Architectural Beginnings: The Cave and Dwelling
I. Paleolithic Dwellings
Terra Amata dwellings, Terra Amata, France, c. 400,000 B.C.
Lecture Outline
Exam
Who?
Paleolithic architect (s)
the intended audience
the incidental audience
What?
Dwelling
Where?
Terra Amata, France
When?
400,000 B.C. or B.C.E.
Paleolithic
How ? How did it come to look this way?
Why? Why did it look this way in this place and at this time?
Terra Amata huts
I. A. Historical context - Independent factual knowledge of historical conditions at this time and place
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania – earliest evidence of man-made habit in 2,000,000 BC
Lower Paleolithic (2,500,000-300,000 BC):
• transition from scavenging to hunting-gathering
• nomadic, small groups of ½ dozen families
• first evidence of craft and stone tools
• first evidence of control of fire after 400,000 BC
• possible symbolic vocalizations after 400,000 BC
I. B. Formal Analysis: Describe the material, scale, and shape
Terra Amata dwelling
I. C. Meaning Social and ritual values shaping the arch. of the Paleolithic dwelling
1. Why were the Paleolithic Terra Amata huts about the same size?
Terra Amata dwellings
I. C. 2. Why did these Paleolithic dwellings have an oval form?
Terra Amata dwelling
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II. Paleolithic sacred space
Lascaux Cave, Lascaux, France, c. 10,000 B.C.
Hall of the Bulls
Axial Gallery
Who?
Paleolithic architect (s)
the intended audience
the incidental audience
What?
Lascaux Cave
Sacred space
Where?
Lascaux, France
When?
10,000 B.C. or B.C.E.
How ? How did it come to look this way?
Why? Why did it look this way in this place and at this time?
Lascaux Cave
II. A. Context Upper Paleolithic (40,000-10,000 BC):
• last glaciers of the ice age melt
• big game hunters and gatherers
• nomadic groups of ½ dozen families,
leadership informal
• material possessions evenly distributed
• earliest identifiable religious and burial sites
• proficiency in visual arts
II. B. Formal analysis of structural environmental qualities
1. Describe the entrance and ground plan as you would experience them
Lascaux Cave
Hall of the Bulls
II. B. 2. Describe the interior surfaces as you would experience it
Lascaux Cave
Hall of the Bulls
Axial Gallery
Axial Gallery far end
II. B. 3. Describe the subjects of the painting and your experience of them
Lascaux Cave
The Shaft
Hall of the Bulls
Axial Gallery
II. C. Why was this a suitable form – ideal sacred space – for this place and time (i.e., the Paleolithic era)?
Lascaux Cave
The Nave
Hall of the Bulls
II. C. 1. It showed respect for nature’s difficulties. What is the physical evidence for this?
Lascaux Cave
Hall of the Bulls
Entry
II. C. 2. It embodied perpetual change and perpetual interflow of time (an eternal present): What is the physical evidence for this?
Lascaux Cave
Axial Gallery
Axial Gallery
II. C. 2.
Lascaux Cave
Hall of the Bulls
The Nave
Hall of the Bulls
II. D.
C. 3.
What
It acknowledged
is Kostof’s ritual-based
impenetrable
explanation
mysteriesfor
ofthe
life.selection
What is of
thea physical
cave as aevidence
sacred space?
for this?
Lascaux Cave
Paleolithic female statuette
Axial Gallery
Venus of Willendorf, 30,000 B.C.
Hall of the Bulls
Organizing for course material for review
Paleolithic sacred space
a.
b.
c.
d.
eternal present
respect for nature
concern with mysteries of life
reasons why these were Paleolithic concerns