LECTURE # 1 & 2

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE- I

 Prehistoric Cultures & Civilizations

By
Ar. Khizra Shahzad Dated: October 18th, 2018 – October 25th, 2018
WHAT IS HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE?
 Architecture, the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills
associated with construction.

 The practice of architecture is employed to fulfill both practical and expressive requirements,
and thus it serves both utilitarian and aesthetic ends.

 Although these two ends may be distinguished, they cannot be separated, and the relative weight
given to each can vary widely.

 Because every society—whether highly developed or less so, settled or nomadic—has a spatial
relationship to the natural world and to other societies, the structures they produce reveal much
about their environment (including climate and weather), history, ceremonies, and artistic
sensibility, as well as many aspects of daily life.

 The purpose of studying History of Architecture when practicing contemporary architecture is to

understand how Architecture influences society and it`s culture, how we are connected to our
historic cultures and customs. The study includes its form, purposes, and the most important its
evolution in relation to art, history and philosophy.
CREATION OF MAN
According to Science
The chemical composition of man is all too evident from the Qur'an. It reveals through its various
verses that human life, before its final stage of consummation, passed through the following seven
stages;
1. inorganic matter
2. Water
3. Clay
4. absorbable clay
5. physically and chemically altered mud
6. dried or highly purified clay
7. extract of purified clay.

The biological science underscored the fact that the man has been created from a single cell.

Earth is the planet on which millions of humans wished for nothing more than to live in peace and
wellbeing presented the unnatural spectacle of a world at war. Land, sea and air routes were
patrolled day and night by armadas venting fury on all that was most precious and vital to the
inhabitants.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Homo Erectus , our Ancient Ancesto
The extinct ancient human Homo erectus is a species of firsts. It was the first of our relatives to
have human-like body proportions, with shorter arms and longer legs relative to its torso. It was
also the first known hominin to migrate out of Africa.

In terms of species survival, Homo erectus is a huge success story.

Compare this to our own species, Homo sapiens, which has been around for perhaps 400,000 years
so far, and we begin to appreciate their ability to survive over a long period marked by many
changes to the environment and climate.

H. erectus was also the most geographically widespread species apart from H. sapiens. H.
erectus appeared in Africa about two million years ago, evolving from either a late form of austral
pith or one of the more primitive forms of Homo, and went on to spread into many parts of Asia.

Scientists disagree over how H. erectus and H. sapiens relate to each other, but most agree that H.
erectus can be called an ancestor of modern humans.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Homo erectus facts
Lived: from about two million years ago until at least 250,000 years ago
Where: Africa, Asia and perhaps Europe
Appearance: human-like body proportions and upright stance, a protruding brow ridge, large face
and no chin
Brain size: about 550-1,250cm3
Height: about 1.4-1.8m
Weight: about 41-55kg
Diet: meat (initially from scavenging but later potentially also from hunting) and plants
Species named in: 1893 (as Anthropopithecus erectus, renamed Pithecanthropus erectus in 1894
and Homo erectus in 1950) following its 1891 discovery
Name meaning: 'upright human
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Where did Homo erectus live?
Current evidence suggests all hominins before H. erectus lived in Africa. However, almost as soon
as this species appears in the fossil record there is evidence it expanded out of Africa and into
western Asia, then to eastern Asia and Indonesia.

