Reviewer

Arch 119
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

EGYPT AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

First building appeared with more settled

communities is in Natufian Culture.
NATUFIAN SETTLEMENT Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia lacks natural defensive
boundaries.
MUD-BRICK ARHITECTURE
The scale of society in the Mesolithic age was 2. Anatolia (Modern Turkey)
small. Natufians lived in groups of three or four also known as Asia Minor, is a
households, with no marked differentiations in wealth large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost
or status. protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the
The lack of a public architecture has been taken majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is
as evidence of the absence of centralized polity. bounded by the Turkish Straits to the northwest,
the Black Sea to the north, the Armenian
Highlands to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the
south, and t he Aegean Sea to the west.

3. The Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel,

Palestine, and Jordan) is an approximate historical
geographical term referring to a large area in
the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia.
In its narrowest sense, it is equivalent to the historical
region of Syria, which included present-
day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and
most of Turkey south-east of the middle Euphrates.

The Egypt

The environment of Egypt was uniquely favorable to

early settlement and the development and survival of The geology of the Near East is immensely varied,
a centralized state, comprising as it did the long, having a far reaching effect both on the vegetation
narrow valley of the Nile, its rich alluvial soil cover and on the character of public even vernacular
bounded on each side by the arid desert. architecture, through the availability or absence of
suitable building stone.
Egypt and Sudan has natural barrier and a readily Building Material/Stone:
defensive frontier. Egypt was uniquely protected
from foreign incursions, with but one route from the Egypt:
Red sea and another into the Eastern Delta. -Limestone dominates the landscape of northern
Egypt
-Sandstone in Upper Egypt
The 3 BROADZONES OF Ancient Near East:
LIMESTONE
1. Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq & Syria)
2. Anatolia (Modern Turkey)
3. The Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel,
Palestine, and Jordan)

1. Mesopotamia (Modern Iraq & Syria)

The "land between the rivers" lies in modern-day
Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. Here the first
cities and the first civilizations began to emerge
between four thousand and six thousand years
before the present.
SANDSTONE ANDESITE

SCHIST

Anatolia:
Basalt formations extend over wide area of Jordan
and also eastern Anatolia resulting in extensive tracts
of stony desert or barren uplands. RED VOLCANIC TUFF
Since there are volcanoes in this zone; andesite,
limestone, schist, basalt and red volcanic tuff.
Levant:
Hard Crystalline limestone in Levant and parts of
highland zones

HARD CRYSTALLINE LIMESTONE

Other Resources:
1. Reeds – papyrus (a plant and palm-branch ribs)
available in the Nile Valley; plastered over with clay.
2. Bitumen – which was obtainable from natural
springs. It was first used in Neolithic times as a
mastic, especially for setting flint sickle-blades into
hafts of bone. Eventually its waterproofing qualities
were realized. A greater range of vessel types was produced and
3. Palm Tree – Timber for major building work for decorative motifs included stylized animals, humans,
houses, largely for roofing. and scenes from everyday life, as well as geometric
designs. Faience was produced, copper came into
widespread use, and hieroglyphic writing also dates
from this period. It is possible that the mud-brick
CULTURE: architecture was introduced at this time from abroad.
Sickles
Querns FAIENCE
Mortar
Pestles
Pounders
Other ground stone tolls have been found in
abundance at Natufian sited in the Near East
CEMETERY SITE
TOMB

Burial in cemetery sites became more elaborate,

wit an increasing differentiation of the structure and
contents of graves, pointing to an increasing
emphasis on the after-life. Religion is more clearly
reflected in the architecture of the ancient Near East
than social structure and development.

In Egypt the close connection between religion

and architecture is everywhere manifest; the
priesthood was powerful and equipped with all the
learning of the age. Egyptian religious rights were
mysterious and virtually unchangeable, characteristic
reflected faithfully in the architecture of tombs and
temples.

