The study of prehistoric architecture (Stone Age) invites us to embark on a captivating journey through time, unraveling the remarkable achievements of our ancient ancestors. Long before written records, humans across the globe displayed incredible ingenuity in designing and constructing structures that served their growing needs.
From the towering stone circles of Stonehenge to the awe-inspiring cave dwellings of Cappadocia, prehistoric architecture offers invaluable insights into the development of human civilization. In this article, we delve into the fascinating world of prehistoric architecture, examining the diverse architectural styles, materials, and purposes of these ancient structures.
Also called the Stone Age because of the absence of metal implements.
What is Pre-History?
There were cultures and civilizations that lived before the time of writing and also before recorded history. Only a few pieces of evidence were found about the earliest dwellings of ancient people, and how they survived and lived!
Ancient Civilization Methods (Stone Age)
Stone Age is the Earliest human settlement. Early human beings and hominid ancestors learned many things slowly and gradually, such as controlling fire, recognizing social links, maintaining a bond with the remains of the dead, engaging in symbolic thought, and fashioning symbolic images and objects.
- Started 2.5 million years ago.
- Period – Lasted 3.4 million years, ended between 4,000 BCE and 2,000 BCE (from Wikipedia)
- The main source of survival is hunting Animals and gathering fruits and grains.
- Food source – Wild animals and plants
- Settlements – Semi-permanent homes (like base camp), huts
- Tools – Stone tools, wood, bones, shells
- The evidence of using stone tools was found in the animal bones with tool marks.
- Artifacts – Stone-made artifacts, skull portraits,
- Arts – Paintings, and colors were from pigments of powdered minerals – iron oxide or ocher, charcoal, clays, animal fats, and vegetable dyes. Paintings were with scenes(interior portions of walls and roofs of rocks) of hunting wild animals, cattle grazing in fields, etc.
- Fabrics – wool and cotton
- Materials – stones, timber, animal skins, bone, clay. (Clay to make pottery).
- Hunting creatures – Mammoths(ten-foot tall hairy elephants)
- Advancements
- Adaptation to climate
- Crop cultivation
- Cooking
- Tool-making traditions were more perfected, and new-point flaking technologies succeeded.
- Settlements grew
- Religion.
- Habitats –
- Mud huts /Small Huts – Mud with a combination of water and materials like reed, and straw(Binders).
- Large Huts – Include multiple hearths inside and openings at the top.
- A simple arrangement of stones to hold branches of trees in position.
- Stone structures with timber roofs.
- Bones into a dome, the gaps between bones were filled with moss and shrubs and covered the whole structure with turf or mammoth hide.
- Materials used in the construction of dwellings
- Branches
- Brushes
- Animal hides
- Timbers and wood stakes
- Fiber Cordage
- Wattle and daub (basket works of sticks covered with plaster)
- Melting and smelting of copper mark the end of the Stone Age and the beginning of the Bronze Age.
- The dead were treated with respect.
- Successive periods – Bronze Age and Iron Age
Classification of Stone Age
The Stone Age or Primitive Age consists of three periods.
- Paleolithic Era or Old Stone Age (2.5 Million years ago) (30,000 BC to 20,000 BC)
- Mesolithic Era or Middle Stone Age (15000 years ago) (20,000 BC to 9,500BC)
- Neolithic Era or New Stone Age (11000 years ago) (9,500BC to 4,500BC)
Paleolithic Era
The Paleolithic Era or the Old Stone Age is considered the longest Era of the three Ages. It extends from 2.5 Million Years ago to 15000 years ago. In this age, man was a hunter and a food gatherer moving from one place to another in small groups. It is distinguished by the development of stone tools. Humans used primitive tools made of stone, wood, and bones. Also, they discovered fire which was used for their protection, cooking, and hunting.
Mesolithic Era
The Mesolithic Era of the Stone Age comes after the end of the Paleolithic Era. Humans began to raise animals for their food. Forests began to develop and humans started to settle near sources of water. They were relying on constructing temporary structures depending on the season. Therefore, timber and other forest materials gave rise to new developments, unlike the use of bone and skins in the Paleolithic era. They began to build shelters from tree trunks and leaves.
Neolithic Era
The Neolithic Era existed between 15000 – 11000 years ago. Further developments took place, where people utilized mud-brick to construct houses.
Architecture and Dwellings in the Stone Age
- Three main types of early dwellings include
- Cliff dwellings
- Thatch and mud structures
- Free-standing stone monuments
The earliest constructions were from organic materials and new discoveries were happening continuously. The shapes of the houses were round, domes, and conical with internal wood frames and built with organic materials.
