There were no large settlements during the primitive communal system.

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There were no large settlements during the primitive communal system.

08.08.2011

Architecture of primitive society: formation and development. Abstract

The history of human development, and hence architecture, is divided into epochs by the type of existing social relations, the level of production of livelihoods and other features

For the most ancient epochs of formation of mankind the most widespread is classification on a material from which tools were made. However, due to the fact that humanity as a whole has developed unevenly, the chronology in the title of the section and the one given below can be accepted, and only conditionally, for Western Europe. There are still places on earth where people live at a low stage of civilization.

The first period is the epoch of the primitive human herd (it lasted until about the first million years BC), when ape-like people depended on nature and produced almost no food, but mainly consumed ready-made products of nature. Under the harsh conditions of the ice age, they sought refuge in caves found in many parts of the globe, such as Altamira in Spain, Nio in France, Cape Cave in the Urals, and so on.

II period – Paleolithic, or ancient Stone Age (I million – 12 thousand years BC) – the era when the first rough-hewn stone tools: chisels, scrapers and others. A tribal system was established, headed by a woman (matriarchy), which was associated with a group form of marriage. The farm was still consumer (for example, hunting – hunting large animals: mammoths, rhinos, cave bears, etc.).

Paleolithic dwellings are also something created by nature itself: a rock canopy, a cave, but already somewhat improved by man. In such caves lived an average of 50-60 people. Archaeological excavations of the Kiyik-Koba cave have shown that the original group of hunters numbered here from 30 to 50 people in an area of ​​about 70 m2. About the same number of hunters lived in the cave of Fournoy du Diable. Here the stones were laid too wide entrance, cleared the landslide and made sure that the floor was flat enough.

III period – Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age (about 12 – 8 thousand years BC). During this era, stone tools were improved, a stone ax appeared, a bow and arrow were invented. In addition to a detachment in which a large number of people take part, hunters armed with bows and arrows begin to hunt the beast individually.

Man builds seasonal camps, makes tents from animal skins. Due to the fact that the available tools were not yet possible to cut thick wood for use in construction, the structural framework of housing consisted of thin branches, and often the bones of large animals.

In this way the first artificial structures appeared. Because the means and products of production were common, primitive huts were often built of poles, branches, reeds, etc., which housed a large number of families (genus).

An example is the "Long House" of the Iroquois with many hearths in North America. These were elongated rectangular buildings with a frame of pillars and poles. The frame was lined with large pieces of bark. Inside the house, three tiers of platforms were equipped along the walls: in the first, they slept, in the second, they kept household utensils, and so on, and in the third, they kept stocks of unthreshed corn. For every four rooms in the central aisle, there was one hearth with a common cauldron for cooking.

Usually in one house there were 5-7 hearths, and its length reached 10 – 15 m, but there were also houses bigger twice in the size. Similar large houses are typical of the early agricultural tribes of Europe. Gradually, people learned to adapt tools for more sophisticated work, in particular, grinding. This is one of the characteristic features of the IV period – the Neolithic, or Neolithic Age (about 8 – 4 thousand years BC).

At this time there were changes in the field of food production: there was livestock and improved agriculture. Thus, the consumer economy becomes productive. Livestock, land cultivation, pottery development require permanent housing. For the first time such dwellings were found near the village of Trypillya, fifty kilometers from Kyiv.

The huts, woven of wicker and covered with clay, consisted of several rooms, some of which were residential, and the rest were set aside for storerooms to store supplies. In each room there was a hearth, large vessels for storing flour, a grater; in the depths of the room was a clay altar with statuettes of female deities. Trypillya settlement Kolomyia region consists not only of large but also of small inhabitants. They are arranged in two concentric circles.

The diameter of the outer circle is 170 m. More than 500 people lived in the settlement. V period – the Bronze Age (about 4 – 2 thousand years BC) – an era when man mastered the smelting of metal and made it into tools. Subsequently, more sophisticated tools, further development of livestock and agriculture made it possible to produce more products than was needed for consumption. There is a military democracy – a tribal system with the selection of the main in the family – the leader, sorcerer, shaman and so on.

