GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AURANGABAD

“ARCHITECTURAL AND PLANNING ASPECT OF

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS” Presented By,Mr.Pushpraj Suresh Patil

Guided By,Prof.Mr.G.K.Patil

INDEX

Stone Age CivilizationsIndus Valley CivilizationMesopotamian CivilizationRoman CivilizationAztecsIncas

STONE AGE SITESSTONE AGE

Mesolithic Age

Paleolithic Age Neolithic Age

Till 8000B.C.

8000-4000B.C.

4000-2500B.C.

Earlier, during Paleolithic period human work essentially as food gatherers. Hunting was done individually.

By the end of this period, human beings started making and using fire.

Earlier, they used to live on the tree.Archeologists are surer on the ground, when they try to reconstruct evidence for patterns of residence.One way of doing this is by plotting the distribution of artifacts*.*Artifacts-Any object made by human being

Case study of Kilombe and Olorgesailie (Kenya)

Thousands of flake tools and hand axes have been excavated. These findings are dated between 7,00,000 to 5,00,000 years ago.

Excavation at Olorgosailie, Kenya

Between 4,00,000 to 1,25,000 years ago, caves and open air sites began to be used.

Example of how they used to live in caves.

Case Study of Bhimbetka:30,000 years ago

Generally, civilizations occurred near water bodies.

Factory sites: Places where stone found and where people made tools.Here, blocks of stone tools found that were made and perhaps discarded because they were not perfect.Chips of waste stone left behind.Sometimes , people lived here for longer spells of time then it is called as “Habitation cum factory sites”.

Archeologists have found traces of huts or houses at some sites.

Case Study of Burzahom (Present day Kashmir);People built houses which were dug into the ground with steps leading into them.

Pit House

The larger round hole in the floor is a fire pit.

The air intake (little rectangular door in the wall), the stones that block air from the air intake, the fire pit and the sipapu are all in a line; this aspect of the design was intentional.

*sipapu symbolizes the portal through which their ancient ancestors first emerged to enter the present world.

Stories explain that this is the hole in which the first peoples of this world entered. As "They" stepped outside of the "Sipapu", they morphed from lizard-like beings into homo sapiens, or human form

Long House, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado,USA

Case Study of Terra Amata:Located on the cost of Southern France

It was flimsy* shelters with roofs of wood and grasses were built for short term seasonal visits.Large stone boulders were used to support the sites of the hut.*thin layered

Post Holes- Deep hole made to hold a timber

Boulders

Hearth

Imaginary view of Terra Amata shelter

Case Study of Inamgaon:Located near Shirur, Pune, Maharashtra

Layout of InamgaonSilo- Pit on a farm used to store grainsPlatform bin- Used to store seeds.

Burial site at Inamgaon

The skeleton in each case was accommodated in a small pit just large enough for the purpose and was oriented in a north-south direction .

Case Study of Mehgarh:Near Bolan Pass, it is important route into Iran.Site flourished 8000 year ago.

Remains of square and rectangular houses.Each house had 4+ compartments, some of which may have been used for storage.

Rectangular / Square houses at Mehgarh

Components of House at MehgarhAdobe- a kind of clay

Tomb* at Mehgarh

* A place for the burial of a corpse

INDUS VALLEYCIVILIZATION

Started establishing 4700 years ago.Generally, Cities here were divided into 2 parts:(1)Citadel : On west side –

Smaller but higher(2) Lower Town : On east side

– Larger but lower

Very often walls of baked bricks built around each part.

Bricks were so well made that they have lasted for thousands of years laid in interlocking pattern.

Houses were one or two storey high with rooms built around a courtyard.Some houses had wells to supply water.

Wells at Indus Valley

Many cities had covered drains with gentle slope.Drains in houses connected to those on streets and smaller drains led into bigger ones.As drains covered, inspection holes provided at intervals to clean them.

Drains in houses connected to those on streets

Covered drains at some sites

Inspection holes for closed drains

Case Study of Dholavira:

Located on Khadir Beyt* in Rann of Kutchh.*small isolated isalnd

Unlike other sites , it was divided into 3 parts.Each surrounded by stone walls.

The massive stone walls fortification at Dholavira

Water Reservoirs had found here.

A large water reservoir at citadel of Dholavira.

A stone masonry reservoir at Dholavira.

One of the water reservoir with steps at Dholavira.

Water Mangement System at Dholavira.

Manhar Channel

Mansar Channel

Step well at Dholavira.

Case Study of Lothal:Beside a tributary of Sabarmati and close to the Gulf of Cambay(Khmbhat) in Gujrat.

Even in those days people of Lothal traded with Iraq, Persia, Egypt and with some regions of Middle east because of the artificial dockyard.