A small skull fragment from East Turkana, Kenya, dates to about 1.9 million years ago, supporting
an African origin. But the first fossils were found in Asia, and it is in Asia where this species
survived for so long.
Why did Homo erectus leave Africa?
Dispersal of species happens for many reasons but essentially H. erectus probably drifted across
northern Africa, when environmental changes meant suitable habitats and food sources stretched
that far.
For example, sabre-toothed cat remains were found alongside H. erectus fossils in Georgia. The
cats apparently dispersed from Africa. These specialized carnivores lacked the teeth to strip a
carcass clean of its meat, so might have provided scavenging opportunities for early humans
following them out of Africa.
It is likely that the spread of H. erectus as far as Java, across what are now islands of Southeast
Asia, was possible because these were connected at the time
HUMAN EVOLUTION
What tools did Homo erectus use?
H. erectus was the first human species to make hand axes. These were sophisticated stone tools
crafted on two sides. They were probably used to butcher meat, among other purposes.
Prior to that, the tools of ancient humans and their predecessors, including those of the first
known H. erectus were much more primitive - simply rock flakes knapped to a sharp edge.
What did Homo erectus eat?
Early H. erectus was equipped with a simple set of stone tools that looks best suited to scavenging
meat. Later H. erectus peoples produced a wider range of stone tools and were probably active
hunters.
Some experts believe that the long-legged physique of H. erectus evolved to facilitate long-
distance jogging and running across open country to acquire meat.
While meat formed a key part of their diet, it is likely that plant resources were also important and
they lived as hunter-gatherers.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Did Homo erectus use fire?
The use of fire is an important milestone in human evolution, granting access to light, warmth,
protection from predators and the ability to cook food - each of which aids survival.
Scientists don't know when humans were first able to make fire at will. Early humans probably
captured natural fires and kept them alight for as long as they could.
H. erectus may have been the earliest human relative to have controlled fire.
Evidence is quite thin on the ground, but for example, researchers found evidence of ash as well as
burnt bone fragments in a one-million-year-old sediment layer in the Wonderwerk Cave in South
Africa.
The site is too far inside a cave for the ash to be caused by a lightning strike and the spontaneous
combustion of bat guano was ruled out.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Did Homo erectus use fire?
The use of fire is an important milestone in human evolution, granting access to light, warmth,
protection from predators and the ability to cook food - each of which aids survival.
Scientists don't know when humans were first able to make fire at will. Early humans probably
captured natural fires and kept them alight for as long as they could.
H. erectus may have been the earliest human relative to have controlled fire.
Evidence is quite thin on the ground, but for example, researchers found evidence of ash as well as
burnt bone fragments in a one-million-year-old sediment layer in the Wonderwerk Cave in South
Africa.
The site is too far inside a cave for the ash to be caused by a lightning strike and the spontaneous
combustion of bat guano was ruled out.
HUMAN EVOLUTION
Out of Africa
Homo sapiens, originated in Africa, before dispersing around the world and becoming the only
surviving species of human left today.
Modern humans evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago. They have a higher and more
rounded brain case, smaller faces and brow ridges, and a more prominent chin than other ancient
humans.
Casts on display include modern humans fossils found in Africa (about 195,000 years old), Israel
(around 100,000 years old) and Australia (around 12,000 years old).
These fossils show that rather than springing fully formed from Africa, typical modern human
characteristics instead built up over time.
They also suggest that there may have been at least two waves of migration out of Africa - one
dating back to around 100,000 years ago and another to around 60,000 years ago.
Outside of Africa, we are all descendants of those who left in that second wave of migration
 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMAN
CONSCIOUS
CONSCIOUS
The abilities of Human Brain through which he/she learn to critically observe the element of
environment surrounds him. Because of this, he became able to make decision in life is meant to be
called Conscious.
According to the Historical Beliefs the state of conscious, we are observing today it passed through
extremely tenacious steps of Evolution.
The Brain Abilities which observed the different ideas, ideologies and values and concluded them
in a final result is known as first Step of Conscious. As the human brain concluded the better
results due to research, as the conscious reached to its higher level.
Perhaps we are not talking about the levels of conscious but about its types therefore we will
focused on the types of conscious. So that if the conscious passes through the Steve evolution, it
divided into two parts.
 Heredity or Genetic Conscious
 Experienced or Observed Conscious
 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMAN
CONSCIOUS
HEREDITY OR GENTIC CONSCIOUS
Heredity conscious is such conscious which a human brought to this earth naturally or genetically
is known as Heredity Conscious. This conscious taught him to live different from the other creation
and forced him to keep his identity. Some part of human`s life prisoned the rules defined by this
conscious from the birth to till death. In this time period he brought minor changes which
transmitted from generation to generation. Because of this not violently but to some extent the
positive change appeared in every next generation.

