Pile buildings and architectural features of the dwellings of Stone Age people. Mayan pyramids, stone phalluses and other strange structures that keep the secrets of ancient civilizations. What are the cultural architectural structures of the Stone Age called?

The history of human construction activity, which served as the basis for the emergence of architecture, begins from the time when ancient people (Neanderthals), not content with shelters created by nature (grottoes, rock overhangs and caves; Fig. 1 and 2), began to adapt these shelters for temporary and permanent habitation, i.e. build dwellings. Such structures include: stone-paved parking areas at La Ferrasi and Castillo, circular stone fences with internal stone hearths - the Ilskaya site, artificial residential depressions fenced along the edge with a pile of stones - the Wolf Grotto site, etc. (Fig. 3 ).

This is what Middle Paleolithic dwellings looked like. According to the latest data, the Middle Paleolithic of Europe ended about 35 thousand years ago.

The Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian culture) is characterized by the following main changes that occurred in people's lives: the acquisition of skills and improvement of methods of making fire, making clothing from skins, improvement of flint processing techniques, and hence the general improvement of tools and hunting, which thanks to this becomes more productive. A person has the opportunity to create food reserves for future use and use free time to create highly specialized tools and make products from wood and bone. The beginnings of art and house-building emerge.

The specific reason for the emergence of construction was a sharp climate change associated with the maximum Dnieper (Rissky) glaciation and necessitating a more thorough mastery of fire, the production of warm clothing and the creation of permanent dwellings.

The warm climate of the Chellean period of the Early Paleolithic made it possible not to worry about housing and clothing at all, but already in the Acheulean stage that followed it, glaciation began, which then, in the Mousterian period (Middle Paleolithic), forced people not only to actively develop caves and adapt them for housing , but also to create artificial residential structures (see Fig. 1).

5. Paleolithic dwelling in Pushkari I (reconstruction by V. Zaporozhskaya) and the remains of bones that formed the structural basis of the Paleolithic dwelling

The need to build also gave rise to another need - to create the tools necessary for this. In this regard, the two main types of tools characteristic of the Mousterian culture - flint points and scrapers, necessary in hunting production, were supplemented with a scraper. With the help of this tool it was possible not only to butcher an animal carcass, but also to strip the bark from a log and plan it.

At this time, cutting tools such as the ax had not yet appeared (Fig. 4), and the hand ax, similar in its main function, which came during this period from the era of the Chelles and Acheulean culture, was of little use for construction purposes. since it was impossible to cut down a thick tree with its help. Therefore, branches and thin tree trunks, as well as the bones of large mammals, mainly mammoths, were used as structural elements of dwellings at that time (Fig. 5).

According to the Dniester archaeological expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1955-1958), at the Molodovo I site, located near the village of Molodova in the Chernivtsi region, the remains of 15 fire pits were traced inside fences made of large mammoth bones. Skulls, shoulder blades, pelvic bones, tusks, mandibles and limb bones of mammoths were used as building material here. “Ichthyophages,” says Strabo, “off the coast of Ethiopia, build their dwellings mainly from the bones of large fish and from shells, using ribs for beams and supports, and jaws for doors” (XV, 2, 2).

People of that time set up their camps not only in grottoes, caves and under rock overhangs. They also had to live on the plains, where it was necessary to build not only summer, mostly light and temporary dwellings, such as wind barriers and huts, but also winter, more permanent dwellings - dugouts, which were small depressions in the ground of a roughly oval shape.

The heat in such dwellings was maintained by fires, which were lit in special hearth pits located directly in the dirt floor, in recesses lined with stones.

All this was facilitated by the elementary division of labor that had already appeared among Neanderthals by gender, age and experience, which was the result of the natural complication of the labor process itself and the tools associated with it.

The appearance of the skobel, characterizing the beginning of specialization, a construction tool, at the same time clearly indicates what kind of structures and what construction and technical level could be implemented with its help (Fig. 6). Judging by the nature of this instrument, they were not large and were very rough in decoration and primitive in shape, depressions in the ground or fences made of large mammoth bones, stone and earth (Molodovo V), covered with poles, branches, grass and skins. The most primitive ground structures of this time - huts - should have looked the same (Fig. 7).