Artificial brick dockyard had been found here.It was an huge tank where boats and ships came in from sea and through river channel.Goods were loaded and unloaded here.Spanning 216m * 37m.World’s first tidal dockyard.

Artificial brick dockyard at Lothal

Layout of Lothal.

Artistic imaginary view of Lothal.

Artistic imaginary view of Lothal.

Case Study of Mohenjo-Daro:

In Sindhi language, it means “Mount of Dead”.Located between the rivers Saraswati and Indus in PakistanIt was the biggest site of Indus Valley Civilization.It was a planned urban centre.

A settlement divided in 2 sections; citadel and lower town like other cities of Indus Valley Civilization.Citadel owes its height to the fact that buildings were constructed on the mud brick platforms.Citadel and Lower town both were walled.

Aerial view of excavation at Mohenjo-Daro

Layout of Mohenjo-Daro

Other signs of planning include bricks, which whether sun dried or baked, were of a standardized ratio, where the Length:Breadth:Height=4:2:1.Such bricks were even found at other settlements.

Drains:On the plan of Lower town, it is notice that roads and streets were laid out along an approximate grid patterns, intersecting at right angles.It seems that street with drains were laid out first and then houses built along them.If domestic waste water had to flow into the street drains, every house needed to have at least on wall along a street.

Street Layout of Mohenjo-Daro

Street drains at Mohenjo-Daro

Domestic Architecture:Lower town at Mohenjo-Daro provides an example of residential buildings.Many were centered on a courtyard, with rooms on all sides.The courtyard was probably the centre of activities such as cooking & weaving particularly during hot and dry weather.What is also interesting is an apparent concern for privacy; there are no windows in the walls along the ground level. A typical set of

houses at Mohenjo-Daro.

Drawing of big house at Mohenjo-Daro.

Isometric view of house at Mohenjo-Daro.

It is equally remarkable that hardly any of the houses encroached upon the street, their frontages forming fairly straight lines. The main streets ran from east to west and from north to Mohenjo-Daro.Besides, main entrance does not give a direct view of the interior or the courtyard.

Every house had its own bathroom paved with bricks with drains connected through the wall to the street drains.

Bathrooms at Mohenjo-Daro.

Some houses have remains of staircases to reach a second storey or the roof.

Staircase at Mohenjo-Daro.

Stairway at Mohenjo-Daro.

Stairway at Mohenjo-Daro.

Many houses had wells, often in room that could be reached from the outside and perhaps used by passers by.Wells are made with wedge shaped bricks to make a strong circular structure. Some bricks were made with special grooves to keep the ropes from sliding sideways when drawing water.

Large Well at Mohenjo-Daro.

A small well inside private building.

Private well at Mohenjo-Daro. Even it is in house , it was used by passers by also.

Wells in some parts of Mohenjo-Daro have been excavated in such a way that they appear to be towers

Tower like well  20 feet tall at Mohenjo-Daro.

Citadel: It is on citadel that find evidence of structures that were probably used for special public purposes.This include warehouse- a massive structure of which the lower brick portions remain while upper portions, probably of wood, decayed long ago.

Lower portion of warehouse at Mohenjo-Daro.

Great Bath:

Large rectangular tank in a courtyard surrounded by a corridor on all 4 sides .

It is lined with bricks coated with plaster and made water tight with a layer of natural tar*.

There are 2 flights of steps on the North and South leading into the tank, which was made water tight by setting bricks on edge and using a mortar of Gypsum.

*byproduct of coke production / black colored

Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro.

There were rooms on three sides, in one of which was a large well.

Water from the tank flowed into a huge drain.

Across a lane to North lay a smaller building with eight bathrooms, 4 on each side of the corridor, with drain that ran along the corridor.

The uniqueness of the structure, as well as the context in which it was found(citadel with several distinctive buildings) has led scholars to suggest that I it meant for some kind of a special ritual bath.

Imaginary view of Great Bath

Artistic view of Great Bath.

Large well

Painting of Mohenjo-Daro.

MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION

It was the land between rivers Euphrates and Tigris, Iraq.Established during 5000 BCE.

Earliest temples:It was shrine made of unbaked bricks.Constructed in brick, temples became larger over time, with several rooms around open courtyards.

The earliest known temple of the south, c.5000 BCE (plan).

A temple of a later period, c.3000 BCE,with an open courtyard and in-and outFaçade(outward appearance)

Mesopotamia Irrigation

Case Study of Ur:

Layout of the city Ur

It is one of the earliest cities to be excavated.

It was a town whose ordinary houses were systematically excavated in 1930’s.

Narrow winding streets indicate that wheeled carts could not have reached many of the houses.

Narrow winding streets and irregular shapes of house plots also indicate an absence of town planning.

