Architectural Beginnings: The Cave and Dwelling

I. Paleolithic Dwellings

Terra Amata dwellings, Terra Amata, France, c. 400,000 B.C.

Lecture Outline Exam

Who?

What?

Paleolithic architect (s) the intended audience the incidental audience Dwelling Terra Amata, France Where?

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

Preparing review materials ONLINE STUDY IMAGES http://www.uark.edu/~archmed/ user name: arch2233 password: peristyle

Preparing review materials

II. Paleolithic sacred space

Lascaux Cave, Lascaux, France, c. 10,000 B.C.

Hall of the Bulls Axial Gallery

Who?

What?

Where?

Paleolithic architect (s) the intended audience the incidental audience Lascaux Cave Sacred space 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.

Hall of the Bulls Lascaux Cave Hall of the Bulls The Nave

Paleolithic female statuette

Lascaux Cave

Axial Gallery Venus of Willendorf, 30,000 B.C.

Hall of the Bulls

Organizing for course material for review

Paleolithic sacred space

a. eternal present b. respect for nature c. concern with mysteries of life d. reasons why these were Paleolithic concerns