Prehistoric interiors

There have been human beings on earth for about 1.7 million years. The detailed record of events and developments that we call “history” stretches back for only about six or seven thousand years. Before the beginning of history we have only myths, legends, and guesswork to tell us what events occurred and in what order. Thus the question of where and when people first learned to use shelters, and what the earliest shelters were like, have long been the subject of much speculation.

History:

The first shelters :

The first shelters were either found (caves) or were made with materials that were easy to work with bare hands or with very simple tools.

Although the term “cave men” is often used to describe early human beings and while there is certainly evident that ancient people made use of caves. It is unlikely that caves were the most widely used of early human living places.

While the famous cave paintings at Chativet, Lascaux and Altamira clearly prove that early people used these caves , there are no certainty that they were dwelling places but perhaps used it as an emergency shelters – places for special rites or ceremonies or they may have been used for the works of art.

Characteristics of prehistoric period:

-The earliest forms of dwelling of “savage” hunter were rock – caves. The savage or the primitive tribe, state the means of living were hunting, fishing and collection of food.

-The dwelling units had its transition from caves to build huts of reeds and the tents from bark and skin of animals.

-The “barbarian” state the means of livelihood came from crops and cattle rearing and later on men started living in settled life.

-Because of this, men in early civilization started constructing houses, water supply schemes and defensive works.

-Once the problem of food and shelter had been successively solved, the next outstanding works taken were of sacred nature, the place of worship and tombs.

-Still we can visualize few of such sacred prehistoric monuments – dolmens. Dolmens are the tumuli or large grave mounds built of massive stone during 3rd or 2nd millennium B.C.

Dolmens and barrows:

The arrangement of stones called Alignments and the Dolmens were usually used for ceremonies or rituals connected with observation of astronomical movements.

The arrangement of a large stone placed on top of two or three upright stones that makes up the many dolmens seems to have created the inner chamber of a tomb that took the from of an artificial hill.

A barrow is a heap of earth placed over prehistoric tombs. It is possible to go into the interior chambers of some of these surviving tombs. they are dark, mysterious and often impressive. In some of these structures, it is possible to see carved or incised patterns cut into the stones with patterns of beauty.

Stonehenge :

-Stonehenge is circular assemblage of huge stones.

- These stones are arranged in two concentric circles, the outer one with 33m in dia. and the inner with 25m.

-The other remains of this sacred construction are great upright stone “monoliths”

-Some of these monoliths are 19 to 20 m high, 4.24 to 5 m in dia. and they weigh about 250 tones.

Evidence from tribal cultures:

The oldest known traces of built human shelter, found in Terra Amata in Southern France, are believed to be 400,000 years old, but only the minimal remains, suggest the form of these huts made from tree branches.

Primitive societies are characterized by a powerful conservatism, a devotion to traditional ways (often reinforced by a system of taboos that discourage change)Most primitive societies depend on hunting, fishing, and food gathering for sustenance. They are therefore generally to some degree migratory and must build shelter that is readily portable.

People in the tribal Africa, in the islands of the Pacific, in the Arctic and in the North and South America continents before the coming of Europeans are now, or were recently living in ways that had not changed in many generations.

The villages in tropical Africa, settlements in Sahara and Mongolian deserts, native American , Eskimo and Australian communities are all primitive living system systems that can be assumed to the evidence of how human shelter may have developed.

The forms of nature are rarely straight- lined and square-cornered and in observation of trees and rocks, and of shelters built by birds and insects, would suggest circular forms, while the materials available to build the shelters might have been difficult for making square corners and create weak points in a fragile structure.

The whole tepee was easy to take down, pack, and transport when the migratory hunting users needed to follow the herd that were their food supply.

The tepee of the American plains had a frame of long poles tied together at the top. Its outer walls were skins arranged to permit a flap doorway and a top flap that could be adjusted to control air circulation, allow penetration of the daylight and act as a smoke outlet.

The Yurt or Ger of the people of Mongolia uses a vertical wall frame of lattice strips that collapse for transport but are expanded and tied to form a circle. Willow strips form a roof structure. The Portable Yurt, still in use is an interesting example of a design development to fit a particular way of life in a particular geographical location.

