This document provides an overview of prehistoric architecture from the Paleolithic to Iron Age periods. It describes the evolution of dwellings from simple cave structures to stone and timber framed houses. Key dwelling types discussed include huts, lean-tos, tents, pit houses, longhouses, and brochs. Defensive structures like hill forts, palisades, and stone towers are also summarized. The document outlines changes in settlement patterns, construction materials, and the emergence of megalithic monuments and burial mounds over prehistoric times.

2. PREHISTORIC
ARCHITECTURE
 This was the type of architecture
invented by the primeval man to get
shelter and protection :
 From variable extreme weather
conditions.
 From wild beasts and enemies.

3. PALEOLITHIC
DWELLINGS
Structures created in wood and
stone.
Fire used on paved hearths.
No buildings for any special
purposes but dwellings.
Categorized into 5 types:

4. CAVES
 The oldest and most
common types of
dwellings.
 Natural underground
spaces, large enough
for a human.
 Example: Rock
shelters, Grottos,
Sea caves.

5. HUTS
Located in southern
French cities.
 Oval in shape(8m-15m
X 4m-6m).
 Built close to sea
shores.
 Built using stakes with
stones as supports.
 Stout posts along axis.
 Floor made of organic
matter and ash.


6. MOLODOVA
A more sophisticated sought.
 Wood framework covered with skins, held in place by
rough oval mammoth bones, enclosing 15 hearths.


7. DOLNI VESTONICE
Palisade of mammoth
bones and tusks set
into ground, filled with
brush wood and turf.
 Oval shape(16m x10m)
 Limestone used for
walls
 Central hearth capped
with an earthen dome.
 Summer structure
open to sky.


8. MEZHIRICH
 Consisted of
foundation wall of
mammoth jaws and
long bones, capped
with skulls.
 Roofed with tree
branches, overlaid
by tusks.

9. LEAN TOS
Erected against one
wall of cave.
 Defined at base by
stones(12m x 4m).
 Skin curtain and roof
draped over posts.
 May have two
compartments, each
having an entrance on
the longer side.


10. TENTS
Skirts weighed down
with pebbles.
 Paved interiors.
 Open air hearths.
 Wooden posts driven
into earth covered with
skins.
 At a later stage, were
secured by reindeer
antlers.


11. PIT HOUSES




More common in eastern Europe with severely low
temperatures.
Oval trapezoidal, pear shaped size(5m-8m x2.5m-3.5m).
Central post holes indicating existence of roof.
Constructed by making shallow depressions in the ground
surrounded by a ring of mammoth bones and tusks.

12. MESOLITHIC PERIOD
Villages arranged systematically.
 Houses aligned in rows.
 More regular plans.
 Artefacts came into existence.
 Settlements began around water bodies.
 Fishing, cultivation of cereals and vegetables
began.
 Animals were domesticated, farming tools were
developed.
 Dwellings were more durable as compared to that in
the Paleolithic age.


13. HUTS






The structure mainly
comprised of bamboos.
Plans were trapezoidal in
shape.
The size varied from 5.530m.
They had wide entrances
facing the water bodies
(rivers).
Floors were plastered with
lime.
Posts were reinforced with
stones.

14. PIT HOUSES
 Shallow oval pits
6m-9m long and 25m wide.
 Roofs were made of
timber.
 Stone hearths were
used as working
slabs.

15. NEOLITHIC PERIOD
 Many changes took place.
 Production of food.
 Developments in agriculture lead to
settling down.
 Dwellings became more sustainable.
 Houses were built with
square/rectangular plans, with sections
divided with animal skins.

16. TIMBER FRAMED
HOUSES
Square plans:25’ x25’
 Mud walls with 3’ deep
footings.
 These were more
durable as compared
to the earlier ones.
 Pitched and thatched
roofs with overhanging
caves.
 Interiors raised,
plastered with sunken
hearths.


17. LONG HOUSES
Rectangular plans(20’ x26’-150’).
 Oak posts made the framework covered with clay.
 Floors were defined with layers of clay over a base
of logs.
 It consisted of 3 types of plans:


18. 








TRIPARTITE:
Entrance facing the east.
Central part being the living
room.
The third part containing deep
storage area.
BIPARTITE:
Entrance
Living room combined with
storage.
SINGLE BAY
HOUSES:
Having living rooms only.

19. DRY STONE HOUSES




Stone built houses with 3m thick cavity walls.
Inner, outer caves were made of dry stones and the interiors
were covered with domestic refuse.
Rectangular plan with circular corners.
Thatched roofs with a smoke hole at the top positioned
over central hearth.

20. MONUMENTS
 Settlements lead to building of
monumental stone architecture.
 These were mainly collective tombs.
 PASSAGE GRAVES
 GALLERY GRAVES

21. MEGALITHIC PASSAGE
GRAVES





Covering mound (38m
x32m) surrounded by wide
space with wide ditch
beyond.
Entrance passage 1m wide
and 1.5m high. burial
chamber(5sqm)
Smooth walls built with
rectangular blocks and fine
joints.
Three cells at three sides
of the chamber.
Built mainly with masoned
walls and corbelled roof.

