This document provides an overview of prehistoric architecture from 12,000 BCE to the Bronze Age. It describes how early humans inhabited caves and constructed temporary shelters using materials like mud, reeds, wood, and animal skins. During the Neolithic period, as societies became more settled, they began to build structures like timber-framed houses, longhouses, and dry stone houses. It also discusses various types of prehistoric monuments used for rituals and burials, such as menhirs, dolmens, passage graves, gallery graves, henges, and some of the earliest temples. The evolution of architecture during this prehistoric period paralleled changes in human societies as they transitioned from hunter-gatherers

1. History of Architecture-I
ASST. PROF. PRADIP POKHAREL
PART A: 1 EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURE DURING PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

2. History of Architecture – 1 Part A Western
Course Outline
1. Evolution of Architecture during Pre-historic Period (2 hrs)
2. Influence of socio-cultural beliefs in Egyptian and
Mesopotamian Architecture(3 hrs)
3. Classical Greek architecture, Influence of Minoan &
Mycenaean Architecture (3 hrs)
4. Roman architecture; innovations in construction and
building Materials (4 hrs)
5. Architecture during early Christian, Monastic,
Romanesque & Byzantine Period (2 hrs)
6. Evolution of Gothic architecture (2 hrs)
7. European Renaissance architecture (2 hrs)
8. Baroque & Rococo architecture (2 hrs)

3. Overview-Early Cultures
Human beings inhabited the earth from more than one
million years ago.
By 12000 BCE human were spread to much of the globe
from Africa, Spain, West Asia to the Southern tip of
South America
Generally, was a society of hamlets with settlements
near caves or along the shore and streams, allowing for a
combination of farming and hunting.
The domestication of animal was added slowly and
gradually.
In seeking to bring about places for ritual ceremonies
and communal purpose spaces were started to emerge.

4. Started using mud for bricks, reeds for thatch, bitumen as a
coating, stone as foundation and wood as post and beams
but had no specialized tools and architecture was not
uniform.
Some society were more pragmatic than others some more
symbolic. Some emphasized granaries some emphasized
temple.

5. Pre-Historic Architecture
Period without a historical records. No written language and
medium to keep record (only some sketches and paintings)
Stone Age:
• Paleolithic - (Paleo means Ancient) and the Lithic means
stone) - 9000 BC and above period (Old Stone Age)
• Pleistocene - 9000-8000 BC
• Mesolithic - (Meso means middle) - 8000-6000-4000 BC
• Neolithic - (Neo means new) period - 4000-2500-2000 BC
Bronze Age:
• Early period - 2200-750 BC
• Late period - 750-50 BC
Iron Age:
• Start from 50 BC - till date

7. People were living in
small groups in the
natural caves in good
harmony. The main
livelihood was hunting.
Conscious about ritual
action. In seeking places
for ritual ceremonies,
they have defined to set
out boundary, that is,
space limit without
necessary by enclosing in
all three directions.
They made of it the
stages of their
progressively organized
life.
Pre-Historic Europe

8. They turned a spot of earth into a hearth (special place).
With the invention of fire, it proved to be a great place-
marker. Earliest heart - great cave at Escale (France)
500,000 years ago.
The first documented piece of Architecture.
The age of development of human technology with the
introduction of the first stone tools. In general, people
were hunters and food gatherers.
During 400,000 and 100,000 years ago, stone tools
noticeably improved (cutting knives sharp and easy to
grab). Both building technology and the ritual use of
Architecture became very sophisticate in the later stage.
Old Stone Age

9. Hunters became concerned with religious observance and
their related destiny.
Death was mysterious ,this anxious thought- implicated
the concept of Architecture.
The shelter was pushed beyond mere housing and the
cave becomes the sanctuary. Example - a cave at Monte
Circeo - a limestone hill (South of Rome)
During the search of eternal belief, the hunter started
using art as "A Tool of Expression".
Example - Elaborated details are seen in the cave at
Lascaux, France (10,000 years old).