Street Layout of Ur

There were no street drains.Drains and clay pipes were instead found in the inner courtyards of the houses.

Clay pipes for conducting water.

Hand made glazed clay sewer pipe.

Knee and T joints:

Made about 4000 B.C. Found in the excavations .

It is thought that house roofs sloped inwards and rainwater was channeled via the drainpipes into the sumps* in the inner courtyards.

This would have been a way of preventing unpaved streets from becoming excessively slushy after a downpour.

Yet people seem to have swept all their household refuse into the streets, to be trodden** underfoot.

This made street levels rise and overtime threshold of houses had also to be raised so that the no mud would flow inside after the rains.*covered basin in ground into which water and sewage flows.** pressing the foot against center.

Sewer Lines at Ur

Light came into the rooms not from windows but from doorways opening into the courtyards.This would also have given families their privacy.

Houses at Ur

There were superstitions about the houses, recorded in Omen tablets at Ur.

(1) A raised threshold brought wealth.

(2)A front door that did not open towards another house

was lucky.

(3) If main wooden door of a house opened outwards

(instead of inwards) the wife would be torment* to her husband.

* The act of harassing someone

There was a town cemetery* at Ur in which graves of royalty.Commoners have been found, but a few individuals were found buries under floors of ordinary houses.

* Burial site

Town Cemetery at Ur

Ur city rose up around the shrine of a local god.

An artist impression of what Ur could have been looked like at its peak.

Case Study of Mari:

Flourished after 2000 B.C.E.

Palace of Mari of King Zimrilim ( 1810-1760 B.C.E.):

It was a residence of royal family, hub of administration and a place of production, especially of precious metal ornaments.

Palace had only one entrance on the North. Large and open courtyards such as 131 were beautifully paved.King received foreign dignitaries and his own people in 132, a room with wall paintings that would have owed visitors.It was a sprawling structure with 260 rooms and covered area of 2.4 hectares.

Throne Room- Official residence of crown

Courtyard 131

Scribes’ office with benches and clay bins for storing tablets

ROMAN CIVILIZATION

2000 years ago, the King Augustus found Rome a city of brick and made it into a city of marble.

Amphitheatres:Open arenas surrounded by tiers of seats, where citizens could watch all kinds of shows.

Amphitheatre in Roman empire.

Colosseum:Started construction on 79 B.C.E.Here, gladiators* fought wild beasts.It could accommodate 60,000 people.

*armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic

Aerial view of Colosseum

Interior of Colosseum

Interior from another side

Pantheon: It means building of God.Roman temple.It started built from 27B.C.

Plan of Pantheon.

Pantheon Illusion

Inside view of PantheonOculus

Panorama of inside of Pantheon

The striking perspective of the dome of the Pantheon with the light from the oculus

Aerial view of Pantheon

Aqueducts: Channels to supply water to bring water to the city.

Hidden aqueducts to supply fresh water to the city

Rome's magnificent Trevi Fountain, built in the 1700s, still relies on sections of an ancient aqueduct for its water.

Sewer Lines:

Sewer line in Rome built in brick masonry.

Sewer line in Rome built in stone masonry.

AZTECS CIVILIZATION

Established during 1300 A.D.Aztecs moved from north into central valley of Mexico.

Since, land was limited, they undertook reclamations.They made Chinampas, artificial island in Mexico Lake by weaving huge reed* mats and covering them with mud and plants.

*slender-leaved plant of the grass family, which grows in water or on marshy ground

Cross-section of the Chinampas(Midwest Permaculture)

Chinampas

Artificial island in Mexico Lake

Stairway:

Different types of temples of Aztecs

El-Castilo Temple in Mexico

INCAS CIVILIZATION

Established during 1300 AD.

Incas built roads through mountains from Equador to Chile.

Along the ancient Incas roads

Evidences shows that the agricultural terraces found here are perfectly concentric circles and ellipses created in an area of natural depression. It is believed that these were used for agriculture research, with each level having its own microclimate, and, therefore capable of supporting different crop through the year.

Case Study of Machu Picchu:It is a 15th-century Inca citadel situated on a mountain ridge 2,430 meters (7,970 ft) above sea level.Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls. Since no mortar is used.

Here it is clearly seen that the residential area were built up with different ground levels.

View of the residential section of Machu Picchu

Interior of an Inca building, featuring trapezoidal windows

Inti Watana is believed to have been designed as an astronomic clock or calendar by the Incas

REFERENCESBooks Referred:Our Pasts Part 1Our Pasts Part 2Our Pasts Part 3India and Contemporary World Part 1India and Contemporary World Part 2Contemporary IndiaThemes in World History Themes in Indian History Part 1Themes in Indian History Part 2Themes in Indian History Part 3

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