EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURE

Man civilisa*ons, se.lements and

Broad characteris*cs
BACH 206 :HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE - I
L E C T U R E 1
A R . S H R U T I . H . K A P U R

STRUCTURE OF PRESENTATION

HOW IT STARTED
SETTLEMENTS
EVOLUTION
HISTORICAL PERIODS
THE TRIO
MESOPOTAMIA,EGYPT,INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

HOW IT STARTED
WE HAVE HAD A HISTORY OF HAVES AND HAVE
NOTS
IN HISTORY WE MAY REFER TO EVOLUTION OF
EVERYTHING STARTING FROM THE UNIVERSE TO THE
OLD CITY IN A PRESENT DAY METROPOLITAN.
CIVILISATION HAS ORIGINATED FROM civitas MEAN
ING SETTLEMENTS IN LATIN.

FROM TIMES IMMEMORIAL WE HAVE BEEN TRAPPED

IN THE CENTRE OF A TRIANGLE COMPRISING OF
POLITICS, ECONOMICS AND RELIGION.

POLITICS

MAN
ECONOMICS

NATURAL
RESOURCES

RELIGION
WATER
FOOD
SAFE PLACE

 HOW IT STARTED

MAN
POLITICS

NATURAL
RESOURCES

RELIGION
WATER
FOOD
SAFE PLACE

ECONOMICS

THE VARIOUS ERAS GENERALLY REFER TO THE MATERIAL USED (Generally

the kind of material used Money /Barter System)
THE HUMAN EVOLUTION WAS DONE BY 8000 BC. BY THEN, THE
FUNDAMENTAL UNIT-FAMILY HAD EMERGED.

SETTLEMENTS

STONE AGE
The term "Stone Age" was used by archaeologists to
designate this vast pre-metallurgic period whose stone tools
survived far more widely than tools made from other (soZer)
materials.
The subdivision into the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic
periods. These three periods are further subdivided. In reality,
the succession of phases varies enormously from one region
(and culture) to another, indeed, humanity con[nued to
expand into new areas even during the metal ages.

PALEOLITHIC PERIOD

9000 BC Earliest stage of human culture for which we have evidence.

WOOD FIRE
Hun[ng and collec[ng vegetables.
ECONOMY Food gathering

WINDBREAKS, BEEHIVE ,CAVE STRUCTURES

No agriculture, no domes[ca[on of animals.

Skin clothes(No Tex[le)
Stone utensils(No metals)
Bone, Wood and Stone tools made by chipping
TOOLS from simple rock)

WINDBREAK

(CORE

vFLAKE TOOLS Flake knocked o from the core

CORE TOOLS
vBLADE TOOLS core prepared by striking o long // edged blades.
vPrincipal implements-axes, scrapes,points, long blades with roughly
parallel edges.

HUT

No knowledge of social organisa[on, religion and intellectual

life except late cave pain[ng and burials indicate belief in
magic (Life aZer death)
Our knowledge based upon - Implements , animal / human
bones.

BLADE TOOLS

SHELTER AND HABITAT

Around 2 million years ago, Homo habilis

is believed to have constructed the
rst man-made structure in East Africa,
consis[ng of simple arrangements of
stones to hold branches of trees in
posi[on. A similar stone circular
arrangement believed to be around
500 thousand years old was discovered
at Terra Amata, near Nice, France.
Several human habitats da[ng back to
the Stone Age have been discovered
around the globe

A structure with a roof supported with [mber, discovered in Dolni Vestonice, The Czech Republic,
dates to around 23,000 BC. The walls were made of packed clay blocks & stones.

Many huts made of mammoth bones were found in Eastern Europe and Siberia. The people who
made these huts were expert mammoth hunters. Examples have been found along the Dniepr river valley of
Ukraine, including near Chernihiv, in Moravia, Czech Republic and in southern Poland.

An animal hide tent dated to around 15000 to 10000 BC, in the Magdalenian, was discovered at
Plateau Parain, France.