11. Hall Of Bulls, Rock Painting,
Lascaux (France), 10000 B.C.

12. Hunting Scene, Altamira

13. Bison Painting, Altamira

14. Paint Spray Over Human Hands

15. Hall Of Bulls, Rock Painting,
Lascaux (France), 10000 B.C.

16. Rock Cut Relief Of Mother Goddess
Laussel (France), 18000 B.C.

17. New Stone Age
When Old Stone Age hunters were working in the
sanctuaries at Lascaux, violent change in climate - mild
weather, a period of warmth that melted the great ice
sheets and transformed the scene of grass - shrubs,
covered into stretches of forest.
The hunters slowed down in places on the planet from
Europe to near East and settled and turned to farming
and animal husbandry.
Demographic pressure demanding more food that could be
secured through hunting and gathering and food
productions began on a systematic basis.
This new pillar of existence - termed as New Stone Age

18. The early hunter gatherers followed the migration of
animals, so they built temporary shelters of branches and
leaves.
Improvement in stone tools enabled them to skin animals
and use the skins as cover for their tents which gave
better protection against the weather.
The discovery of agriculture and domestication of animals
led to the development of permanent settlements as they
were forced to nurture and protect the crops. Significant
growth in population.
The first settlements appeared along riversides due to
fertile land, irrigation, transportation, protection and
additional food source such as fish, birds etc.

19. Paleolithic period: Dwellings
Huts, Lean to, Tent, Pit house
Mesolithic period: Dwellings
Huts, Pit-houses
Neolithic period:
Timber-framed house ,Long houses, Dry stone house
Collective tombs: 0-50 thousand
Megalithic passage Graves
Megalithic gallery Graves
Earthen long borrows ( mortuary)
Temple and Ritual structure
Temples, Henges
The Dwellings and Monuments of Europe

20. A.Huts
1. Terra Amata
Terra Amata (near Nice, 300,000-400,000 years ago, is the oldest
artificial man-made structure (huts).
The huts were oval. Made of branches or saplings set close
together braced on the outside by a ring of large stones.
Hearth was placed in the middle; The immediate area was must
for sleeping. There were workspace - kitchen and toilet area too.
The Dwellings of Paleolithic Period

21. 2. Molodova I
Molodova I - (44,000 years ago) . This measured about 8 m (26
ft) by 5 m (16 ft) internally. The shelter consisted of a wood
framework covered with animal skin, held in place by a rough
oval of mammoth bones.
3. Cro Magnon
Cro-Magnon dwellings are most often found in deep caves and
in shallow caves formed by rock overhangs, although primitive
huts, either lean-tos against rock walls or those built
completely from stones

22. B. Lean To Le Lazaret
▪Le Lazaret Nice (France) - 150,000 years ago - was an early
example of a lean-to, about 12 m x 14 m (39 ft x 13 ft), erected
against one wall of a cave and defined at the base of rows of
stones, and possibly post supports.
▪A skin curtain and roof may have been draped over the
posts, and the lean-to may have had two compartments
separated by an internal partition, each with an entrance on
the long side. The larger of the two compartments contained
two hearths.

23. C. Tents
Plateau - Parrain
Plateau - Parrain (France) - 15,000 years ago - tent with a
floor area about 3 m x 3 m (10ft x 10ft). The skits of the tent
were weighed down with pebbles; inside was a small paved
area, and outside several tool-manufacturing workshops.

24. A.Huts
Lepenski Vir
The most important dwellings were found in Lepnski Vir (5410
BC-4610 BC) on Danube
The Dwellings of Mesolithic Period
Built on terraces, in rows of about twenty. They were
trapezoidal in plan and ranged in size from about 5.5 m to
30m (18 ft to 100 ft) square.
Oriented with the wide end containing the entrance facing the
river.
The floors were of hard limestone plaster covered by a thin
red or white burnished surface and were surrounded by posts
reinforced with stones which supported a solid wooden super-
structure.

25. The long pit hearths were lined with limestone, often
surrounded by a pattern of thin red sandstone.
In nearly all the houses, a carved block of river-worn
limestone was placed near the hearth opposite the entrance.
The carvings are thought to represent humans or fish.