The snow houses or igloo of the people of Arctic region is a circular construction build from blocks cut from snow. The blocks are laid up in concentric circles of diminishing size to form a dome. Within the house, proper skins are used to line the walls, leaving an air space that helps to insulate the interior while preventing the heat from melting the snow dome. Raised platforms lift the interior floor level and also acts as a substitute form of furniture. These are used only during the cold months and are replaced by a tent like house of skin in summer or some places, a grass house of domed shape similar to the winter igloo.

Pattern and design:

The technique of weaving is an ancient invention in which has appeared in many locations, making possible baskets, blankets, rugs of a manufactured membranes as an alternative to animal skins. The weaving of fibers of varied colors, either from natural sources or through dyeing, leads to the discovery that patterns too can be woven.

Such simple patterns as strips and checks lead to the invention of more complex geometric patterns that appear in basketry, pottery and woven blankets and rugs.

The design of an African woven cloth or a Navajo blanket, for example, follow customs that make the visible designs significant in reinforcing tribal traditions and taboos.

In primitive practice, pattern and imagery are rarely strictly ornamental but there are purposeful meanings in color, pattern, and design that serve to designate identity within a society, tribal loyalties, religious or mythic references, or magical significance.

The key inventions or discoveries on which civilization is built are the controlled use of fire, the invention of language and the development of agriculture.

Of these, agriculture most directly had an influence in the design of built shelter. As long as food supply was dependent on hunting and gathering of growing plant products, the human population was forced to travel to locations where food was available.

But the discovery that it was possible to plant crops and harvest a larger and more reliable food supply was the basis for a chain of developments.

Therefore with more people and with techniques for building more lasting structures, villages and towns became more permanent settlements.

The making of the necessities for living became more specialized with systems of barter and trade emerging to make it possible for a farmer, a shepherd or a fisherman to make exchanges with weaver, a potter or a builder to the benefit of the both.

The first permanent settlement:

Mesopotamia : Sumerian

The beginning of a settled Sumerian civilization based on agriculture can be dated around 3500 B.C. when a system of picture writing came into use.

• The cities of Sumer grew gradually. Instead of straight streets that cross at right angles, Sumerian cities had narrow, winding streets.

• Protective walls with gates surrounded the city.

• People built their houses of mud walls that were several feet thick. Such thick walls helped to keep out heat. Narrow tunnels ran through the walls, carrying fresh air from the outside into the house.

• People first made the doorways by placing a horizontal beam over two vertical posts. Then they built the mud walls around the doorways.

• A house consisted of a series of rooms arranged around a courtyard. The builders covered the courtyard with a loose roof of palm leaves over wooden planks. This roof helped protect people from the hot sun.

• Sumerian Religion The Sumerians believed in many gods and goddesses -polytheism.

• Sumerians believed that four main gods created the world and ruled over it. These were the gods of sky, wind, foothills, and fresh water.

• The largest and most important structure in a Sumerian city was the temple - Ziggurat.

• The ziggurat was not just a temple; it was the center of city life. The ziggurat functioned as a sort of city hall. This was because the priests ran the irrigation systems.

• People came to the ziggurat to pay the priests for their services with grain and other items. As a result, the priests controlled the storage of surplus grain.

• The priests ended up controlling much of the wealth of the city-state.

• The cooking area was usually located out in the courtyard so the smoke could escape through gaps in the roof.

Ancient Egypt:

The style of architecture in Egypt prevailed during the period of 3200 BC – 1st century A.D .

Primitive architecture consisted of readily available materials like reeds, papyrus and palm ribs plastered over with clay.

Buildings with circular plans had domical coverings of similar constructions while square shaped building had tunnel shaped coverings on flat roofs.

Egyptian religion, like many others religions included belief in a life after death but it put extraordinary emphasis on the preservation of the bodies of dead persons. The after life would last as long as the body survived – hence the development of techniques of embalming and the concern for the building of tombs of maximal lasting qualities.

On the walls of tombs and temples, texts spelt out in hieroglyphic writing were combined with visual images, incised and painted in plaster or directly in stone.

