2011 AR 103

History of

Architecture
CLASS 3

Nipun George
SCMS School of Architecture, Karukutty, Kochi.

MODULE 1

Understanding Architecture of Early Cultures

Paleolithic age, Ice Age, Neolithic Age
25,000BC to 23,000BC Apollo 11 cave in Africa,

17,000BC to 15,000BC Wadi Kubbaniya in Egypt,

10,500BC to 8000BC Jomon Culture in Japan,
10,500BC to 9500BC Monte Verde in South America
10,000BC to 8200BC Eynan / Ain Mallaha in Africa,
10,000BC to 9000BC Clovis Culture in North America
9000BC to 3000BC Pachmarhi hills in India

WADI KUBBANIYA (17,000 BC15,000BC)

EGYPT, AFRICA

WADI KUBBANIYA

 Cluster of late Paleolithic camp located in Egypt

Culture recognized from tools found scattered over an
ancient surface, sometimes with hearths.
They were found in two different topographic zones
on top of dunes and the floor of the Wadi (stream bed)
No evidence of houses
Ideal place for habitation, as the nile flowed 15m
higher than today and a sanddune blocked the mouth
of the wadi forming a seasonal lake formed behind it
gave resources to survive the hyper arid climate
Site is famous for bearing evidence of the earliest
forms of agriculture, in the form of systematic
collection and storing of wild plants.

The dune sites were occupied when the Nile River

flooded the wadi.
When the water receded, people then moved down
onto the silt left behind on the wadi floor and the
floodplain, probably following large animals that
looked for water there in the dry season.
These sites demonstrate that the early inhabitants of
the Nile valley and its nearby deserts had learned how
to exploit local environments, developing economic
strategies that were maintained in later cultural
traditions of Egypt.

 View looking southeast toward the mouth of the wadi.The white areas in the middle distance
(on the wadi floor) are excavations at Late Paleolithic sites.

View looking northeast toward the wadi's head.

 Diverse and sophisticated stone implements for

funting, fishing and collecting, processing plants were
found.
Most of the tools were bladelets made from local
stone called Chert.
The stone tools are characterized by numerous
(backed) bladelets with light retouch along one edge
(known as "Ouchtata" or (microliths) bladelets) and a
few other tools .There are also grinding stones, hand
stones and mortars.

The grinding tools discovered from the site .

The identified floral remains (besides wood charcoal)

include 10 varieties of tubers and soft vegetable
tissues.
Tubers of purple nutgrass and clubrush as well as
seeds of camomile (edible plants)believed to be part of
the diet.

 Due to seasonal flooding of Nile people depended

on edible plants The preparation required grinding
stones.
Sites yielded many fish bones and various large
mammal bones, particularly wild cattle, hartebeest,
gazelle as well as hippopotamus.
The types of fish were catfish, tilapia and eels.
The dune sites also yielded a few shells of an edible
freshwater mussel, and bird bones.

JOMON CULTURE (10,500 BC8,000BC)

JAPAN, ASIA

 Inhabited by huntergatherer culture which reached a

considerable degree of cultural complexity.
The name Jomon was applied by Edward S Morse
discovered parts of pottery in 1877 derived from "cord
markings" .
The pottery style charachterised by impressing cords
into the surface of the wet clay.
Pottery probably the oldest in the world.
The period rich in tools and jewellery made from bone,
stone shell and antler.
Pottery figurines and vessels and also with lacquered
wood.
limited use of horticulture still developed into
complex groups extended till 300 BC.

 All Jomon pots were made by

hand, without the aid of a wheel.
Women produced these early
potteries.
The clay was mixed with a
variety of adhesive materials,
including mica, lead, fibers, and
crushed shells.
After the vessel was formed,
tools were employed to smooth
both the outer and interior
surfaces.
When completely dry, it was fired
in an outdoor bonfire at a
temperature of no more than
about 900 C.

JOMON LIFE
the culture of using Pottery a characteristic often
associated with early farming culture.
Its subsistence focused on hunting, fishing, gathering,
and intensive shellfishing.
The degree of jomon dependence on plants, animals
varied with time and space.
Hunting with Bow & Arrow
Fishing use of hooks, lines, nets, traps, spears
Plant use digging sticks for root plants and grinders
and quern stones for many kinds of nuts
Exploited land animals, fish, plants,molluscs,birds
deer,boar, sea brem, sea perch, chestnuts, walnuts,
acorns, clams, oysters, tuna, sea mammals.

JOMON VILLAGES
Laid with conical thatched dwellings in a circular/
horseshoe shaped pattern with open plaza in the
centre
510 dwellings together
No apparent pattern to their distribution
Sannai Maruyama site in Aomori has circular huts
After a hole is dug in the ground, wooden pillars are
placed in the pit as supports and a thatched roof is
bundled on top.

JOMON PIT HOUSES

had a main piller, whose hole was dug the widest and
deepest in the ground, that was surrounded by other
wooden upright supporting posts houses tended to be
conical or have floors that were circular.
The roofs supported by 5 or 6 posts and a central pillar,
were thatched with kaya (miscanthus) grass that helped
drain off rainwater into the surrounding ditches.
The earthen floors tamped hard, sunk half a metre into the
ground or covered in flagstone.
Indoor fireplaces, storage pits and smoking ditches were
common.
Some buildings were raised probably as storage houses.
Oldest piece of wood used inYokoo site in Oita prefecture
3.8m long piece of wood thought to be a roof beam from a
house built on stilts.

 Wood working important skill for dugout canoes,

wooden vessels and building
made wooden frames for the walls of storage pits and
for posts chestnut, japanese cedar, mukunoki,
inugaya, nutmeg, camphor.
2 famous types of stone circles
1st sundial stone circle consists of 1 large upright
stone in the centre of a small stone cluster that had
long stones placed in a radiating pattern
eg. Oyu Site and Nonakado stone circles
2nd The other kind of stone circle consists of stones
arranged in circular or square patterns example is the
Komakino site in Aomori prefecture the site were
burial marker sites / cemetaries.
probably magical rites conducted no pit dwellings
found near stone circles attended for ritual gatherings.

The Oyu Site.

Komakino Site.