Post on 29-Jan-2023
PRE- COLUMBIAN ARCHITECTURE
Presented By:
Ar. Pradeep Kumar Yadav
Assistant Professor
Institute of Architecture & Town Planning
Bundelkhand University, Jhansi
PRE- COLUMBIAN ARCHITECTURE
• INTRODUCTION
• MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS
• PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• BUILDING TECHNIQUES
• ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
• BUILDINGS
PRE- COLUMBIAN ARCHITECTURE Introduction
• Pre-Columbian civilizations, the aboriginal American Indian cultures that evolved in Mesoamerica
(part of Mexico and Central America) and the Andean region (western South America) prior to
Spanish exploration and conquest in the 16th century.
• The Pre-Columbian civilizations were extraordinary developments in human society and culture,
ranking with the early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.
• The high civilizations of Mesoamerica and South America consisted of peasant farmers ruled by
hereditary elites whose basis of power was the belief that they had been created to govern & had
access to the Gods.
• One aspect of the culture that had a powerful influence on architecture was the belief that super
natural powers were literally in certain places- thus determining the siting of ceremonial buildings.
MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS
NORTH AMERICA MESOAMERICA SOUTH AMERICA
• Archaic period
• Middle Archaic period
• Late Archaic period
• Woodland period
• Mississippian culture
• Historic tribes
• Olmec civilization
• Teotihuacan civilization
• Tarascan/ Purepecha civilization
• Maya civilization
• Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance
civilization
• Norte Chico civilization
• Valdivia culture
• Cañari people
• Chavín civilization
• Muisca people
• Moche civilization
• Tiwanaku Empire
• Inca Empire
• Cambeba
MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF THE
PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS
Arctic
Northwest
Aridoamerica
Mesoamerica
Isthmo-Colombian
Caribbean
Amazon
Andes
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
EASTERN UNITED
STATES
CENTRAL AMERICA ANDEAN COASTAL REGIONS
• Extensive river system
• Large areas of
deciduous forest ( now
greatly reduced)
• Rolling hills & well-
sheltered valleys
• Climate through the
area varies from humid
subtropical or humid
continental to relatively
cold subarctic conditions
in the northern third.
• The spring like climates, with reliable
rainfall, in the upland plateau of
present- day Mexico City, Oaxaca
valley and the Guatemalan highlands.
• The humid tropical lowlands of
Yucatan & northern Guatemala, the
central region of Mayan Civilization,
where the brief dry season in April &
May critically affects agricultural
success.
• The raised pyramidal platform as a
device to elevate living surfaces
above the forest floor seems clearly
understandable as a response to
conditions of high humidity & vigorous
plant growth in the lowland areas.
• Changing very abruptly from
extreme desert conditions to
lush
• Well- watered river valleys
• Low rainfall made abode
construction feasible
throughout the coastal zone
• The highlands of Peru, on the
other hand, offer only complex
mountainous terrain, the
elevated grassland plateaux
of which defy habitation.
BUILDING TECHNIQUES
NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA ANDEAN COASTAL REGIONS
• The laced – plank communal
lodges of the Canadian north-
west
• The bent- sapling Iroquois
long-houses
• Earth lodges partly excavated
& roofed with timbers
• But the most impressive
structures in North America,
the earth-platform temples of
the Eastern Woodlands, were
accomplished with most
rudimentary means, the simple
pilling-up of basket- loads of
earth.
• Maya vault presents the most highly
evolved of all American pre-colonial
constructional devices.
• Few early Classic vaults were
corbelled( for example, the five storey
Pyramid, Edzna)
• The best-known Late Classic vaults
depended for stability upon the
adhesive properties of mortar &
acted monolithically.
• The boot-shaped vault stones of
northern Yucatan ( for example the
Nunnery Complex, Uxmal)
• The massive structural elements of
Maya buildings were independently
stable
• Most Inca & pre-Inca
construction did not have
distinct hearting masonry
comparable to that of Maya
structures.
• True corbels were used
extensively in Andean work to
support floor & roof timbers.
• The famous Inca polygonal
masonry ( for example,
Saqsaywaman), laid without
mortar & very closely fitted, is
unique among pre- colonial
methods of construction.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA
• Pre- colonial monumental
architecture can be found
throughout the eastern United
States in the form of truncated
earthen pyramids, often grouped
around ceremonial plazas or
clustered in precincts.
