Prehistoric and Ancient Architecture Flashcards
Shift from nomadic, hunter-gatherer system to a combination of farming and hunting. Created societies of villages near caves or along shores and streams.
Early Dwellings
Earliest form of human settlement.
Rock Caves
A cave in France containing wall paintings and engravings of Paleolithic humans thought to date from c. 13,000-8,500 BCE.
Lascaux Cave
Primitive lifestyle was nomadic.
Temporary shelter were designed in direct response to climate, local materials, and hunting patterns.
Built with limited investment in time and energy.
Built Shelter
A portable Indian shelter.
Tipi
A stone beehive-shaped hut with a corbelled roof, commonly associated with the Irish coastline.
Clochán
A traditional rendered stone dwelling in Apulia, southern Italy, in which square chambers are roofed with conical vaulted roofs.
Trullo
An American Indian dwelling, usually of round or oval shape, formed of poles overlaid with bark, rush mats, or animal skins.
Wigwam
A Navaho Indian dwelling constructed usually of earth and logs and covered with mud and sod.
Hogan
An Eskimo house, usually built of blocks of hard snow or ice in the shape of a dome, or when permanent, of sod, wood, or stone.
Igloo
Villages were connected by shared mortuary and
goddess ritual centers.
Religious Structures
Ancient stone monuments.
Megaliths
A prehistoric monument consisting of
an upright stone, usually standing alone
but sometimes aligned with others in parallel
rows.
Monolith; Menhir
From the words daul, a table, and maen, a stone; A prehistoric monument consisting of two or more large upright stones supporting a horizontal stone slab or capstone, and usually regarded as a tomb.
Dolmen
The most basic construction system for structures.
Trabeation
Three standing stones, two on the sides and one at the back.
Cove
A structure consisting of two upright stones supporting a horizontal lintel.
Trilithon
A circular arrangement of megaliths enclosing a dolmen or burial mound.
Cromlech
Associated with burials, others with cremation.
They also worked as celestial observatories that were meant to follow the movements of the moon and stars, as would have been typical for early agrarian-based societies.
Stone Circle
A megalithic monument consisting of four concentric rings of trilithons and menhirs centered around an altar stone.
It is believed to have been used by a sun cult or for astronomical observations.
Stonehenge
An artificial mound of earth or stone, especially over an ancient grave. Also called barrow.
Tumulus
Ice Age to the Neolithic Age; the earth’s climate warmed up.
As settlements became more permanent, hunters started farming communities.
New architecture was also developed to represent communal and spiritual values.
Early Cities
One of the world’s oldest continually-inhabited city.
A hilltop city; citizens lived in stone houses with plaster floors, surrounded by high walls and towers.
Jericho
One of the earliest Neolithic village.
Utilized a complex architectural system built according to a preconceived plan, suggesting a structured social organisation.
Khirokitia
Largest and most well-preserved Neolithic village.
Consisted of rectangular flat-roofed houses packed together into a single architectural mass
No streets or passageways.
Çatal Hüyük