Paleolithic Dwellings
Paleolithic people primarily used natural materials such as mammoth bones, animal hides, and branches for constructing their shelters. Paleolithic dwellings of the Stone Age are often scarce due to the passage of time, and our understanding of these structures is continually evolving as new archaeological discoveries are made. These dwellings are mainly of 4 types –
- Caves
- Huts
- Mammoth-Bone Structures
- Pit Houses
Caves (cave at Lascaux in France)
Caves: Caves are the oldest and most common type of early human living spaces that provide natural protection. They are mostly natural underground cave spaces and are large enough for humans to accommodate. Examples include rock shelters, Grottos, and sea caves.
Image source: http://www.lascaux-dordogne.com
Huts
Huts are built in Southern French cities, close to sea shores. They were built mostly in oval shape using stout posts along the axis, and stakes with stones as supports, while the floor is organic matter and ash.
An artist’s rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France).
Mammoth-Bone Structures
Mezhirich, located in Ukraine, is known for the discovery of dwellings made from the bones of mammoths. These structures were circular and likely covered with animal hides or other materials.
- Molodova: In the Molodova, the wood framework is covered with skins, held in place by rough oval mammoth bones.
- Mezhirich: It consists of walls of mammoth jaws and long bones, capped with skulls. And roofed with tree branches, overlaid by tusks.
Pit Houses
Pit houses were shallow depressions in the ground, sometimes also surrounded by mammoth bones and tusks. They were dug into the ground providing insulation and protection, both from the animals and weather conditions.
Traditional pit house at Mesa Verde
Image source: earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com
Mesolithic Dwellings
Humans began to settle, houses were aligned in rows and thus villages started to originate. Most of the Mesolithic dwellings were temporary shelters that began to develop as per the season. These dwellings were found to be more suitable for human needs than the dwellings of the Paleolithic Era.
The dwellings were mainly of temporary houses
- Bambuti Huts
- Lapp Tents
- Pit houses
Bambuti Huts
The construction of huts/shelters was made using bamboo and other tree trunks and leaves. Plans were trapezoidal and had wide entrances that faced rivers. The posts were reinforced with stones and floors were plastered with lime. It involved firstly, digging holes; secondly, inserting/burying wooden poles in holes; thirdly, tying the poles together to create the shell of the building; and lastly, covering the shell with leaves/grass.
Image source: Wikipedia
Lapp Tents
The term “Lapp” is a reference to the Sámi people, who are indigenous to the northern parts of Scandinavia, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia. Originating from the use of Sami people, these tents were often conical in shape, with a wooden frame covered by a covering made of animal hides.
Image source: memory.com
Pit Houses
Similar to Paleolithic cultures, Mesolithic communities built pit houses. However, they were longer and wider than the previous Era. These were semi-subterranean structures dug into the ground and covered with a roof made of branches, hides, or thatch. Pit houses provided insulation and protection from the elements. Stone hearths were as working slabs.
Image source: urbanrealm.com
Neolithic Dwellings
Drastic changes took place in the Neolithic era and people used to build permanent structures using mud bricks to construct houses. Moreover, dwellings became more sustainable, and long-lasting, while the concept of communities/villages began to develop.
Longhouses
The Neolithic people were great builders and utilized mud-brick houses. These houses were long, narrow timber dwellings, where the outer walls sometimes, were of wattle and daub with pitched, thatched roofs, and are supported by poles.
Image source: historicconcepts.co.uk
Communities
The houses in Communities were closely packed together, and access was often through the roof. The walls of these houses were decorated with intricate murals.
Megalithic Monuments
The Neolithic Era of the Stone Age is famous for Megalithic monuments, where the construction involves placing of huge stone structures in a typical form. Examples include Stonehenge in England, the dolmens in Western Europe, and menhirs (standing stones). These structures were likely used for religious, ceremonial, or astronomical purposes.
Image source: Wikipedia
10 Prominent Examples of Stone Age Architecture
Cave at Lascaux, France
A good example of the caves of Paleolithic architecture of the Stone Age is the cave at Lascaux in France. It had traces of human living where the walls and ceilings were covered with paintings. These were paintings of prehistoric oxen, rhinoceroses, horses, deer, elk, and other animals, while the colors were achieved using pigments of powdered minerals, packed in tubes of hollow bones. These paintings exhibit cultural significance and the way they lived.
Terra Amata (France)
The dwellings(21 dwellings found by archeologists) of Terra Amata are the earliest homo Erectus dwellings in France. They also represent the earliest first known human-construction dwelling. Roughly oval in plan, measuring 26-49 ft in length, and 13-20 ft in width, the walls were 3 inches in diameter and made of palisade( fence of wooden stakes fixed in the ground) of branches. Down the center were two of 12 inches in diameter which the walls and roof together. Edges were covered with a pile of rocks. In a few huts, central hearts, and stone tools were found.