TEMPLE

EARLY ASIAN CULTTURES

Longshan Culture (East China)

The Longshan (or Lung-shan) culture, also

sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture,
was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and
lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China
from about 3000 to 1900 BC.

They surrounded their settlements with walls

formed by layers of pounded earth (Pisé)- technique
which was also used in construction of buildings
TOMB
Pisé - building material of stiff clay or earth,
forced into forms that are removed as it hardens.
 The Indus civilization, which flourished in the
third and second millenia BC, produced great cities –
Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

MOHENJODARO

RESOURCES:
1. Timber – as Post and Beam Construction with
roofs of thatch or reeds
2. Stone – the use of stone was restricted to column
footings, pavements and defenses.

Physical Appearance

China was geographically isolated throughout

this period; and its culture developed
autochthonously (inhabitant of a place).

-Marshes
-Lakes
-Alluvial Plains with little natural forest cover

Climate: Rainfall was sparse, winter harsh, but the

cold, arid climate was well-suited to the farming,
hunting and fishing.

CULTURE:
-Chinese tradition of ceramics,
decoration,
-calligraphy
-pictorial art
-Pottery was kiln-fired red ware
-Polished stone and bone tools
-Textile crafts
-Bronze ritual vessels
-sculpture

INDIA
HARAPPA
Both have sophisticated design and construction with
regularly laid-out streets, brick buildings and a
variety of civic amenities.
Physical Appearance
The fertile Indus Plain, even with its hot, dry
climate, was capable of supporting several crops a
year and the foothills of Pakistan, Afghanistan and
iran to the west were sources of minerals. Metals and
animal products.

The Himalayas provided a formidable barrier to

external influences and the Great Indian Desert
limited contact with the remainder of the
subcontinent. The Indus was navigable over most of
its length but surrounding plains were liable to
flooding and this influenced the form and appearance
of Harappan cities.

Resources:
1. Timber – for building and fuel
2. Baked or kiln-fired brick was the standard building
materials and counteracting the effects of flooding

Culture
-Seal and stamp carvings
-Production of Jewelry – bangles, nose ornaments
-Pottery
-Stone Sculptures as representation of men or gods
 GREECE & GREEK WORLD

Aegean civilization is a general term for

the BronzeAge civilizations of Greece around
the Aegean Sea. The Aegean civilization has proved
to be a great influence on all subsequent European
SEAL AND STAMP civilization

NOSE ORNAMENTS

The Architecture of Ancient Greece was the

essential origin of European Architecture, through its
influence on the architecture of the Romans Empire
and so, indirectly of Medieval Europe

No major temple or shrine-like building groups

have been found, nor any material evidence of
household ritual. Burial took the form of
inhumanation in cemetery sites.
 according to archaeologists, it started in the Neolithic
times. In the Crete there was a contrast between ritual
in the palaces, which included processions and bull-
leaping in the courtyards and ritual in the rural
shrines, on mountain tops and above all associated
with sacred caves.

Architecture – Mycenae

Small shrines outside the palace area, and often

in the vicinity of the gates, protecting role. It is quite
uncertain whether or not among the main rooms of
the palace, the megaron and its hearth served a
religious function.

The Megaron was the great hall in very

early Mycenean and ancient Greek palace complexes.
Architecturally, it was a rectangular hall that was
surrounded by four columns, fronted by an open,
two-columned portico, and had a central,
open hearth that vented though an oculus in the roof

Physical Appearance

Climate:
-Winters are short
-Rainfall is generally adequate and occurs in Autumn,
winter and spring, often in heavy storms
-Summers are hot and dry so that the resulting clear
air and intense summer sunshine made it possible to
appreciate the fine details of Greek buildings,
enhance by carving and color.

