prehistoric architecture

Gardner’s

ARTTHROUGH THE

AGES

1

Vocabulary

Neolithic: the “new” Stone Age (8,000 – 2300 BCE), which marked the beginnings of monumental (extremely large) architecture

corbeled vault: a vault formed by the piling of stone blocks in horizontal courses, cantilevered inward until the two walls meet in an arch

post and lintel: one of the earliest methods of architectural construction in which two posts (sometimes called “uprights”) support a lintel (horizontal beam which rests across the top)

Vocabulary

megalith: a large stone used in the construction of a prehistoric structure

Cromlech: a circle of megaliths, as at Stonehenge

Neolithic Jericho was protected by 5-foot-thick walls and at least one stone tower 30 feet high and 33 feet in diameter. An outstanding achievement that marks the beginning of monumental architecture.

Great stone tower built into the settlement wall, Jericho, ca. 8000-7000 BCE

Corbeled vault of the main chamber in the passage grave, Newgrange, Ireland, ca. 3200-2500 BCE

The Newgrange passage grave is an early example of corbeled vaulting. The huge stones (megaliths) of the dome of the main burial chamber beneath the tumulus are held in place by their own weight.

Aerial view of ruins of Hagar Qim, Malta, ca. 3200- 2500 BCE

One of the earliest stone temples in the world is on the island of Malta. The 5,000-year-old structure is

remarkably sophisticated for its date, especially in the combination of rectilinear and curved forms.

Stonehenge (3100-2000 BC)

Wiltshire, England

Aerial view (looking northwest) of Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, England, ca. 2550-1600 BCE. Circle is

97’ in diameter; trilithons 24’ high.

The circles of trilithons at Stonehenge probably functioned as an astronomical observatory and solar calendar. The sun rises over its “heel stone” at the summer solstice.

Some of the megaliths weigh 50 tons.

Prehistoric Architecture: Stonehenge

•Neolithic architecture

•Post and lintel construction

•Megaliths are 21 to 24 feet tall, including height of lintel, and buried four feet in the ground

•Cromlech – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromlech

•Solar and lunar orientation

•Stones dragged from far away to this site

•Circle of megaliths embrace structure, enclosing it

Prehistoric Architecture: Stonehenge

•Inside circle of megaliths is a larger horseshoe-shaped group of megaliths which frame an “Altar Stone”

•Horseshoe-shaped stones face midsummer sunrise over “Heel Stone”

•“Altar Stone” is a green sandstone taken from a mine in Wales, over 200 miles away

•Heaviest stones 50 tons apiece, hauled by sledges (sleds)

•Tools for building: ropes, levers, rollers, axes

•Built in several phases over hundreds of years on a sacred site on Salisbury Plain

Functions of Stonehenge:

•Cremation / burial site

•Astrological observatory

•Solar calendar

•Sacred site

The oldest detailed drawing of Stonehenge, found in a 1440 manuscript, the Scala Mundi

Several Phases

(stages) of Cons-truction

Plan of Stonehenge in 2004. Trilithon lintels omitted for clarity. Holes that no longer, or never, contained stones are shown as open circles. Stones visible today are shown coloured.

The lintels (horizontal monoliths) were fitted to one another using a woodworking method, the “tongue-and-groove joint”

So who built it?

Various people have attributed the building of this great megalith to Neanderthals (early man), the Danes, Romans, Saxons, Greeks, Atlanteans,

Egyptians, Phoenicians, Celts (druids), King Aurelius Ambrosious, Merlin (the wizard), and

even Aliens!

Merlin

A giant helps Merlin build Stonehenge.

From a manuscript of the

Roman de Brut by Wace in the British Library

(Egerton 3028). This is one of the

oldest known depictions of Stonehenge.

One of the most popular beliefs was that Stonehenge was built by the Druids. These high priests of the Celts were

said to have constructed it for sacrificial ceremonies.

Druids at Stonehenge

While there are still some who believe they were the ones who built it, carbon-dating research has proven that Stonehenge was built

before the druids entered this land.

The Celts came from Ireland, much later than the building of Stonehenge.

So who built it?

The bluestones were thought for much of the 20th century to have been transported by

humans from the Preseli Hills, 250 kilometres (160 mi) away in modern day Pembrokeshire in

Wales.

A newer theory is that they were brought from glacial deposits much nearer the site, which had

been carried down from the northern side of the Preselis to southern England by the Irish

Sea Glacier.

These stones were much too heavy to ship by boat along the nearby River Avon…

Chemical tests on teeth from an ancient burial near Stonehenge indicate that this person in this grave grew up around the

Mediterranean Sea. The bones belong to a teenager who died 3,550 years ago and was buried with a distinctive amber necklace. While

findings are preliminary, experts hope to find out more…

At least twenty-five of the Aubrey Holes are known to have contained later, intrusive, cremation burials dating to the two centuries after the

monument's inception. It seems that whatever the holes' initial function, it changed to become a funerary one during Phase 2. Thirty

further cremations were placed in the enclosure's ditch and at other points within the monument, mostly in the eastern half.

Fragments of unburnt human bone have also been found in the ditch-fill. Stonehenge is therefore interpreted as functioning as an enclosed

cremation cemetery at this time, the earliest known cremation cemetery in the British Isles.

"Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third

millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen stones phase is likely just

one of many from this later period of the monument's use and demonstrates that it was still

very much a domain of the dead."

– Professor Mike Parker Pearson, head of Stonehenge Riverside Project

The north eastern entrance was widened during one phase of

construction, with the result that it precisely matched the direction of the

midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset of the period.

People gather around Stonehenge at Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice Sunrise at Stonehenge…

the art of stonehenge

Each stone had clearly been worked with the

final visual effect in mind; the pillars widen

slightly towards the top, in order that their

perspective remains constant when viewed from the ground. The

lintel stones curve slightly to continue the circular appearance of

the earlier monument. The inward-facing

surfaces of the stones are smoother and more finely worked than the

outer surfaces.

Graffiti on the sarsen stones. Below the graffiti are ancient carvings of a dagger and an axe.

Banksy, Stonehenge

Plastic portable toilets, installation at the Glastonbury Festival, June 2007 (graffiti on portables not by Banksy)

From “Natalia’s Renaissance” at nutaboutart.com

“Stonehenge - Night” from atouchofglassand.com