 35m x 15m (110ft x 49ft) with 9 hearths ranged over
the long axis
• Possibility of many families living together here during winter
• And this group produced a variety of decorative artefacts – representations of women and
chalk drawings of animals
MESOLITHIC PERIOD - HUTS
 Dwellings of this period were broadly similar to the Paleolithic
period. Two types mainly:
• Huts
• Pit-houses
 HUTS - Lepenski Vir
 Most substantial dwellings of Mesolithic period.
 Located on the Danube.
 Houses built on terraces, in rows of about 20.
 Trapezoidal in plan – 5.5m to 30m(18ft to 100ft) square.
 Uniform proportions and internal arrangements in all the huts
all oriented with wide entrances facing the river
 Floors – Hard limestone plaster covered by a thin white or red
burnished surface
 Surrounded by posts reinforced with stones supporting a solid
wooden superstructure
 The long pit hearths were lined with limestone, surrounded by
a pattern of thin red sandstone
 In almost all the houses, a carved block of river-worn limestone
was placed near the hearth opposite the entrance – carvings
thought to represent humans or fish
MESOLITHIC PERIOD - PIT - HOUSES

 Soroki
• Located in Ukraine
• Shallow oval pits 6m to 9m (19ft to 30ft) long and 2m
to 5m(7ft to 16ft) wide
• Roofed with a light timber structure
• Contained hearths and stone-working areas
• Very similar examples found at Tasovice, Czech
Republic, Tannstock and Juhnsdorf-Autobahn, Germany,
Schtz, Switzerland and Farnham, England.
NEOLITHIC PERIOD
 More substantial dwellings built of timber and
stones erected throughout Europe, They were mainly
three types.
 Timber-framed dwellings – Small, square or
rectangular single-family dwellings
 Longhouses – Lived in or expanded by multiple
families
 Drystone houses – Small, single or multicellular
family houses
NEOLITHIC PERIOD- TIMBER-FRAMED
HOUSES
 Nea Nikomedeia
• In Macedonia, Northern Greece
• Number of square houses – 7.5m x
7.5m (25ft x 25ft) in plan.
• Mud walls supported by a
framework of oak saplings set into
1m (3ft) deep footings and about
1m(3ft) apart and infilled with
bundles of reeds set on end.
• Plastered internally with a mixture
of mud and chaff
• Plastered externally with white clay
• Pitched roofs which were thatched
with over hanging eaves
• The interiors had a raised plaster
platform at one end into which was
sunk a small hearth and storage bin.
NEOLITHIC PERIOD- LONGHOUSES
 Bylany
• Located in Czech Republic
• Longhouse type houses grouped together
and oriented in north-west, south-east
direction
• Rectangular in plan with width of
6m(20ft) and lengths varied from
8m(26ft) to 45m(150ft)
• Heavy oak posts supported a
framework of wattle walls covered with
clay
• Three types of plans found:
• A tripartite-plan with entrance facing
south-east, a central living bay and a
deeper storage area
• A bipartite-plan with entrance and living
areas combined and a storage area
• Single bay houses with only a living
area
NEOLITHIC PERIOD- DRYSTONE
HOUSES
 Skara Brae
• In Orkney Islands, north-east coast of
Scotland
• Stone built houses with double skin
walls about 3m (10ft) thick overall.
• Inner and outer leaves were of drystone
over 1m thick
• Cavity filled with domestic refuse
• Houses rectangular in plan with
rounded corners and up to 7m (23ft) in
diameter.
• Access by a tunnel –like passageway
with doors locked in position by
horizontal bars
• Roof of turf or thatch with a small hole
positioned over the central hearth about
1m(3ft) square and edged with low
kerb-stones.
