History of Architecture

• Ramp to shrine is a form of access in architecture.
• Early humans started in East Africa 100,000 years ago and migrated to Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
• Early humans shifted from a nomadic hunter-gatherer system to a combination of farming and hunting, resulting in no permanent housing.
• Early humans domesticated animals and plants, creating societies of villages near caves along shores and streams, marking the start of civilization and the creation of communities.
• Before early humans get hurt or wounded, they are left behind, as evidenced by archaeology, indicating a community that cares for its members.
• Rock caves are the earliest form of human settlement.
• Columns are used for structural support, while capitals are decorative elements located at the top of each column, each with a different design.
• Egyptian designs, particularly those found in pyramids, are more focused on plants than on animals.
• The form of the pyramid is scientifically based, as it resembles a mountain, which is closer to God.
• The Egyptians maximized the Nile River, using boats for buoyancy.
• The Egyptians used wheels to transfer limestones, which were pulled by slaves.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza was built by using limestones, which had weaknesses such as being vulnerable to water.
• The Egyptians used a ramp and wooden scaffolding in the construction of the pyramids.
• Pharaohs built their pyramids in their early years to prepare for their death, which they had been doing for a long time.
• The Great Pyramid of Giza was not purely yellowish in color, but was painted.
• The materials used in the construction of the pyramids were the same from top to bottom, but differed in quantity to create a tapered or triangular shape.
• Lascaux Cave in France contains wall paintings and engravings of Paleolithic humans thought to date from between 13,000 and 8,500 years ago, showing their form of communication and everyday life.
• Villages were connected by shared mortuary and goddess ritual centers.
• Ancient stone monuments, known as megaliths, were erected after people started sharing community life.
• Megaliths' tombs and temples imitated nature in gigantic forms resembling mountains and other landscape formations.
• Megaliths include menhirs, dolmens, cromlechs, and stone circles.
• Menhirs are prehistoric monuments consisting of an upright stone, usually standing alone but sometimes aligned with others in parallel rows.
• Examples of megaliths include the Kerloas Menhir in Brittany, France.
• Dolmens are prehistoric monuments consisting of two or more large upright stones supporting a horizontal stone slab or capstone, and usually regarded as a tomb.
• Examples of dolmens include the Kilclooney in County Donegal, Ireland, which utilizes trabeation, the most basic construction system for structures, and consists of posts as vertical supports and lintels as horizontal elements.
• Gindol in Gochang, South Korea, is a dolmen site that includes hundreds of stone dolmen and was designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000.
• Variations of dolmens include cove, trilithon, and cromlech.
• Cove dolmens consist of three standing stones, two on sides, one at the back.
• Trilithon dolmens consist of two upright stones supporting a horizontal lintel.
• Cromlechs are circular arrangements of megaliths, enclosing a dolmen or burial mound.
• Examples of cromlechs include Stone Circle in Avebury, England, which were associated with burials and cremations.
• Built shelters were designed in response to climate, local materials, and hunting patterns, and were built with limited investment in time and energy.
• Stonehenge is a megalithic monument consisting of 4 concentric rings of trilithons and menhirs centered around an altar stone, located in Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, England.
• Stonehenge is believed to have been used for sun cult or astronomical observations.
• A tumulus, also known as a barrow, is an artificial mound of earth or stone, especially over an ancient grave, located in the Etruscan necropolis of Banditaccia at Cerveteri, Italy.
• As the earth’s climate warmed up during the transition from the Ice Age to the Neolithic Age, settlements became more permanent and hunters started farming communities.
• New architecture was developed to represent communal and spiritual values.
• The Fertile Crescent is an early, dense network of cities and villages located in Mesopotamia (Iraq), marking the first civilization of humanity.
• The Fertile Crescent is an agricultural region that runs along the foot of the Taurus and Zagros mountains, with communities starting near the sea.
• Jericho is one of the world’s oldest continually-inhabited cities, located in Telles-Sultan, Jordan, and is a hilltop city with people living in stone houses with plaster floors, surrounded by high walls and towers.