This dwelling is reconstructed from holes left by decayed wooden structural members and rocks placed around the perimeter.
Cro – Magnon Dwelling (Ukraine)
Cro-Magnon dwellings in Ukraine of the Stone Age were round/domed/conical in shape. These houses have internal frames of wood covered with animal hides. They were braced at the bottom with massive mammoth bones and rings of mammoth skulls locked together. Some houses measured roughly 30 ft in diameter. Some of the houses were found with hearths which clearly shows that they had used fire.
Monte Verde Dwellings (Southern Chile)
Monte Verde dwellings of Southern Chile were believed to have been constructed in the later part of the Paleolithic era of the Stone Age by archeologists. These dwelling fragments were found under a layer of sealed oxygen, thus preserving the remains. Bones were replaced with the use of organic materials such as base frame timbers, mammoth hide covers, wood stakes, and fiber cordage. Preserved for several years, these dwellings were with wooden supports, and hide coverings where the braided cords attached the skins to wooden frames.
Lepenski Vir (Serbia)
Facing the river, the dwellings were trapezoidal in plan. A fence of wooden stakes was placed on either side, leaning against an inclined central ridge pole. The floors of the huts were covered with earth plaster around a central stone-lined hearth.
Beehive Huts – Village des Bories
The Beehive shape structures were using local stone quarried locally – thin and small. They were roughly laid in horizontal layers to fit together. Each horizontal layer was one above the other reducing in length to create a vault shape in the interiors. These types of stone structures were multifunctional – for shelters (both humans and animals) and storage of grains.
The Göbekli Tepe Sanctuary
The Göbekli Tepe Sanctuary(Neolithic Era of Stone Age) in Southwestern Turkey was known as the first oldest temple site in the world. Pieces of evidence found by archeologists suggest that nomadic people created a shrine or sanctuary for the dead. Many structures were built using large T-shaped stone piers (sometimes reaching lengths of 23ft), set on bedrock and they were carved with various animal images.
Catalhoyuk (Southwest Turkey)
Catalhoyuk, in modern-day Turkey, is another well-known Neolithic site. Considered an established city of the Neolithic Era with nearly 32 acres of area, it comprised houses, workshops, and shrine rooms. Even though there were no streets, the houses in Catalhoyuk were closely packed together, without any doors/windows. The entry was through the hole in the roof, which also served as a vent for smoke from the central hearth. These connected structures acted as a defensive community.
The walls of residences were built using timber frames where the panels were filled with mud brick and plastered with clay. They were also decorated with intricate murals.
Ggantija temples in Malta
One of the main examples of temple architecture (megalithic temples) in the Neolithic Era of the Stone Age was the Ggantija temples in Malta. They are one of the oldest free-standing structures and were spatially more complex. This complex was built in stages with connected clusters of round-shaped rooms. While the external walls were large limestone-facing blocks, the internal walls were finished in cut blocks of deep yellow limestone.
Ggantija temples in Malta are a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site
Stone Henge – Predominant in the Stone Age
Stone henges mark sacred spaces but the exact purpose is still unknown. Few investigations by archeologists suggest that they served as astronomical observatories/ or to mark phases and eclipses of the moon.
The Stone Age is famous for the use of huge rocks – Megaliths. These Megaliths are predominantly found in Stone Henges. Henges were of wood or stone arranged in circles. Henges are quite common and best-known structures in the Stone Age and seem to have had some kind of religious or astronomical significance.
Three different types of these massive stone structures: Menhir, dolmen, and cromlech.
It consists of a series of concentric circles and U-shapes. Sandstone blocks were erected in a layout that aligned with midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset and the positions of the moon. The outer circle is post and lintel construction with stone blocks thirteen feet high. The lintels were slightly in curve form creating a circle and are attached end to end. The inner circles are single upright bluestones.
Conclusion
The examples of Stone Age/Pre-historic architecture vary from natural caves, where there is no construction involved to the long huts and monuments that involved the discovery of mudbricks and stone structures. These not only exhibit the use of natural materials but also represent the cultural, economic, and astronomical significance of early humans. Moreover, they represent the way they lived in the form of paintings that live traces of human history.
The Stone Age is a significant part of prehistory, marked by the use of stone tools and stone structures/monuments. The structures from the Stone Age reflect the technological and cultural evolution of early human societies as they transitioned from simple shelters to more complex and permanent dwellings.
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