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Pre- Columbian Architecture

Pre- Columbian Architecture

PRE- COLUMBIAN

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

• PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

• TECHNIQUES

• ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER

• PRE- COLUMBIAN ARCHITECTURE Introduction • Pre-Columbian , the aboriginal American Indian cultures that evolved in (part of and ) and the Andean (western ) prior to Spanish exploration and conquest in the 16th century.

• The Pre-Columbian civilizations were extraordinary developments in society and culture, ranking with the early civilizations of , , 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 • Olmec •

• Middle Archaic period • civilization •

• Late Archaic period • Tarascan/ Purepecha civilization • Cañari people

• • • Chavín civilization

• • Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance • people civilization • Historic tribes • Moche civilization

• Empire

•

• Cambeba MAJOR CULTURAL AREAS OF THE PRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICAS

Arctic

Northwest

Aridoamerica

Mesoamerica

Isthmo-Colombian

Caribbean

Amazon

Andes PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

EASTERN UNITED CENTRAL AMERICA ANDEAN COASTAL STATES • Extensive river system • The spring like climates, with reliable • Changing very abruptly from • Large areas of rainfall, in the upland plateau of extreme desert conditions to deciduous forest ( now present- day Mexico , Oaxaca lush greatly reduced) valley and the Guatemalan highlands. • - watered river valleys • Rolling hills & well- • The humid tropical lowlands of sheltered valleys Yucatan & northern Guatemala, the • Low rainfall made abode central region of Mayan Civilization, construction feasible • Climate through the where the brief dry season in April & throughout the coastal zone area varies from humid May critically affects agricultural • The highlands of , on the subtropical or humid success. other hand, offer only complex continental to relatively mountainous terrain, the cold subarctic conditions • The raised pyramidal platform as a elevated grassland plateaux in the northern third. device to elevate living surfaces of which defy habitation. above the forest floor seems clearly understandable as a response to conditions of high humidity & vigorous plant growth in the lowland areas. BUILDING TECHNIQUES

NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA ANDEAN COASTAL REGIONS • The laced – plank communal • Maya vault presents the most highly • Most Inca & pre-Inca lodges of the Canadian north- evolved of all American pre-colonial construction did not have west constructional devices. distinct hearting masonry comparable to that of Maya • The bent- sapling Iroquois • Few early Classic vaults were structures. long- corbelled( for example, the five storey , Edzna) • True corbels were used • lodges partly excavated extensively in Andean work to & roofed with timbers • The best-known Late Classic vaults support floor & roof timbers. depended for stability upon the • But the most impressive adhesive properties of & • The famous Inca polygonal structures in North America, acted monolithically. masonry ( for example, the earth-platform of Saqsaywaman), laid without the Eastern Woodlands, were • The boot-shaped vault stones of mortar & very closely fitted, is accomplished with most northern Yucatan ( for example the unique among pre- colonial rudimentary means, the simple Nunnery Complex, Uxmal) methods of construction. pilling-up of - loads of earth. • The massive structural elements of Maya buildings were independently stable ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA • Pre- colonial monumental • In contrast to the disparate architectural forms • Earlier than c. 900 BC, architecture can be found in North America, monumental ceremonial architectural ideas remained throughout the eastern United architecture of the Mesoamerican high confined to their original States in the form of truncated civilizations (Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Totec & localities, but subsequently a earthen , often grouped Aztec) generally conformed to a single model that series of regional styles around ceremonial plazas or varied only in detail with location & period. spread more widely through clustered in precincts. the Andean area. • This was based on a clear distinction between • The pyramids did not have facing superstructure & substructure. • Rubble & field stone as well materials & assumed large, simple as cut stone were used in the forms with little terracing or • Low land Maya builders vaulted the Chavin temples. surface articulation. buildings & expressed the vaulting on exteriors by means of a horizontal band known as the upper • Carved Stone & modelled • Rectangular & square plan- zone, on which were highly conspicuous symbolic stucco were used for shapes predominated, but a few images in painted relief. decoration. temples were circular, and were shaped like serpents or totemic figures. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER NORTH AMERICA CENTRAL AMERICA SOUTH AMERICA • In the south- west United • Substructure platforms were also • The period following the spread of States, impressive communal symbolic. Chavin( c. 200 BC to AD 600) is structures were built by the notable for the construction of large Anazasi & cultures at • In fully developed Maya temples of abode platform-temples such as the Pueblo Bonto, Mesa Verde, the southern Mexico & Guatemala elaborate & Moon pyramids at Moche & in Chaco & other sites. substructures were formed as additive many southern & central coastal assemblies of distinct, three- locations. • These buildings incorporated dimensionally recognisable ‘bodies’, and the functions of temples & also some extent were standardised. • From 600 to 1000, new empires palaces in their rectangular emerged with capitals at the systems of rooms, which were • A description of Temple I at , in of Tiahunaco & Huari, characterised used for various purposes & Guatemala, for example, with its six by very rigid, formal architecture on were punctuated by circular component types- basal-platform, a gridiron plan. used as ceremonial pyramid, supplementary-platform, spaces. building-platform, building, and roof- • The Incas used a variety of comb- is equally applicable to more than construction techniques ranging from • In these structures the a hundred temples built over more than rubble masonry to polygonal dry stone geometry of ritual architecture 800 years. work . was hidden. BUILDINGS MONKS AT , 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 roughly the same size at its base as the Great Pyramid of (13.1 acres / 5.3 hectares).

