College of Environmental Design
Department of Architecture, UC Berkeley
Architecture Slide Library
Architecture 170 - Fall 96 - Dell Upton - August 29
I. Architecture and Human Control of the Environment: the decorated caves at Lascaux, France, about 10,000 BCE. The beginnings of agriculture, about the same time.
II. Megalithic Monuments. Megalith means great or large stone. The megalithic monument: Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England [ca. 2800-1500 BCE] as a case study. The construction of Stonehenge. Henge monuments in Britain [ex.: Knowlton Rings, Dorset]. Stonehenge I, ca. 2800-2200 BCE: the original henge. Note: ditch-and-bank, causeway, heel stone, entrance stones, Aubrey holes, station stones. Stonehenge II, ca. 2100-2000 BCE. The bluestones as an example of arrays found elsewhere. Bluestones imported from Persilly mountains, Wales. Note: the Avenue. Stonehenge III, ca. 2000-1900 BCE: addition of the sarsen stones. Note: post-and-lintel construction, trilithons. Stonehenge IV: ca. 1800-1100 BCE: rearrangement of the bluestones. The meaning and use of Stonehenge. A result of Mediterranean influence? Entasis and other visual refinements. An observatory or astronomical computer? A ceremonial center? Comparative analysis of megalithic sites like the alignments near Carnac, Brittany, France, stone circle at Avebury, Wilts., Eng., and Grand Menhir Brisť, Brittany, Carnac offer some clues.
III. The Architectural Context of Stonehenge. The megalithic passage grave and the dead: Newgrange, Co. Meath, Ireland, ca. 3200 BCE. Note: orthostats, corbeled construction, kerb stones, art, roof box. The tomb in its community. Ex.: Maes Howe tomb and Skara Brae village [begun ca. 2450 BCE], Orkney Is., Scotland. (Orkney Island, site plan; megaliths). Note: subterranean houses connected by passages, hearths, dressers, beds, benches, side cells at Skara Brae. Megalithic tombs as major public monuments in small, relatively egalitarian agricultural communities. Stonehenge in its landscape. Long barrows and causewayed camps [ca. 4000 - 3000 BCE] in southern England. Introduction of henges ca. 3000 BCE. Cursus monuments. Chiefdom societies, round barrows, and Stonehenge II and III. (Tipperary Court Tomb).
A note on dates in Arch. 170: the abbreviations BC and AD are derived from the Christian religion and inappopriate for a course in world architecture. Following the practice of archaeologists, we will use BCE (Before the Current [or] Common, Era) instead of BC, and CE (Current [or Common] Era) instead of AD.