HABITATION

PAY MORE INTEREST TO

UNDERSTANDING YOUR HOME
A good home offers comfort,
shelter and protection.
Through the glacial and inter glacial periods during the Pleistocene – 2
million years ago, man moved in and out of caves that provided comfort,
shelter and protection against the harsh conditions of Stone age life.

Some of the earliest definitive evidence of cave dwellers dates from

around 800,000 years ago at the site of Atapuerca in northern Spain.

A single stone age cave in the lime stone of Lebanon was a stone age tool
making site for probably 50000 years. It yielded a million pieces of flint,
stone axes and arrow heads.

The 100, 000 year old bones of Neanderthal man were first discovered in
the Feldhofer caves in the valley of the Neander River in Germany in 1856.

The bones of Cro Magnon man were also first discovered in a cave at the
foot of a hill of Cro Magnon in France.

The remains of Peking man were discovered in the collapsed caves of

Chou-k’ou-tien in eastern China.

Thor caves in the English Pennines provide reindeer bones left by

Palaeolithic Man in the bottom layers followed above by beads and
beakers of the Bronze Age and then fragments and pottery of the Iron Age.
Australopithecus Homo erectus Neanderthal man. Cro Magnon man

THE CAVE
DWELLERS
The bones
of our
forefathers
preserved
in caves
bind us to
our roots.
 THE ROCK BOTTOM OF INDIAN
HISTORY
Bhimbetka (600 caves) identified by Dr V S Wakankar in 1958,
When the melt of the Ice Age allowed man to wander out of caves, to forage and
migrate, and when the human genome was still a bean that hadn't sprouted into sap-
iens, something big was happening in Bhimbetka. All kinds of Stone Age man
(Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Chalcolithic and Neolithic) had begun to draw their primordial
wallpaper in these caves.
 MONTEZUMA CASTLE -
COLARADO

Caves at Ani, East Turkey The Dead sea scrolls were

provided shelter for man found in these caves in Khirbet
4000 Years ago. Kumran - Judaea west of
Jordan’s Dead Sea

Goreme caves, Turkey -

Rain washed conical soft
volcanic ash towers,
hollowed out from inside
as dwelling places
Mesa Verde West USA – Protective site for entire village
 The complex layers of paintings found
in rock-shelters in northeastern Zambia
indicate: homes of stone-using hunters
became the shrines of invading
farmers.

Kanheri Caves once a monastery – 109 caves near Bombay stirred Swami
Vivekananda deeply
 Petra, BHAGE CAVES
Jordan - a
monastery
was carved
into rock
2,000 years
ago.

AJANTA CAVES( 30 caves carved out of the sides of a steep ravine) are famous
for their frescoes, and also contain a significant amount of sculptural work. The
caves were painted between the 2nd century BC and the 7th century AD on the
feeling of the kinship of all living things.
Great Pyramid of Giza
Between 2551 BC - 2528 BC, 2.3
million blocks were used to build
the Great Pyramid, with an
average weight of about 2.5 metric
tons per block. The largest block
weighs as much as 15 metric tons.
Smooth exterior of the pyramid
was made of a fine grade of white
limestone that was quarried across
the Nile. the Great Sphinx was
carved from the bedrock where it
stands around 2500 BC and is part
of Giza's Khafre pyramid complex.
Stone Henge circular
setting of large standing
silicified sandstones
surrounded by an
earthwork beginning
about 3100 BC by
Neolithic, stone age
people, construction
with additions were
made in 2100 BC and
then in 1550 BC.
BUILDING WITH BRICKS
ƒBlock of clay or other ceramic used for construction and decorative facing.
ƒMay be dried in the sun but are more usually baked in a kiln.
ƒThey cost relatively little, resist dampness and heat, and can last longer than stone.
ƒSome bricks are made of special fireclays for use in fireplaces or ovens.
ƒOthers may be made of glass or they may be textured or glazed.
ƒFactory made in vast quantities, it continues to be a versatile building material.
The oldest architectural remains in India are buildings of
burnt brick found at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappā (now in
Pakistan), 4500 years ago.

•Ishtar Gate in about 575

BC in Babylon, is made of
glazed brick tiles.
Mohenjo Daro
Temple of Persians and
the Sun the Chinese
God made built in brick,
of layers of for example,
clay faced the Great
with stone. Wall of
It stands China.
more than
61 m (200
ft) high.

The Taj Mahal is built of brick and

covered with marble facing.
Village Bengal-Joyrambati

Mud Buildings in the

Hadhramaut region of
Yemen with bricks made
of mud and grass.
Rock fortifications Jaisalmer,

Western wall - Jerusalem

High-rise structural systems of

reinforced concrete. It all began with
the French gardener Joseph Monier's
1867 patent for large concrete
flowerpots reinforced with a cage of
iron wires.
Cement – Primary raw materials
calcium oxide, (CaO) – limestone and chalk,
silica (SiO2) – Clays, shales, slates, and estuarine muds & alumina (Al2O3).
Additional raw materials – silica sand, iron oxide (Fe2O3), - bauxite (containing
Al[OH]3) ,gypsum, used to control the setting time of the cement
kaolin, white clay (as the component for white cement)