• Unlike which were built of stone, the was constructed almost entirely of layers of basket-transported and .

• 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 , also known as the Selsertown site, is a Mississippian period archaeological site located on the near Stanton, , .

• 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, .

• 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 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. EMERALD MOUND AT CAHOKIA, NORTH AMERICA , NORTHEASTERN , NORTH AMERICA • A prehistoric earthwork constructed by the .

• 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 , 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 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 • Enclosed by the MOUND A the six concentric C-shaped ridges innermost concentric • The earthen mounds are the most visible ridge and the eastern earthworks at the site. • Each ridge is separated from the edge of Macon Ridge is a next by a swale or gulley. large, 37.5-acre (17.4 • The largest of these, Mound A, is 72 ft ha), plaza. (22 m) tall at its highest point and about • The ridges are divided by four aisles 705 x 660 ft (215 x 200 m) at its base. forming earthwork sectors. • Huge wooden posts in the western plaza. • Mound A is located to the west of the • The slightly rounded crest of each ridges, and is roughly T-shaped when ridge varies from 50 – 80 ft (15–25 • Several complex circular viewed from above. m) in width. magnetic features, ranging from about • Some have interpreted Mound A as being in • The width of the intervening swales 82 ft (25 m) to 206 ft the shape of a bird or as an "Earth island" is 65 – 100 ft (20 – 30 m). (63 m) in diameter, in representing the cosmological center of the the southern half of the site. plaza. POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA (SITE DESCRIPTION) Mound B Mound C

• Mound B is located north and west of the six • Mound C is located inside the plaza area near the concentric ridges and 2050 ft (625 m) north of eastern edge of Macon Ridge. Mound A. • Mound C is 6.5 ft (2 m) in height, about 260 ft • The mound is roughly conical in form and is (80 m) long, and today is 80 ft (25 m) wide. approximately 21 ft (6.5 m) in height with a 180 ft (55 m) basal diameter. • The width is truncated by erosion along the eastern edge. • Mound B was the first earthwork built at Poverty Point. • There is a depression that divides the mound, which is thought to have been created by a 19th-century • Built in several stages, charcoal, fire pits, and wagon road which proceeded northward to the old possible postmolds were found at various levels town of Floyd, Louisiana. within the mound. POVERTY POINT, NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, NORTH AMERICA (SITE DESCRIPTION) Mound D Mound E Mound F

• Mound D is a rectangular • Mound E is sometimes • A sixth mound was discovered at earthwork having a flat referred to as the Poverty Point in 2013. summit that today Ballcourt Mound. contains a historic • Known as Mound F, it is located cemetery associated with • Mound E is located 1330 ft outside and to the northeast of the Poverty Point (405 m) south of Mound A Plantation. and is a rectangular flat- the concentric ridges. topped structure with • This mound is about 4 ft rounded corners and a ramp • Mound F is about 5 ft (1.5 m) tall (1.2 m) tall and 100 x extending from the and 80 x 100 ft (24 by 30 m) at 130 ft (30 x 40 m) at northeast corner. its base. its base and is situated on one of the concentric • Mound E is 13.4 ft (4 m) in ridges. height and 360 x 295 ft (110 x 90 m) at its base.

TOWN CREEK INDIAN MOUND, NORTH AMERICA

• is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site located near present-day Mount , Montgomery County, , 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. TOWN CREEK INDIAN MOUND MOUND, NORTH AMERICA • 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 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 powers to the slithering .

• Additionally, and 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 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 , different tribes had very different weather to contend with.

• In the 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. • (or wetus) are Native American houses used by Algonquian Indians in the woodland regions. • Wigwam is the word for "" in the 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 , like a cone, or like a rectangle with an arched roof. • Once the birchbark is in place, or strips of wood are wrapped around the wigwam to hold the bark in place. LONG HOUSES • 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 , 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 ) are -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 , tepees are carefully designed to up and break down quickly. • As a tribe moved from place to place, each family would bring their 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 . • 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 , houses like these were comfortable for the people who used them. AND DAUB HOUSES • 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 rivercane, wood, and vines into a frame, then coating the frame with . • 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 (also known as , stilt houses or platform dwellings) are Native American homes used primarily in by tribes like the 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 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. HOUSES • Adobe houses (also known as ) 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 ) or of large stones cemented together with adobe. • Each adobe unit is 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 , 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 all the way up to ) • 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 (or Iglu) are snow houses used by the Inuit (Eskimos) of northern . • Not all Inuit people used igloos -- some built sod houses instead, using whale bones instead of wooden poles for a frame. • Like a , the 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 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 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 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.

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