• The pyramids did not have facing
materials & assumed large, simple
forms with little terracing or
surface articulation.
• Rectangular & square plan-
shapes predominated, but a few
temples were circular, and were
shaped like serpents or totemic
figures.
• In contrast to the disparate architectural forms
in North America, monumental ceremonial
architecture of the Mesoamerican high
civilizations (Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Totec &
Aztec) generally conformed to a single model that
varied only in detail with location & period.
• This was based on a clear distinction between
superstructure & substructure.
• Low land Maya builders vaulted the temple
buildings & expressed the vaulting on exteriors by
means of a horizontal band known as the upper
zone, on which were highly conspicuous symbolic
images in painted relief.
• Earlier than c. 900 BC,
architectural ideas remained
confined to their original
localities, but subsequently a
series of regional styles
spread more widely through
the Andean area.
• Rubble & field stone as well
as cut stone were used in the
Chavin temples.
• Carved Stone & modelled
stucco were used for
decoration.
ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER
NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA
• In the south- west United
States, impressive communal
structures were built by the
Anazasi & Pueblo cultures at
Pueblo Bonto, Mesa Verde, the
Chaco canyon & other sites.
• These buildings incorporated
the functions of temples &
palaces in their rectangular
systems of rooms, which were
used for various purposes &
were punctuated by circular
kivas used as ceremonial
spaces.
• In these structures the
geometry of ritual architecture
was hidden.
• Substructure platforms were also
symbolic.
• In fully developed Maya temples of
southern Mexico & Guatemala elaborate
substructures were formed as additive
assemblies of distinct, three-
dimensionally recognisable ‘bodies’, and
also some extent were standardised.
• A description of Temple I at Tikal, in
Guatemala, for example, with its six
component types- basal-platform,
pyramid, supplementary-platform,
building-platform, building, and roof-
comb- is equally applicable to more than
a hundred temples built over more than
800 years.
• The period following the spread of
Chavin( c. 200 BC to AD 600) is
notable for the construction of large
abode platform-temples such as the
Sun & Moon pyramids at Moche & in
many southern & central coastal
locations.
• From 600 to 1000, new empires
emerged with capitals at the cities
of Tiahunaco & Huari, characterised
by very rigid, formal architecture on
a gridiron plan.
• The Incas used a variety of
construction techniques ranging from
rubble masonry to polygonal dry stone
work .
MONKS MOUND AT CAHOKIA, NORTH AMERICA
• The largest single ceremonial building of pre-Columbian North America.
• The mound size was calculated in 1988 as about 100 feet (30 m) high, 955 feet (291 m) long
including the access ramp at the southern end, and 775 feet (236 m) wide.
• Its massive platform, of truncated pyramid form, has four asymmetrical levels built up entirely of
earth, and dominated a palisaded ceremonial precinct.
• This makes Monks Mound roughly the same size at its base as the Great Pyramid of Giza (13.1
acres / 5.3 hectares).
• Unlike Egyptian pyramids which were built of stone, the platform mound was constructed almost
entirely of layers of basket-transported soil and clay.
• Because of this construction and its flattened top, over the years, it has retained rainwater within
the structure. This has caused slumping, the avalanche-like sliding of large sections of the sides at
the highest part of the mound.
MONKS MOUND AT CAHOKIA, NORTH AMERICA
Cahokia as it may have appeared ,
painting by Michael Hampshire
EMERALD MOUND AT CAHOKIA, NORTH AMERICA
• The Emerald Mound Site , also known as the Selsertown site, is a Plaquemine culture Mississippian
period archaeological site located on the Natchez Trace Parkway near Stanton, Mississippi, United
States.
• Emerald Mound, built and used during the Mississippian period between 1250 and 1600 A.D.,was a
ceremonial center for the local population, which resided in outlying villages and hamlets.
• The platform mound is the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the country, after Monk's
Mound at Cahokia, Illinois.
• The mound covers eight acres, measuring 770 feet (230 m) by 435 feet (133 m) at the base and
is 35 feet (11 m) in height.
• Emerald Mound has a flat top with two smaller secondary mounds at each end. It was constructed
around a natural hill. This site once had six other secondary mounds which were lost due to the
plowing of the surface of the mound.