RESOURCES:
-High quality building stone – limestone and marbles
which can be quarried without undue difficulty
-Clay
-Timber-pine and cypress (hardwood)
-Metamorphic rocks – due to volcanic activity in the
Aegean
-Gypsum

Architecture – Minoan Crete

The history of Ancient and Minoan Crete,

Greece: The history of Crete is long and rich and,
Concept of Architecture

-Religious Sanctuary
-Greek Society – Political systems depended on
gatherings such as Agora The Stone Age
-Domestic Architecture – public life was for the male
citizens. Women lived a more secluded life, mostly in STONE AGE
the privacy of the home. Houses turned their backs on - this era is marked by the use of tools by our early
the outside world. human ancestors (who evolved around 300,000 B.C.)
and the eventual transformation from a culture of
hunting and gathering to farming and food
production.

Three Periods:
1. Paleolithic (or Old Stone Age),
2. Mesolithic (or Middle Stone Age), and
3. Neolithic (or New Stone Age)

Paleolithic Period
-Early humans lived in caves or simple huts or tepees
-They were hunters and gatherers.
-They used basic stone and bone tools, as well as
crude stone axes, for hunting birds and wild animals.
-They cooked their prey, including woolly
mammoths, deer and bison, using controlled fire.
-They also fished and collected berries, fruit and nuts

Ancient humans in the Paleolithic period were

also the first to leave behind art.

They used combinations of minerals, ochres,

burnt bone meal and charcoal mixed into water,
blood, animal fats and tree saps to etch humans,
animals and signs.

They also carved small figurines from stones,

clay, bones and antlers.

Mesolithic (or Middle Stone Age)

Humans used small stone tools, polished and
sometimes crafted with points and attached to antlers,
bone or wood to serve as spears and arrows.

They often lived nomadically in camps near

rivers and other bodies of water.

Agriculture was introduced during this time,

which led to more permanent settlements in villages.
 portable artworks like sculptures.

 Mesolithic rock art is dominated by depictions of

humans, unlike the preceding Paleolithic era
where cave paintings mostly depicted animals.

Neolithic (or New Stone Age)

-Humans switched from hunter/gatherer mode to

agriculture and food production.
-They domesticated animals and cultivated cereal
grains.
-They used polished hand axes, adzes for plowing
and tilling the land and started to settle in the plains.
-Advancements were made not only in tools but also
in farming, home construction and art, including
pottery, sewing and weaving

 usually divided into two types: rock art and

 it was also referred to as the “New Stone Age”.

-The Neolithic age was the last part of the Stone Age,
EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERISTICS:

ROOFING MATERIALS & SHAPES

- Reeds
- Papyrus
- Palm branch ribs
2. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS:
- Timber
- Stone
- Sun- dried mud brick
3. WALLS
4. BRICKS VAULTS
5. MASONRY WALL DECORATOIVE
HIEROGLYPHS
6. DECORATIVE ELEMENTS:
- Gorge cornice
- Kheker frieze
7. EGYPTIAN COLUMNS
8. EGYPTIAN MONUMENTS

Location:
Primitive Architecture in the valley of Nile

1. Roofing Materials:
A. Reeds
b. Papyrus
c. Palm Branch Ribs
REEDS
PAPYRUS

PALM BRANCH RIBS

Roof Shapes:

ROUND SHELTER WITH DOMICAL ROOF

RECTANGULAR SHELTER WITH FLAT ROOF

2. Construction Materials:
A. Timber
b. Stone
c. Sun-Dried Mud Bricks

Timber is limited resources and had become scarce as

construction materials.

STONE (RABBLE STONES)

Stone was not much employed except as Rubble
stone; used as stiffening or foundation to solid mud
walls.
SUN-DRIED MUD BRICK

Sun-dried mud bricks as a wall is widely used. The surface decoration of the masonry wall is held to
have been derived from the practice of scratching
Mixture: pictures on the early mud-plaster walls. It is called
Mud from Nile river mixed with chopped straw or Hieroglyphs.
sand and thoroughly matured by exposure to the sun
6. Decorative Elements
Properties: 1. Gorge cornice
1. Size: 356mm L x 178mm W x 102mm THK 2. Kheker frieze
2. Very long lasting

3. WALLS (BATTER WALL)

For stability, wall diminished course by course

towards the top due to shrinkage and expansion of the
soil caused by the annual inundation.