26. During the years from Paleolithic towards Neolithic the
patterns of human activities changes:
- Permanent settlement
- Development of agriculture
- Change in temperature led to change in architecture
- People changed in how they think and care about each other
- People wish to live together
- Social organizations became more complex
Neolithic communities lived in small individual house made of
timber-framed houses square or rectangular single-family
dwellings, or longhouses lived in by expanded or multiple
families.
Dwellings of Neolithic Period

27. Timber Framed
▪Nea Nikomedeia (6220 BC) in Macedonia, northern Greece,
was one of the oldest Neolithic settlements in Europe.
▪It contained a number of square houses, about 7.5 m x 7.5
m (25 ft x 25 ft) in plan, with mud walls supported by a
framework of oak saplings set into 1 m (3 ft) deep footings
about 1 m (3 ft) apart and infilled with bundles of reeds set
on end
Plastered internally with a mixture of mud
and chaff, and externally with white clay.
Pitched and thatched roofs with over-
hanging eaves.
The interiors had a raised plaster platform
at one end into which was sunk a small
hearth and storage bin.
Dwellings of Neolithic Period

28. Longhouse
Middle Neolithic houses (4200 BC) from the settlement of
Byalany (Czech Republic) were a longhouse type grouped
together and oriented in northwest and southeast direction
Heavy oak posts supported a
framework of wattle walls covered
with clay.
Three types of plan were found: a
tripartite plan with entrance
section facing south-east, a central
living bay and a deeper storage
area; a bipartite plan in which the
entrance and living areas were
combined; and a single-bay houses
with a living area only.
Dwellings of Neolithic Period

30. Dry Stone- Skare Brae
Most striking evidence of dry-stone Neolithic dwellings
Skara Brae (c. 2500-1700 BC), stone-built houses with
double-skin walls about 3m (10 ft) thick overall. The
cavity was filled with domestic refuse.
The dwellings appear to have been roofed with turf or
thatch, with a smoke-hole positioned over the central
hearth. The interiors were remarkable for their stone
furniture.

31. Neolithic house forms and cluster-form settlements, Skara Brae, Scotland
Skara Brae, Orkney Islands, Scotland c. 2500-1500 BCE

32. Neolithic Settlements

34. In Sittard (Netherlands) 5000 BC 80-meter-long house
accommodated number of families or extended family inside one
roof.

35. The Fort and Cities of Egypt and Middle East
The civilization took place
about 9000 BC near Israel.
It had well organized
communities. City form of
Jericho was without any
streets. The house and shrines
were linked with courtyards
(limited city).
The round houses at Jericho lay
under a pre-pottery Neolithic
township (7350 BC) encircled
by a stone wall 3 m (10 ft) thick,
4 m (13 ft) high and over 700 m
(2300ft) in circumference.

36. Khirokitia
The Khirokitia culture, Neolithic period in Cyprus (5650
BC), was a closed village, cut off from the outside world,
apart from by the river, by a strong wall of stones 2.5 m
thick and 3 m at its highest preserved level.
The buildings within this
wall consist of round
structures huddled close
together

37. Catal Huyuk

42. Prehistoric Monuments
Prehistorically monuments were divided into two parts
▪Structure served as places for the dead
▪Places for tracking the course of time and understanding
the cosmos
Early society had built tombs for important person only,
common people were buried on the shallow ground or led
to rot.
Means you will get home only after you die. Mystery of life
and death and the recurrence of dreams led the
construction of tombs.
Belief dead came to life. Earliest burials in the caves
which they occupied.