EXPERIENCED OR OBSERVED CONSCIOUS

It is divided in two type parts;
 Individual Experienced Conscious
 Combined Experienced Conscious
 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMAN
CONSCIOUS

INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCED CONSCIOUS

It is related to the individual human being’s life concluded analytical behavior from the time he
became sensible to the old ages and till the last breathe and to the last moments of before death. He
is moving ahead in life exactly the same way crossing the steps of experiences and analyses.
Therefore he transmitted some his life conclusions to next generation and some to the person of the
contemporary society before death. In other words, the process of human generation is not depend
upon the specific time period but the continuous process of birth. That is running in the way that
during his life many other human being born. As they started their lives, they learnt from their
ancestors of that time. And the Ancestors reached to their last breathe the next generation already
aware of their self-conscious. On this basis, every upcoming generation`s conscious began from the
remaining of their forefathers. And the conscious lead its path of success.
 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMAN
CONSCIOUS
COMBINED EXPERIENCED CONSCIOUS
The evolution of this conscious is accumulatively and mostly depend upon the transferred
ideologies and analyses from generation to generation. The evolution of conscious effects the
factors of human`s brain and brought them at an important point and then the next generation
improves the already concluded results and gained profits and then this journey continuous from
centuries to the present day.
Therefore the human being according to his abilities passed through different experiences of life
daily so that the evolution of every person`s conscious would be different. If we studied the specific
part of the time so we will see the logical resemblance in the person`s individual conscious. Which
we can say the Universal Conscious. However, it would belong to some specific region or some
specific group of people.
In general, Heredity Conscious also passes through the evolution steps but it has minor changes
which appeared after a long time. On the other hand, the experienced conscious made a particular
change in the movement and evolution of the experienced conscious, in every generation more than
heredity conscious. This side of conscious guaranteed the evolutional process of traditions and
civilizations. Because of that, human being promotes the cultures and civilizations according to his
conscious state on this Universe and have a great value in the universe.
Human Development Phase II
Our civilization is the first to have for its past the past of the world, our history is the first to be
world history.

His Activities
The people were not aware of their existence so they started wandering here and there.
They found nothing but the land ad the sea which they were considering their enemies.
The whole starved day made them weak and unhealthy and many of them died so they left them
and moved to other places.

His Challenges

People considered everything surrounded them as a evil and tried their hard to get rid of them.
They became The hunter and the gatherer.

Hunter : Hunted the Animals.

Gatherer: Gathered the Plants.
The Role of Architecture in Humanity’s Story
 Humanity leaves immortal echoes through its history using the media of language, art,
knowledge and architecture.
 These echoes are not simply viewed in retrospect; they are primary to our time and define our
civilization at any given moment, justifying our very sense of being human. This justification is
important.
 Humanity exists in a near-perpetual war for existence. We are mortal, but we wish to become
eternal and culture is our success in this battle.
 Culture allows us to assert our existence to ourselves to the extent that we are not just ‘now’ but
are- in essence- forever.
 Culture is experienced in the present time as the fluid gamut of structures that define our
experience of living, but in truth (and paradoxically)… it exists in retrospect.
 We may use language to communicate and knowledge to exchange, but it is only when we look
at the story of language, the body and origins of knowledge, that we can contextualize them, and
understand their role as elements of culture.
 Throughout time, architecture has persisted as one of the most profoundly important reflections
of culture.
PRE-HISTORIC & HITORIC PERIOD

We can define prehistory as the period of human development during the time before the discovery
of writing.

Prehistory extends from the emergence of our first ancestors, about five million years ago, to the
invention of writing, about 5,000 years ago.

The first generation civilizations, that Toynbee was aware of, have had the good fortune to have a
written language in which their history has been at least partially recorded. particularly of the
Sumeric, Egyptiac and Sinic civilizations in this regard.

Both the Egyptiac and the Sinic civilizations have writings referring to an earlier stage in their
civilizations, or a predecessor civilization, that existed prior to the known civilizations with which
we are familiar.

These periods were more or less prior to the development of writing. Some Egyptian and Greek
historical records describe a period of civilization with a united Egypt under the Pharaoh Menes in
3000 BC.
 Pre-History

Stone Ages Metal Ages

Paleolithic
(25, 000 to 10,000 BC) Copper Age
(6000 –1800 BC)

Mesolithic
Bronze Age
(8000 to 9000 BC)
(1800 –1200 BC)

Neolithic
(9000 – 6000 BC) Iron Age
(1200 –300 BC)
PRE-HISTORIC & HITORIC PERIOD

It is divided into two periods;

 Paleolithic
 Mesolithic
 Neolithic

Paleo is a Greek Word means Old and litho means Stone..