• Interiors had remarkable stone furniture
NEOLITHIC PERIOD – COLLECTIVE
TOMBS
 MEGALITHIC PASSAGE-GRAVES
 Maes Howe
• This is located in Orkney Islands, north-east
coast of Scotland
• A covering mound 38m x 32m (126ft x107ft)
was surrounded by a wide space, beyond which
was a wide ditch
• Entrance passage 1m(3ft) in width and
1.5m(5ft) high led to the burial chamber which
was about 15m(49ft) into the mound
• This passage was built using coursed masonary
and then in stone slabs as it led to the burial
chamber
• The burial chamber was 5m(16ft) square, with
buttressed corners
• Inclined walls supported a stone corbelled vault
which was around 5m (16ft) in height
• Walls were smooth made of rectangular blocks
with fine joints
• Openings from three sides of the chamber
were cells, raised about 1m(3ft) above the
floor of the main chamber and entered through
window-like openings which was sealed using
stone slabs
NEOLITHIC PERIOD – COLLECTIVE
TOMBS
 MEGALITHIC GALLERY-GRAVES
 Mid Howe
• This is located in Shetland Islands
• Contained a stalled chamber with 12 sections -
23m(76ft) long overall and covered by a rectangular
mound 33m x 13m(110ft x 43ft) in plan
• Similar examples have been found at La Halliade,
France and at Esse, Brittany
 West Kennet
• This is in the south-western part of England
• This lay under a grass-covered chalk mound overlying a
core of boulders
• On the eastern end was the burial chamber
12.2m(40ft) long
• It was entered through a flat façade of large upright
sarsen stone, centre of which was a blocking stone
• A semicircular forecourt opened into the burial chamber
• The central gallery led to two pairs of chambers with
transepts and at the end there was a terminal chamber
lined with megalithic stones
• Gaps between the slabs were filled with drystone
walling and roofs of the chambers were roughly
corbelled
• Originally contained bodies of about 50 people
• Similar example was found at Li Mizzani, Sardinia
NEOLITHIC PERIOD – COLLECTIVE
TOMBS
 EARTHEN LONGBARROWS
 Fussel’s Lodge
• This is located in Wiltshire, England
• This was a trapezoid mound some
40m(130ft)long and varying from 6m(19ft) to
12m(39ft) wide at the entrance
• Entrance porch was supported by four posts
• Earthen mound surrounded by a bedding trench
over 1m(3ft) deep and 0.5m(18in) wide.
• A timber retaining walls about 2m(7ft) high was
also constructed
• The mortuary house was located behind the
entrance constructed using 3 split tree trunks
about 600mm(2ft) in diameter and was set
7m(23ft) apart supported by a ridge post
• Sloping timbers rested on this forming a
triangular framework about 1.5m(5ft) high and
2.4m to 3m(8ft to 10ft) wide at ground level
this was then covered with planks
• Whole building then covered by a layer of
turves
• Over 50 people were buried here in 4
separate groups
NEOLITHIC PERIOD – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES

 TEMPLES
 Ggantija (2700 BC) and Hal Tarxien
(2000 BC)
• Located in Malta
• Trefoil temple plans
• Constructed from megalithic elements
• Formally planned temples
• Concave monumental facades
• Trilithion entrance passages
• Pairs of lateral and terminal chambers
built of tooled upright walls and
megalithic blocks
• Inner clambers closed using doors
• Successive chambers were corbelled
narrowing the roof opening and then
covered with beams and thatch – earliest
known use of this type of construction
• Temple was plastered internally and then
painted
NEOLITHIC PERIOD – TEMPLE AND
RITUAL STRUCTURES
 RITUAL STRUCTURES
 Two main forms of open-air ritual structure found in Neolithic Europe
• Elongated – Upright stones found in south-west of England,
Merrivale and Stalldon Down on Dartmoor and Carnac, Brittany
• Roughly Circular- Small Circles found at Scorhill on Dartmoor and
Stanton Drew in Somerset
 Large Circles including 2 types of structures:
• Enclosures with Causeways (3300BC – 2500BC) Eg: Windmill Hill
in Wiltshire, Whitehawk in Sussex
• Henges (2500BC – 1500BC) Eg: Avebury and Woodhenge in
Wiltshire, Mount Pleasant in Dorset
 Only found in Britain
BRONZE AGE - DWELLINGS
 Timber-Framed Houses
 Wasserburg, Germany
• Substantial log-built houses
• Rectangular plan - 6 rooms- 5 of
which contained hearths, main
hall measuring 10m x 5m(33ft x
16ft)
• Logs interlocked by means of
notches cut near the extreme
corners
• Similar examples found at
Biskupin in poland, Heuneburg in
Germany.
• Circular planned houses were
found at Itford Hill, Thorny Down
and Plumpton Plain in England
BRONZE AGE – BURIAL MOUNDS
 Leubingen, Germany (1500 BC)
• 24m(112ft) in diameter and
8.5m(28ft) high
• The central cairn was surrounded
by a ring like ditch about
20m(66ft) in diameter covering a
thatched oak burial chamber
built with 18 posts arranges in a
rectangle 3.9m x 2.1m(13ft x
7ft)
• The chamber was triangular in
section and with side supports in
an angle and notched into a
central timber ridge-post.