43. Several types of structures differ in size and spatial
complexity
• Menhirs
• Dysee
• Dolmen
• Passage Graves
• Long barrow graves
Menhirs
• Freestanding stone
columns
• Erected vertically
• Set in circular
patterns or parallel
rows
• Marking a spot for some ritual purpose
Prehistoric Megalithic Structures

45. Dysee

46. Dolmen
Roof tomb structures, simple chambers
of stone slabs covered with cap-stone
Celtic word means table stones
A box like chamber contains three
vertical stone slabs supporting massive
horizontal roof slab

47. Megalithic Dolmen common in France and England 2000-1000BC

48. Passage grave (Tumulus) was the dominant Megathilic
tomb type, has a corridor lined with large stone slabs
leading to a circular chamber often having a corbelled
vault. Examples: Maes Howe (Ireland) - 3rd millennium
BC, Los Millares (Spain)
Los Millares Spain
Maes Howe Ireland
Passage Grave

53. Megalithic Gallery Graves
▪There is a fine gallery-grave at Mid Howe, Shetland
Islands. It consisted of a stalled chamber with twelve
sections some 23 m (76 ft) long overall and was covered
by a rectangular mound approx 33 m x 13 m (110ft x
43 ft) in plan.
▪A more typical example was found at Esse,
Brittany,where the 6 m (19 ft) long grave was divided
into an entrance porch, and a gallery with three
transverse slabs
Esse, Brittany Mid Howe Shetland island

54. INTERIOR VIEW OF
GALLERY GRAVE
CORBEL ROOF OF PASSAGE
GRAVE

55. Long Barrow Grave

56. Megalithic Gallery Graves
There is a fine gallery-grave at Mid Howe, Shetland Islands.
It consisted of a stalled chamber with twelve sections some
23 m (76 ft) long overall and was covered by a rectangular
mound approx. 33 m x 13 m (110ft x 43 ft) in plan.
▪A more typical example was found at Esse, Brittany, where
the 6 m (19 ft) long grave was divided into an entrance
porch, and a gallery with three transverse slabs
Esse, Brittany Mid Howe Shetland island

60. Temples
Ġgantija is a megalithic temple
complex on the Mediterranean
island of Gozo (Malta). Gigantic
Neolithic structures, which were
erected during the Neolithic Age
(5000-2200 BC).
5500 years old, the Ġgantija
temples are the world's oldest free-
standing structures, and the
world's oldest religious structures
The temples are cloverleaf-shaped;
built up with facing stones and
filled in with rubble. Each was
constructed as a series of semi-
circular apses connected with a
hall in the center.

61. The structures more impressive for having been
constructed at a time when no metal tools were available
to the natives of the Maltese islands, and when the wheel
had not yet been introduced
It is believed that these were used as ball bearings to
transport the enormous stone blocks required for the
temples' construction.

62. Henges

69. ▪Second: In 2100 BC - huge pillars of rocks were
erected in concentric circle around the center of site.
▪The monument was remodeled in the third period
(1500 BC). 30 enormous sarsen stones were brought
from a quarry around 24 miles (40 km) north to the
site.

70. ▪The stones were dressed and fashioned erected 33 m
(108 ft) in diameter with a 'lintel' of 30 stones resting
on top.
▪Each standing stone was around 4.1 m (13.5 ft) high,
2.1 m (7.5 ft) wide and weighed around 25 tons.

71. The thickness stones is 1.1 m (3.75 ft)
and distance between them is 1 m (3.5
ft).
Of the lintel stones, they are each
around 3.2 m long (10.5 ft), 1 m (3.5 ft)
wide and 0.8 m (2.75 ft) thick. The
tops of the lintels are 4.9 m (16 ft)
above the ground.
Within this circle stood five trilithons
of sarsen stone arranged in a
horseshoe shape facing northeast and
6 meter in height.

77. Reference Books
Textbooks
Fletcher, Banister; A History of Architecture, various
editions.
Reference Books
A Global History of Architecture by Francis D.K. Ching
Mark M. Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash.
Trachtenberg, Marvin; Hyman, Isabelle; Architecture,
From Prehistory to Post Modernism/ the Western
Tradition; Prentice Hall, 1986.
Kostof, Spiro; A History of Architecture; Oxford
University Press, 1985.
Lecture Notes from Prof. Vijay Burathoki, IOE Pulchowk
Campus and Brac University, Bangladesh

78. Thank You