• It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA
• A prehistoric earthwork constructed by the Poverty Point culture.
• The Poverty Point site is located in present-day northeastern Louisiana though evidence of the
Poverty Point culture extends throughout much of the Southeastern Woodlands.
• The Poverty Point site has been designated as a U.S. National Monument, a U.S. National Historic
Landmark, and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• The Poverty Point site contains earthen ridges and mounds, built by indigenous people between 1700
and 1100 BC during the Late Archaic period in North America.
• The earthworks include six concentric, C-shaped ridges that extend to the edge of the Macon Ridge
and several mounds outside and inside of the earthen ridges.
• These concentric ridges are unique to Poverty Point.
POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA
(SITE DESCRIPTION)
Six C-shaped ridges Plaza Mounds
• The main part of the monument is
the six concentric C-shaped ridges
• Each ridge is separated from the
next by a swale or gulley.
• The ridges are divided by four aisles
forming earthwork sectors.
• The slightly rounded crest of each
ridge varies from 50 – 80 ft (15–25
m) in width.
• The width of the intervening swales
is 65 – 100 ft (20 – 30 m).
• Enclosed by the
innermost concentric
ridge and the eastern
edge of Macon Ridge is a
large, 37.5-acre (17.4
ha), plaza.
• Huge wooden posts in
the western plaza.
• Several complex circular
magnetic features,
ranging from about
82 ft (25 m) to 206 ft
(63 m) in diameter, in
the southern half of the
plaza.
MOUND A
• The earthen mounds are the most visible
earthworks at the site.
• The largest of these, Mound A, is 72 ft
(22 m) tall at its highest point and about
705 x 660 ft (215 x 200 m) at its base.
• Mound A is located to the west of the
ridges, and is roughly T-shaped when
viewed from above.
• Some have interpreted Mound A as being in
the shape of a bird or as an "Earth island"
representing the cosmological center of the
site.
POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA
(SITE DESCRIPTION)
Mound B Mound C
• Mound B is located north and west of the six
concentric ridges and 2050 ft (625 m) north of
Mound A.
• The mound is roughly conical in form and is
approximately 21 ft (6.5 m) in height with a 180 ft
(55 m) basal diameter.
• Mound B was the first earthwork built at Poverty
Point.
• Built in several stages, charcoal, fire pits, and
possible postmolds were found at various levels
within the mound.
• Mound C is located inside the plaza area near the
eastern edge of Macon Ridge.
• Mound C is 6.5 ft (2 m) in height, about 260 ft
(80 m) long, and today is 80 ft (25 m) wide.
• The width is truncated by erosion along the eastern
edge.
• There is a depression that divides the mound, which
is thought to have been created by a 19th-century
wagon road which proceeded northward to the old
town of Floyd, Louisiana.
POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA
(SITE DESCRIPTION)
Mound D Mound E Mound F
• Mound D is a rectangular
earthwork having a flat
summit that today
contains a historic
cemetery associated with
the Poverty Point
Plantation.
• This mound is about 4 ft
(1.2 m) tall and 100 x
130 ft (30 x 40 m) at
its base and is situated
on one of the concentric
ridges.
• Mound E is sometimes
referred to as the
Ballcourt Mound.
• Mound E is located 1330 ft
(405 m) south of Mound A
and is a rectangular flat-
topped structure with
rounded corners and a ramp
extending from the
northeast corner.
• Mound E is 13.4 ft (4 m) in
height and 360 x 295 ft
(110 x 90 m) at its base.
• A sixth mound was discovered at
Poverty Point in 2013.
• Known as Mound F, it is located
outside and to the northeast of
the concentric ridges.
• Mound F is about 5 ft (1.5 m) tall
and 80 x 100 ft (24 by 30 m) at
its base.
TOWN CREEK INDIAN MOUND, NORTH AMERICA
• Town Creek Indian Mound is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site located
near present-day Mount Gilead, Montgomery County, North Carolina, in the United
States.
• The site, whose main features are a platform mound with a surrounding village and
wooden defensive palisade, was built by the Pee Dee, a South Appalachian Mississippian
culture people.
• The Town Creek site was an important ceremonial site occupied from about 1150—1400
CE.