MESOLITHIC PERIOD(8000-5000 BC)

Disappearance of ice sheets and Paleolithic Period.
ECONOMY-partly modied in some parts with inuence of new clima[c
condi[on.
Big Animals on which Paleolithic man depended disappeared.
Ice retreat opened new regions for new seilements.
Stone implements of much smaller sizes preferred
Also Geometric shapes used (Mieroliths)
Movement of People in this age.
Inven[on of grinding Stone in Late Mesolithic
Domes[ca[on of animals before poiery
6000 BC in Iran, Iraq, Mesopotamia
5000 BC in Europe

Period lasted for several thousand years un[l Neolithic

NEOLITHIC PERIOD (5000-2000 BC)

Marked by 3 signicant inven[ons- Universal
adop[on of techniques for
Producing food
Grinding stone
Making poiery

Result- MAN STOPPED TO BE A NOMAD

Megalithic tombs, mul[chambered,

and dolmens, single-chambered,
were graves with a huge stone slab
stacked over other similarly large
stone slabs; they have been
discovered all across Europe and
Asia and were built in the Neolithic.

Assured food supply made man SEDENTARY and led to

popula[on growth - SETTLEMENTS in new areas.

Changed condi[ons made possible

Accumula[on of possessions.
Elec[on and sa[sfac[on of new needs.
Leisure for inven[on and specula[on
Growth of large seilements ,communi[es and ci[es.
STONEHENGE

Interna*onal trade and eventually establishment of poli*cal units larger than

tradi*onal city, Increase in dependency on local self suciency

 The Neolithic, New Stone Age, was characterized by the adop[on

of agriculture, the so-called Neolithic Revolu[on, the development
of poiery, polished stone tools and more complex.

The rst Neolithic cultures started around 7000 BC in the fer[le
crescent. Agriculture and the culture it led to spread to the
Mediterranean, the Indus valley, China and Southeast Asia
Due to the increased need to harvest and process plants, ground
stone and polished stone ar[facts became much more widespread,
including tools for grinding, cunng, and chopping. The rst large-
scale construc[ons were built, including seilement towers and
walls.
These show that there was sucient resources and co-opera[on to
enable large groups to work on these projects.

STONE HENGE

CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD
Begin using Copper but stone s[ll principal
implement
Village transform into towns
Cul[va[on to oxen and plough farming
Development of Art of Copper Metallurgy
4500 -3500BC in Ancient Near East
Around 2500 BC in Europe

BRONZE AGE

Copper /Bronze as general

material for tools & Weapons
Iron not known

IRON AGE
Iron replacing Bronze as principal element for implements and
weapons
Rare eg. Of early ornaments made of ferrous origin known
Beginning of this age coincides with Chris[an Era and Birth of
Mohammed

The Iron Age in each area ends with the beginning of the historical period,
i.e. the local produc[on of ample wriien sources. Thus, for instance, the
Bri[sh Iron Age ends with the Roman Conquest

Pottery of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages

EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURE
Endeavour of man to protect from rough weather/changing seasons ~
Mother of Architecture.

VITRUVIUS - Imitate nests of birds & lairs (den) of beasts , commencing with

arbour of twigs covered with mud then huts formed of branches of trees
covered with turf.
OTHER HISTORIANS Three types of primi[ve dwellings
Caves/rocks occupied for hun[ng , shing
Hut for the agriculturist and
Tent for those leading a nomadic life.

EVOLUTION OF SETTLEMENTS
Some of the essen[als for upcoming of a civilisa[on are:

WATER
TOPOGRAPHY
AGRICULTURE / FOOD
ORIENTATION
SURPLUS

GRAINS
CATTLE
MONEY
MANPOWER

EVOLUTION
THE VARIOUS ERAS GENERALLY REFER TO THE MATERIAL USED
(Generally the kind of material used Money /Barter System)
THE HUMAN EVOLUTION WAS DONE BY 8000 BC. BY THEN,
THE FUNDAMENTAL UNIT-FAMILY HAD EMERGED.
PALEOLITHIC
AGE

8000 BC

NEOLITHIC
AGE

BRONZE AGE

3000 BC

IRON AGE

1500 1000
BC BC

PLASTIC AGE

1000
AD

HISTORICAL PERIODS
Ancient history

Mesopotamia (3500 BC - 559 BC)

Indus Valley Civiliza[on (3300 BC - 1300 BC)
Old Kingdom (Egypt, 3000 BC - 2000 BC)
Middle Kingdom (Egypt, 2000 BC - 1300 BC)
Shang Dynasty (China 1800 BC - 1200 BC)
Vedic Period (India 1500 BC - 500 BC)
New Kingdom (Egypt, 1550 BC - 1070 BC)
Zhou Dynasty (China 1200 BC - 500 BC)
Ancient Greece (Greece and Near East, c. 3300 BC- 31 BC,
(However had seilements as far back as 9000BC)
Jomon period (Japan 800 BC-400 BC)
Ancient Rome (509 BC - 476)
Yayoi Period (Japan 400 BC - 300)
Kofun Period (Japan 300- 600)
Migra[on Period (Europe 200 - 700)