Mythological ideas are developing. Predatory wars between tribes necessitate the construction of defensive buildings. Settlements are protected by fortress walls. An example is the ancient settlement of Tushemlya in the Smolensk region. The site of this settlement has an outline close to an oval, its length is 35 m, the width of the middle part is 32 m. It is protected by several rows of wooden walls, as well as earthen ramparts and ditches.

The general character of the dwellings, their fences, as well as the place of the cult site can be seen in the reconstruction of the Bereznyaki settlement.

The fortified settlement of the ancient Germans has the shape of a circle. This shape is very rational, because it forms the largest area, protected by the minimum length of the perimeter shafts, which are able to protect the smallest number of soldiers. The walls of individual buildings are made here in the form of mud covered with clay.

The formation of the human habitat of the primitive communal epoch is conditioned primarily by geoclimatic factors: fluctuations in temperature, humidity, the nature of the landscape and vegetation, the animal world, and the available building material. The role of geoclimatic zoning in the formation of architecture is explained in Fig. 1.16. The transition from zone to zone is smooth. The equatorial climate allows to do almost without clothes and easy housing.

Instead, in the zone of perpetual snow, where nomadic reindeer herding is developed and there are no natural materials for capital housing that would protect well from frost, the functions of housing were divided between shelter (light plague) and very warm and comfortable fur clothing … Shelters were often built here from blocks of densely trampled snow, which were fastened together by fast-freezing water.

Here are some examples of housing in different areas. The North American Indians erected conical tents from poles covered with birch bark or deer skins. The African hut, which is built on a tree to protect against predators and strangers, is not divided into separate rooms inside – this is typical of most early primitive dwellings.

Buildings on stilts became widespread in the Bronze Age. Driven into the bottom or into the swampy ground, they support the platform on which the building is erected, while the piles are simultaneously used as a wall frame, and their limbs support the roof rafters. Remains of buildings on stilts are found in Italy, Switzerland, Oceania and elsewhere. The entire settlement on stilts was explored on Lake Geneva. It was up to 360 m long and 30 to 45 m wide.

The upper part of the ancient Greek house is made of stone, the upper part is made of raw brick; rafters, pillars, doors – wooden.

The domed dwellings in Engadine, built in an area of ​​African deserts with strong winds, have a streamlined shape that prevents the stone walls from weeding out too quickly.

Subsequently, the family’s housing is separated from the family, becomes independent. Although there are many such houses in the settlement, there is no boundary that would separate the settlement from the outside world, there is no orderly thoughtful placement of houses.

There were no large settlements during the primitive communal system. Only in Asia Minor and Palestine in the VIII – VI millennium BC. BC there were developed and rich settlements. This is, first of all, Jericho (where modern Herica is in Israel) – a city that was founded in the IX millennium BC. It became one of the leading centers on an important trade route.

The inhabitants of Jericho quickly became rich and surrounded the city with a wall (because there was something to steal and what to protect!) 5 m high and 1.5 m thick. Along it was a moat width – 8, depth – 2 m. 9 m. About 8000 BC. In Jericho, about 2,000 people lived in domed houses.

Chatal-Guyuk is also considered to be one of the oldest settlements in Asia Minor, in modern Turkey. About 6000 BC 5-6 thousand inhabitants lived in this flourishing city – the center of pottery and weaving. The clay houses stood close together. To get home, you had to climb a ladder to the roof, and from there through the ice to get inside the house. It was not very convenient, but it was difficult for the enemies to break into such a settlement. There were several sanctuaries in Chatal-Guyuk. Their walls, painted with religious scenes, were decorated with plaster images of bull heads with real horns.

We know almost nothing about such cities. They were single and far from each other. Because of https://123helpme.me/argumentative-essay/ this, the cultures of Jericho and Chatal-Guyuk did not develop in civilization.

In the Bronze Age reached its highest development of buildings made of large stones. They received the general name of megalithic. Vertical single stones were called menhirs (from the Breton men – stone + hir – long). These were probably signs that marked the burials of prominent leaders, or totem structures, symbols that reflected the legendary origin of the genus. Such stones could be untreated or of a certain shape. Their surface was sometimes covered with drawings or they themselves had the appearance of some figures.

Sometimes the stone blocks formed long "alleys". Scientists suggest that such "alleys" may have had a ritual purpose.