• It is the only ceremonial mound and village center of that culture located within North
Carolina.
• The site is the only national historic landmark in North Carolina that commemorates
American Indian culture.
SERPENT MOUND, NORTH AMERICA
• Serpent Mound resembles a giant sinuous snake with a curled tail at the west end, a head at the
east end, and seven winding coils in between.
• In all, the snake stretches a quarter of a mile and ranges from 1.2 to 1.5 meters (3.9 to 4.9
feet) in height and 6.0 to 7.6 meters (19.7 to 24.9 feet) in width.
• Serpent Mound is located on a high plateau overlooking Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County, Ohio,
about 73 miles east of Cincinnati.
• Serpent Mound may have had a spiritual purpose, given that the many native cultures in North and
Central America revered snakes, attributing supernatural powers to the slithering reptiles.
• Additionally, graves and burial mounds near the site suggest Serpent Mound’s builders may have
constructed the structure for some kind of important burial or mortuary function, such as to guide
spirits. But the mound itself doesn’t contain any graves or artifacts.
• Serpent Mound may have further had temporal significance—the head of the serpent aligns with
the summer solstice sunset while the tail points to the winter solstice sunrise. As such, ancient
peoples may have used the structure to mark time or seasons.
NATIVE AMERICAN HOUSES
• Since North America is such a big continent, different tribes had very different weather
to contend with.
• In the Arizona deserts, temperatures can hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit, and in the
Alaskan tundra, -50 is not unusual.
• Naturally, Native Americans developed different types of dwellings to survive in these
different environments.
• Also, different American Indian tribes had different traditional lifestyles.
• Some tribes were agricultural-- they lived in settled villages and farmed the land for corn
and vegetables. They wanted houses that would last a long time.
• Other tribes were more nomadic, moving frequently from place to place as they hunted
and gathered food and resources. They needed houses that were portable or easy to
build.
Wigwam Homes
• Wigwams (or wetus) are Native American houses used by Algonquian Indians in the woodland
regions.
• Wigwam is the word for "house" in the Abenaki tribe, and wetu is the word for "house" in the
Wampanoag tribe.
• Sometimes they are also known as birchbark houses.
• Wigwams are small houses, usually 8-10 feet tall. Wigwams are made of wooden frames which are
covered with woven mats and sheets of birchbark.
• The frame can be shaped like a dome, like a cone, or like a rectangle with an arched roof.
• Once the birchbark is in place, ropes or strips of wood are wrapped around the wigwam to hold the
bark in place.
LONG HOUSES
• Longhouses are Native American homes used by the Iroquois tribes and some of their Algonquian
neighbors.
• They are built similarly to wigwams, with pole frames and elm bark covering.
• The main difference is that longhouses are much, much larger than wigwams.
• Longhouses could be 200 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 20 feet high.
• Inside the longhouse, raised platforms created a second story, which was used for sleeping space.
• Mats and wood screens divided the longhouse into separate rooms. Each longhouse housed an entire
clan-- as many as 60 people.
TEPEES
• Tepees (also spelled Teepees or Tipis) are tent-like American Indian houses used by Plains tribes.
• A tepee is made of a cone-shaped wooden frame with a covering of buffalo hide.
• Like modern tents, tepees are carefully designed to set up and break down quickly.
• As a tribe moved from place to place, each family would bring their tipi poles and hide tent along
with them.
• Originally, tepees were about 12 feet high, but once the Plains Indian tribes acquired horses, they
began building them twice as high.
GRASS HOUSES
• Grass houses are American Indian homes used in the Southern Plains by tribes such as the Caddos.
• They resemble large wigwams but are made with different materials.
• Grass houses are made with a wooden frame bent into a beehive shape and thatched with long
prairie grass.
• These were large buildings, sometimes more than 40 feet tall.
• Grass houses are good homes for people in a warm climate.
• In the northern plains, winters are too cold to make homes out of prairie grass.
• But in the southern plains of Texas, houses like these were comfortable for the people who used
them.
WATTLE AND DAUB HOUSES
• Wattle and daub houses (also known as asi, the Cherokee word for them) are Native American
houses used by southeastern tribes.
• Wattle and daub houses are made by weaving rivercane, wood, and vines into a frame, then coating
the frame with plaster.