Middle Ages (Europe, 4th century - 15th century)

CIVILISATION
A civiliza*on is a society or culture group normally dened as a complex
society characterized by the prac[ce of agriculture and seilement in
towns and ci[es. Compared with other cultures, members of a civiliza[on
are commonly organized into a diverse division of labor and an intricate
social hierarchy.
"Civiliza[on" is oZen used as a synonym for the broader term "culture" in
both popular and academic circles. Every human being par[cipates in a
culture, dened as "the arts, customs, habits... beliefs, values, behavior
and material habits that cons[tute a people's way of life
Every society, civiliza[on or not, has a specic set of ideas and customs,
and a certain set of items and arts, that make it unique. Civiliza[ons have
even more intricate cultures, including literature, professional art,
architecture, organized religion, and complex customs associated with the
elite.

PRODUCTS OF CIVILISATIONS
The civiliza[ons beliefs, moral standards, social interac[on, antudes, values
and social consciousness.

ART
CULTURE

ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE & CIVILISATION

Such buildings as the pyramids of Egypt and the Roman
Colosseum are cultural symbols, and are an important link in
public consciousness, even when scholars have discovered
much about a past civiliza[on through other means. Ci[es,
regions and cultures con[nue to iden[fy themselves with
(and are known by) their architectural monuments.

THE TRIO
The three large alluvial systems of the Tigris-Euphrates, the
Nile and the Indus supported three great ancient civiliza[ons
which formed a part of a unied economic system

The cradle of civiliza*on is any of the possible
loca[ons for the emergence of civiliza[on. It is usually
applied to the Ancient Near Eastern Chalcolithic (Ubaid
period, Naqada culture), especially in the Fer*le

Crescent (Levant and Mesopotamia), but also

extended to sites in Anatolia and the Persian Plateau,
besides other Asian cultures situated along large river
valleys, notably the Indus River in Indian

Subcon*nent and the Yellow River in China.

MESOPOTAMIA

Of the three great civiliza[ons, that of Mesopotamia (rst the Sumerian and later the
Babylonian and Assyrian) is both the earliest in origin and in many ways the best

understood, accessible through archaeology and through wri.en

documents. The Mesopotamian culture though separated from us by more than

4,000 years, the inheritance of ancient Sumer can s[ll be recognized in today's
tradi[ons.
Since many of the prac[ces and beliefs of Sumer were passed on to the

reached today's culture.

Specic traits that we can trace back to Sumer include, in the eld of mathema*cs,

Babylonians and Assyrians and hence through contact and deliberate

borrowing to the Hi`tes, the Phoenicians and nally the Greeks, some have
posi*onal numera*on where the value of a number is determined by its
posi*on in a sequence of numbers (as in the decimal system), and the
sexagesimal system by which we divide the clock and the circle, and in the
world of religion, the concept of the crea*ve power of the divine word and
the story of the Universal Flood.

MESOPOTAMIAN -EGYPTIAN
In Sumer there were 15-20 large ci[es, each surrounded by smaller
towns, villages and hamlets.
Urban conglomera[ons of popula[ons, monumental architecture and
wri[ng were all in existence by 3500 BC
In Egypt we do not know of any ci[es of the early period, but the later
paiern was one of a few major ci[es and both medium-sized and
small seilements in between, arranged in this case in a linear paiern
(imposed by the nature of seilement along the single valley of the
Nile, in contrast to the paiern arising in the dual river system of
Mesopotamia or the mul[-river system of the Indus area)
Mesopotamian ci[es, with their winding lanes and their appearance of
having grown up as circumstances required, without benet of a
preconceived town plan

INDUS VALLEY & HARRAPAN

Wri[ng is not known
before the mature
Harappan phase (dated
2500 BC)
In the Indus area, by contrast to Sumer, there were
two enormous metropolises and a host of smaller
seilements, with no medium-sized towns in between
The ci[es look rigid, almost military looking layout on
their gridiron plan

SIMILARITIES
There were contacts between Mesopotamia and
the other two areas but these had no more than
peripheral inuence, aec[ng some aspect of the
style of the developing civiliza[ons.
What similari[es exist are all on the conceptual
level: the prac[ce of irriga[on agriculture, the
existence of ci[es, of monumental art and
architecture, of wri[ng, the use of mud-brick and
so on