23. MEGALITHIC GALLERY
GRAVES
 23m long chamber
divided into twelve
sections.
 Covered with a
rectangular mound .

24. EARTHERN LONG
BARROWS
Trapezoid mound(40m x6m approx.)
 Wide entrance and porch with 4 posts.
 Earthen mound surrounded by a bedding trunch
over 1m deep and 0.5 m wide.
 Timber retaining wall 2m high.
 Mortuary houses exactly behind entrance,
constructed using three split tree trunks(600mm dia
app.) placed 1m apart from each other supporting a
ridge post.
 Sloping timber formed triangular framework(1.5m
high, 2.4m wide) at groung level.


25. Fussel’s lodge

26. MENHIRS




Large, upright standing
stones.
Uneven textured, square
shaped, tapered towards
the top.
May exist as monoliths or a
part of group.
Existed as identification
marks at burial sites or
otherwise.

27. DOLMENS
 Two or more stones
supporting a large
one at the top.
 Burial features.
 Also called
cromlechs
(brythonic origin).

28. HENGES






Open air ritual structures.
The plan comprised of
concentric circles.
An altar located in the
centre.
Surrounded by five
trilithon pairs of stones.
Followed by a circle of
blue stones.
Example: The stone
henge.

29. BRONZE AGE
 DWELLINGS
 Enclosed timber framed and dry stone
farmsteads.
 Cooking area and storage were added
features.

30. TIMBER FRAMED
HOUSES




Log built houses with
central houses and lateral
wings.
Large proportions and
layout.
Contained large central
hall(10 x5m),attached six
rooms, five of them
contained hearths.
Logs interlocked by means
of notches cut near the
extremities.

31.  Entrance porch facing the street, living area
and loft accessible by ladder.
 Stone hearth on the left of entrance with a
family bed located against southern wall.
 Wooden floors, thatched roofs.
 Houses placed in rows oriented east-west.

32. CIRCULAR BRONZE AGE





Linked group of earthwork enclosures and hut
platforms(734m x55m).
Principal enclosures surrounded by a timber fence.
Containing 4-5 additional huts(4.8m dia), both with a ring
about 250mm wide.
Ring containing timber uprights supporting a thatched roof.
Porch at the entrance.

33. BURIAL MOUNDS
Single grave burials.
 Variable forms in exterior
and interior forms and
arrangements and
groupings.
 In their simplest form,
barrows consisted of
earth or stone.
 Others were timber
mortuary houses or stone
cists.


34. NEW GRANGE
Stone revetments retaining the side supports to
the burial chamber.
 Sandstone paved floor at the northern and reed
floor on the southern end.


35. TEMPLES AND RITUAL
STRUCTURES
Structures had three to four rooms.(8.8m x 5.2m)
 Megaron like porch leading to a room containing a
hanging altar.
 Followed by a large squarish room with plastered
frieze.
 Two raised altars on raised clay platforms set
against side walls.
 Six supports for a reed thatched roof.


36. DEFENSIVE
STRUCTURES
Palisaded forts in low lying
areas.
 Massive encircling ramparts
enclosing a roughly circular or
oval area.
 Plank walls erected 2-3m apart
with tie beams in between.
 Space between palisades filled
with rubble and earth.


37. Upland forts had timber
replaced with stones.
 A third type, consisting
of parallel rows of timber
laid in consecutive layers
at right angles; forming a
grid.
 Interstices filled with
wood chips, earth and
stones.


38. STONE TOWERS





Circular towers ranging
from 10 to 15m in diameter.
Built in dry stone walling.
Some having an internal
corridor.(3m high)
Main chamber roofed by
means of false corbelling.
Served both defensive
and ritualistic purposes.

39. IRON AGE
Development in domestic
architecture.
Traditional farmstrade maintained.

40. TIMBER FRAMED
HOUSES
 Circular timber
structures.(15m diameter)
 Timber palisaded
enclosure.(120 x90m)
 Palisade consisting
upright stakes edge to
edge in a trench.(300mm
deep)
 Main house defined by 4
groups of post holes.

41. Outer rings supported wall.
 Posts had continuous lintels
with sloping rafters.
 Both sets of posts had
continuous lintels overlaid
by horizontal members,
thatched roof attached.
 Raised canopied roof
containing smoke hole.
 Elaborate porch.
 Central loft
 Ancillary buildings and
storage pits excavated
within palisaded enclosures.

woodburry

42. DRY STONE HOUSES







East facing open courtyards.
Main living room at the rear
end.
On the left, front open, roofed
shelter.
Storage room at the right.
Drains, external terraced areas
were added features.
Roofed with stone slabs.
Internal radial walls tapering in
plan.
Chysauster

43. FUNERARY
MONUMENTS
 Artificial shafts, ritual wells sunken to
12 to 40 m.
 Ditch and earthwork enclosures (10
x10 m approximately).
 Long , parallel sided rectilinear
enclosures containing standing stones,
post holes and hearths.

44. DEFENSIVE
STRUCTURES
Parapets varying from sloping front earth work
backed by stone or timber revetting.
 Stone cladded fortifications reinforced with
timber, fired occasionally for vitrification.
 Gates in the east and the west.
 Century later, eastern gates were elaborated with
claw like structures and the western gates were
enlarged.
 Ramparts were reinforced with stones.


45. FORTIFIED BUILDINGS
BROCH
 Approximately 20m wide.
 10-15m high.
 5m thick wall at the bottom.
 10m wide central court
leading to narrow
doorways accessible by
oval intra mural chambers
with corbelled roof.

46. Timber galleried
accommodation
built against the
inner wall leading
to a spiral
staircase within
the wall accessing
the rampart at the
top.
DUNS
Similar to broch in
size and
structure.