• Mortuary house made of oak
planks and thatch
BRONZE AGE – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
 TEMPLES
• Very flimsy temples compared with the ones of the
Neolithic period
 Salacea, Russia
• Three rooms – 8.8m x 5.2m (29ft x 17ft) overall
• Megaron-like porch
• Next a room with hanging altar
• Then a square room with 2 fixed altars and raised clay
platforms
• 6 posts supported a roof which was of thatch.
BRONZE AGE – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
 RITUAL STRUCTURES
 Stonehenge in Wiltshire
 4 stages of construction:
 The first stage:
 The first Stonehenge was a large earthwork or Henge, comprising a
ditch, bank, and the Aubrey holes, all probably built around 3100
BC. The Aubrey holes are round pits in the chalk, about 1m wide
and deep, with steep sides and flat bottoms. They form a circle
about 284ft in diameter.
 Excavations have revealed cremated human bones in some of the
chalk filling, but the holes themselves were probably made, not for
the purpose of graves, but as part of the religious ceremony. Shortly
after this stage Stonehenge was abandoned, left untouched for over
1000 years.
BRONZE AGE – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
 The second stage:
 The second and most dramatic
stage of Stonehenge started
around 2150 BC.
 Some 82 bluestones from the
Preseli mountains, in south-west
Wales were transported to the
site. This journey covers nearly
240 miles.
 Once at the site, these stones
were set up in the centre to form
an incomplete double circle.
During the same period the
original entrance of the circular
earthwork was widened and a
pair of Heel Stones were
erected.
BRONZE AGE – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
 The third stage:
 The third stage of Stonehenge,
about 2000 BC, saw the arrival
of the Sarsen stones, which were
almost certainly brought from the
Marlborough Downs near
Avebury, in north Wiltshire, about
25 miles north of Stonehenge.
 These were arranged in an outer
circle with a continuous run of
lintels. Inside the circle, five
trilithons were placed in a
horseshoe arrangement, whose
remains we can still see today.
BRONZE AGE – TEMPLE AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
 Final stage: The final stage took place soon after
1500 BC when the bluestones were rearranged in
the horseshoe and circle that we see today. The
original number of stones in the bluestone circle was
probably around 60, these have long since been
removed or broken up.
 Some remain only as stumps below ground level.
BRONZE AGE – DEFENSIVE
STRUCTURES
 Fortifications – Los Millares in Spain, Zambujal in
Portugal, Biskupin in Poland
 Stone Towers – Filitosa, Foce and Balestra in
Corsica
IRON AGE - DWELLINGS
 Timber-framed houses
 Drystone Houses

 TIMBER-FRAMED HOUSES
 Little Woodbury, Salisbury
• Circular Timber House
• 15m(49ft) in diameter
• Inside an oval timber enclosure
about 120m x 90m(394ftx 295ft)
overall
• Enclosure consisted of upright posts
2m(7ft) high around trench about
300mm(1ft) deep
• Thatch roof
• Roof had raised canopy for the
smoke to escape
IRON AGE - DWELLINGS
 DRYSTONE HOUSES
 Chysauster in Corwall, England
• Houses arranged in 2 rows of 4 about
15m(49ft)apart
• Oval in plan – 27m x 21m(89ft x 69ft)
• Access from east – courtyard open into 3
or 4 rooms
• At the rear of courtyard, opposite to the
entrance was the main living room up to
10m(33ft) in length
• Areas for shelter and rooms for storage
• Many houses had drains and external
terraced areas –garden plots
• Drystone houses also found at Calf of
Eday in Orkney Islands and Clettravel in
Scotland
IRON AGE - FUNERARY MONUMENTS

 3 kinds:
• Artificial shafts and Ritual wells - Eg: Holzhaused
in Bavaria
• Small double square temples – Eg: Heathrow,
England
• Long rectangular or elongated oval sanctuary
sites – Eg: Libenice, Czech Republic
IRON AGE - DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES
 HILL FORTS
 Maiden Castle
• Single rampart and ditch
• Built using timber
• Gates at east and west
• In the later stages, it was reinforced with stone
 FORTIFIED BUILDINGS
 Clickhimin, Scotland
• Central court of 10m(33ft) in diameter
• Entrance passage on the west
• Accessed from the courtyard were inner oval chambers with
corbelled roof