The inner face of the walls had to be straight/vertical

for convenience.

5. Masonry Wall Decoration / Wall Sculptures

Egyptian ‘Gorge’ Cornice is the pressure of the flat
reed-and-mud roof against the tops of the wall reeds.

Frieze – is along and narrow sculptural band that runs

along the middle of an Entablature

Kheker Frieze is decorative motif common in ancient

Egyptian architecture. Its consists of rows of knots in
decorative carved or painted friezes around the upper
edges of buildings.

7. Egyptian Column
8.
 Egyptian Columns have a distinctive character,
and a very large portion of them plainly advertise
their vegetable origin, their shafts indicative of
bundles of plant stems, gathered in a little at the
base, and with capitals seemingly derived from the
lotus bud, the papyrus flower, or the ubiquitous palm.

-LUTOS BUD
-LUTOS FLOWER
-PAPYRUS BLOSSOM
-PALM LEAF

8. Egyptian Monumental Architecture

Egyptian monumental architecture, which is
essentially a columnar and trabeated style, is
expressed mainly in pyramids and other tombs and in
temples.

Egyptian temples approached by impressive

avenues of sphinxes – mythical monsters, each with
the body of a lion and the head of a man, hawk, ram Saqqara is one of the best known, as well as oldest,
or woman – possess in their massive pylons, great dynastic necropolis in Egypt. It is popular among
courts, hypostyle halls, inner sanctuaries and dim, tourists, but many of them may never visit, or even
secret rooms, a special character. know about its oldest royal tombs. These are what
were once believed to be the 1st Dynasty tombs of
SPHINX the largely
legendary founders of Egypt, but their burials
lack the grandeur of other monuments in the vicinity,
and now many scholars believe that these tombs,
while dating to the 1st Dynasty, were probably those
of high officials rather than the kings themselves.

3-DISTINCT TYPES OF MASTABA

ACCORDING TO CLASS IN THE SOCIETY

DOORWAY IN PYLON DYNASTY 1 : MASTABA IN SAKKARA

NECROPOLIS

1. Royalty or High Ranking Officials

- Large, Shallow rectangular pits hewn out of the
bedrock and divided by cross-walls into a series of
chambers. There was a central chamber that was the
actual burial chamber that housed the sarcophagus
surrounded by provisions on pottery and alabaster
dishes; chests and boxes containing clothing, jewelry
and games; and funerary furniture. The surrounding
chambers were storerooms for various reserve
provisions for the afterlife. One was usually reserved
OSIRIS PILLARS entirely for the storage of food and another for wine
jars stacked in rows and sealed with clay.

2. The second class of tomb was built by retainers

\ and artisans.
EGYPTIAN TOMB ARCHITECTURE Constructed in long lines adjoining one another
close to the royal tombs, their occupants were
probably dependents in the household of the king, or
craftsmen in the various arts and industries. It is very
possible that they were buried near their kings in
order to serve him in death as they did during his life.
These tombs are oblong pits or chambers where the
bodies, wrapped in linen, were placed. Around them
dishes containing food and jars of wine, as well as the
tools of their trade were also included in the burial.
The pits would then be roofed over with timber and a
low, rectangular superstructure was build of rubble.

3. The poorest of the lot, the working class and

peasant people.

They had very simple graves not much different

than those of the Predynastic Period.
These tombs consisted of an oval or oblong pit where
the body was placed, sometimes on a reed mat, in
contracted position and surrounded by their earthly
possessions. These pits were then roofed with
branches and matting to hold the mound of sand and
rubble that was piled above it.

DYNASTY 1 : MASTABA IN SAKKARA

NECROPOLIS

MASTABA OF AHA