Meso is a Greek Word means Middle and litho means Stone..

Neo means New and litho means Stone..

PRE-HISTORIC & HITORIC PERIOD
Paleolithic Age
During the Paleolithic age, prehistoric people were nomads.
“People that moved from place to place in search of basic survival needs (food, water,
shelter)also known as hunters-gatherers.”

During the Paleolithic era, early humans would migrate from Africa to India, China, Southeast
Asia and Europe in search of their survival needs (migration).
How did People Live in Paleolithic Age

Economical basis
Hunting, gathering and fishing.

Way of life
Nomadic.
They lived outdoors or in caves.

Inventions
Use of fire.
It was an extremely important discovery.
Early human beings used fire to heat their caves,
cook food and drive wild animals away.

Rough tools (of stone, wood or bone): knives, bifaces.

Weapons: spears, arches and arrows, maces.
 Men and women made tools and objects of stone.
 They used them to hunt and cut animals' skins and meat.
Life Style
 Hunting was the main activity of human beings during the Paleolithic in order to
survive.
 They hunted all kind of animals, mainly big mammals: mammoths, bison, deer, used
their meat for food and their skins for clothes.
 Gathering consists in pick up fruits, seeds and roots of plants as food.
 It was another fundamental activity of human beings during
 the Paleolithic to survive.
 Hand axes were the typical tool of these early hunters and food-gatherers.

How did People Live in Paleolithic Age

 Prerequisite to civilization.
 people lived outdoors, in caves, or in wood huts.
 Many activities were carried out in the open air during
daytime.
 They were organized in small tribes, made up of
members of the same family.
Rites and Beliefs

 They believed in supernatural forces which helped them in hunting or when giving
birth. They also thought these divinities caused disease and death.
 That is why they had different rites to ask these divinities for help They buried the
dead, but we do not know why.
 Maybe they wanted to remember the, or maybe they believed in an afterlife.
 They also buried weapons, jewelry and food with the bodies.
PRE-HISTORIC & HITORIC PERIOD

Mesolithic Age
The term Mesolithic was introduced in the later 19th century but the period was not properly
understood for quite some time.

Prehistoric research tended to focus on the more visible aspects of the Paleolithic such as cave
paintings and the impressive stone circles and chambered tombs of the Neolithic.

Evidence for human life in the region before the Mesolithic is rare with only a handful of known
stray finds.
How did People Live in Mesolithic Age

Economical basis
 Mesolithic people were hunter-gatherers.

 Gradual domestication of plants and animals

Way of life
 Nomadic.
 They lived outdoors or in caves.
Inventions
 They had not developed farming, pottery or the use of metals.
 Use of the bow
 Development of delicate stone microliths and pottery
Life Style
 Farming communities began to be established.
 During this period, humans hunted and fished, and began to learn how to domesticate
animals and plants.
 The late Mesolithic hunters are now known to have developed pottery (ceramic
objects) and a sedentary lifestyle.

How did People Live in mesolithic Age

 Such a large span of time involves quite a bit of variety.

 People started living in huts instead of caves.
How did People Live in Neolithic Age

Economical basis
 Discovery of agriculture took place
 Basically they were farmers.
Way of life
 Sedentary.
 They lived in villages.
Inventions
 Human beings observed that plants grew when seeds fell on the ground and there is how
agriculture started. Cereals were cultivated;
1. Wheat in the middle east and Europe
2. Rice in Asia
3. Corn in America
 Goats, sheep, oxen, horses and dogs were domesticated animal raising and agriculture made it
possible for people to settle in a particular area.
 When they have enough food, they started to store it.
 They became sedentary and built the first villages near rivers. This series of changes is called
Neolithic Revolution.
Life Styles and Beliefs

 Social division of work (farmers, cattle's, craftsmen, warriors …)

 Their gods were Nature;

1. Forces (earth, sun, water, wind …)

2. They made ritualized burials taking into account Social Hierarchy (flowers, pots,
weapons…)
Anthropology
• study of the origins and development

Archeology
• the study of past people and cultures through their material remains

Artifacts
• Definition: anything made by ancient human beings such as tools, pottery and weapons.
Culture
• Definition: a set of beliefs, knowledge, and Patterns of living that a group of People
develops (way of life)