Geometry and proportions:

The largest and best known of ancient Egyptian structures, the pyramids are among the oldest surviving works but their small interior passages and chambers are of less interest.

Ancient Egypt developed great knowledge of and skill in geometric planning. The pyramids at Giza are positioned with a North – South axial orientation of great precision.

The slope of the pyramid sides are at an angle of 51 degree and that it is a base angle of a triangle having a base and hypotenuse that are respectively the short and the long sides of a “golden rectangle”.

The only value that satisfies this relationship is the ratio 0.618:1. this relationship is often called as golden ratio. A golden ratio can be constructed with straight edges and a compass by laying out a right triangle with an altitude equal to one half the base.

Egyptian temples and houses:

The plans of Egyptians temples are expanded and elaborated versions of Egyptian house plans, with an innermost chamber – home of the god- surrounded by layers of walled spaces and reached only through succession of outer walls, gateways and courtyards.

The mud-brick material of house building was translated into construction using carefully cut and polished stone.

The design of the typical stone column , with its suggestion of a binding of cord at the base and below the capital, was derived from the mud columns.

Flat stones used for roofing could span only short distances so rooms were usually small with narrow passage . Incase for a larger space when required, it was filled with columns spaced closely enough to make it possible for stones to span from one column to another.

The knowledge of Egyptian furniture comes from images in wall paintings that shows scenes of everyday life.

The typical preserved chair has a simple wooden frame with a low seat webbed with bands of rush or leather. Legs usually end at their base with carved , clawed animal foot forms. There are also simple folding stools of an X-form being used.

Others like bed, a cosmic box, chair, tables give an idea of the elegance of more simple Egyptian furniture design

The bed has feet carved in animal form while the box of ebony and ivory is made in proportions that relates to the golden ratio.

Furniture

. Surviving bits of woven textiles suggest that the Egyptians were also highly skilled weavers and colorist of woven cloths.

The basic structure of ebony wood can be seen in the legs of the chair, which is encrusted with inlays of gold and ivory.The seating function is certainly subordinated to the display of wealth, grandeur and power conveyed by the richness of material.

The earliest traces of civilization in the Indian subcontinent are to be found in places along, or close, to the Indus River. Excavations first conducted in 1921-22, in the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, both now in Pakistan, pointed to a highly complex civilization that first developed some 4,500-5,000 years ago.

Indus valley civilization

Settlements 

From the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the individuality of the early village cultures began to be replaced by a more homogenous style of existence.

By the middle of the 3rd millennium, a uniform culture had developed at settlements spread across nearly 500,000 square miles, including parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Baluchistan, Sind and the Makran coast. 

Urban Development 

The emergence of this civilization is as remarkable as its stability for nearly a thousand years. All the cities were well planned and were built with baked bricks of the same size; the streets were laid at right angles with an elaborate system of covered drains.

There was a fairly clear division of localities and houses were earmarked for the upper and lower strata of society.

There were also public buildings, the most famous being the Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro and the vast granaries. Production of several metals such as copper, bronze, lead and tin was also undertaken and some remnants of furnaces provide evidence of this fact.

The discovery of kilns to make bricks support the fact that burnt bricks were used extensively in domestic and public buildings. 

Occupations  Evidence also points to the use of domesticated animals, including camels, goats, water buffaloes and fowls. The Harappans cultivated wheat, barley, peas and sesame and were probably the first to grow and make clothes from cotton.

Discoveries suggest that the Harappan civilisation had extensive trade relations with the neighbouring regions in India and with distant lands in the Persian Gulf and Sumer (Iraq). 

evolved some rituals and ceremonies.

No monumental sculpture survives, but a large number of human figurines have been discovered, including a steatite bust of a man thought to be a priest, and a striking bronze dancing girl. Countless terra-cotta statues of Mother Goddess have been discovered suggesting that she was worshipped in nearly every home. 

The Harappan society was probably divided according  to occupations and this also suggests the existence of an organized government. 

The figures of deities on seals indicate that the Harappans worshipped gods and goddesses in male and female forms and has also