• The roof was either thatched with grass or shingled with bark.
• Wattle and daub houses are permanent structures that take a lot of effort to build.
• Like longhouses, they are good homes for agricultural people who intended to stay in one place, like
the Cherokees and Creeks.
• Making wattle and daub houses requires a fairly warm climate to dry the plaster.
CHICKEES
• Chickees (also known as chickee huts, stilt houses or platform dwellings) are Native American homes
used primarily in Florida by tribes like the Seminole Indians.
• Chickee houses consisted of thick posts supporting a thatched roof and a flat wooden platform
raised several feet off the ground.
• They did not have any walls. During rainstorms, Florida Indians would lash tarps made of hide or
cloth to the chickee frame to keep themselves dry, but most of the time, the sides of the structure
were left open.
• Chickees are good homes for people living in a hot, swampy climate.
• The long posts keep the house from sinking into marshy earth, and raising the floor of the hut off
the ground keeps swamp animals like snakes out of the house.
• Walls or permanent house coverings are not necessary in a tropical climate where it never gets cold.
ADOBE HOUSES
• Adobe houses (also known as pueblos) are Native American house complexes used by the Pueblo
Indians of the Southwest.
• Adobe pueblos are modular, multi-story houses made of adobe (clay and straw baked into hard
bricks) or of large stones cemented together with adobe.
• Each adobe unit is home to one family, like a modern apartment.
• The whole structure, which can contain dozens of units, is often home to an entire extended clan.
• Adobe houses are good homes to build in a warm, dry climate where adobe can be easily mixed and
dried.
• These are homes for farming people who have no need to move their village to a new location.
• In fact, some Pueblo people have been living in the same adobe house complex, such as Sky City, for
dozens of generations.
EARTHEN HOUSES
• Earthen house is a general term referring to several types of Native American homes including
Navajo hogans, Sioux earth lodges, subarctic sod houses, and Native American pit houses of the
West Coast and Plateau.
• Earthen houses made by different tribes had different designs, but all were semi-
subterranean dwellings -- basement-like living spaces dug from the earth, with a domed mound built
over the top (usually a wooden frame covered with earth or reeds).
• Earthern houses are good for people who want permanent homes and live in an area that is not
forested.
• (It's difficult work to excavate underground homes in areas with many tree roots!) Living partially
underground has several benefits, especially in harsh climates-- the earth offers natural protection
from wind and strong weather.
PLANK HOUSES
• Plank houses are Native American homes used by tribes of the Northwest Coast (from northern
California all the way up to Alaska)
• Plank houses are made of long, flat planks of cedar wood lashed to a wooden frame.
• Native American plank houses look rather similar to old European houses.
• Plank houses are good houses for people in cold climates with lots of tall trees.
• However, only people who don't need to migrate spend the time and effort to build these large
permanent homes.
• Only coastal tribes, who make their living by fishing, made houses like these.
IGLOOS
• Igloos (or Iglu) are snow houses used by the Inuit (Eskimos) of northern Canada.
• Not all Inuit people used igloos -- some built sod houses instead, using whale bones instead of wooden
poles for a frame.
• Like a sod house, the igloo is dome-shaped and slightly excavated, but it is built from the snow,
with large blocks of ice set in a spiral pattern and packed with snow to form the dome.
• Igloos are good houses for the polar region, where the earth is frozen, the snow cover is deep, and
there are few trees.
• Snow is a good insulator, and dense blocks of ice offer good protection against the arctic winds.
BRUSH SHELTERS
• Brush shelters (including wickiups, lean-tos, gowa, etc.) are temporary Native American dwellings
used by many tribes.
• Brush shelters are typically very small, like a camping tent.
• People cannot usually stand up straight inside brush lodges -- they are only used for sleeping in.
• A brush shelter is made of a simple wooden frame covered with brush (branches, leaves, and grass)
• The frame can be cone-shaped, with one side left open as a door, or tent-shaped, with both ends
left open.
• Most Native Americans only made a brush shelter when they were out camping in the wilderness.
• But some migratory tribes who lived in warm dry climates, such as the Apache tribes, built brush
shelters as homes on a regular basis.
• They can be assembled quickly from materials that are easy to find in the environment, so people
who build villages of brush shelters can move around freely without having to drag teepee poles.