At the stage of the early Mousterian culture, the primitive group of hunters numbered - as can be judged, in particular, by the population density of the Kiik-Koba cave (Crimea) - from 30 to 50 people and occupied an area of ​​​​about 70 m 2. These calculations were made by archaeologist G.A. Bonch-Osmolovsky (1940). According to P.P. Efimenko (1953), such a group could reach up to 100 units, and according to calculations by Yu.I. Semenov (1966) its minimum composition was 35-40, maximum 75-90 and optimal 50-60 people. In accordance with these data, an idea should be formed about the size of the dwellings of interest to us, which existed during the period of the Mousterian culture.

Probably the earliest of them, while there was no significant influence of glaciation, were open camps, then sheds, niches, grottoes, crevices, caves, depressions, dugouts and, finally, ground ones appeared, initially very small, then larger, and by the end of this period, large dwellings of the Molodovo I type were also found. The 15 fire pits discovered here indicate that in this case we already have signs of the appearance of a significant communal dwelling, which then became characteristic of residential buildings of the Upper (Late) Paleolithic era.

The latter circumstance is explained by the fact that by this time, that is, in the later Mousterian period, when the Neanderthals were on the verge of becoming people of the modern physical type, their collective represented a primitive tribal commune, significant in its numerical composition. Thus, Neanderthals were not only the first hominids to create the earliest social group, but also the first human builders to create the earliest human habitation.

From the above it follows that the appearance of dwellings among European Neanderthals was associated mainly with the need to shelter from the cold. But this reason cannot be considered the only one, since this type of people at the indicated time spread throughout the globe, including the African continent, in the tropics and subtropics, where, as is known, the general cooling did not have a significant impact on climate change. The Ice Age of temperate countries in the tropics and subtropics corresponded to an era associated with frequent and heavy rains.

In this area of ​​the globe, climatic conditions could not serve as a direct reason for the emergence of house-building and the intensification of human activity in this direction, just as during the warm periods of the Chelles and Acheulean cultures. Here, the development of construction, naturally, proceeded at a slower pace and was determined by specific, unique forms of the natural environment, production (hunting), life and family-clan organization; they could not help but differ from the conditions in which the hunting groups of their brethren found themselves, living in the zone surrounded by the glacier, earning their livelihood in areas with cold, damp, rainy summers and rather frosty winters, needing warm, roomy, durable and permanent capital housing.

10. The earthen house of the Novakhs and the huts of the Iokuts, made of magnolia

On the African continent, even in the Sahara, during the period of the Mousterian culture, deep rivers flowed, the flora and fauna were rich and diverse. Naturally, among the inhabitants of these places, thanks to the abundance of ready-made gifts of nature, gathering in relation to hunting continued to retain a large proportion, and therefore there could not be any special incentive for the intensive improvement of hunting, and therefore others, including those related to construction , tools. To protect yourself from rain and wind, it was enough to build a light wind barrier, similar to the one that the Vedda tribe has survived to this day (Fig. 8), or make a canopy from large palm leaves, sticking their cuttings into the ground, or build a flooring on branches of a large tree, covering it overhead with smaller branches and grass (Fig. 9), or, finally, building a small hut on the ground from poles stuck into the ground, covered with branches, leaves, grass or bark, and sometimes also sprinkled on top of this land, approximately the same way as was done by the Novakhs, who lived among the Indians of southwestern North America (Fig. 10).

Larger-scale residential buildings in these latitudes appeared when the overall balance of not only plant, but also animal food began to decrease significantly and hunters were forced to significantly modify and improve the nature of their hunting and labor tools. We will talk about this later, but for now, in order to complete the description of the earliest stage of the emergence of construction activity, it should be noted that at the same time the earliest and most primitive types of memorial structures appeared - Neanderthal burials.

It has been established that Neanderthals deliberately created special pit graves to bury their dead. Thus, in France, in the Moustiers cave (Haute-Garonne department), the skeleton of a young man was discovered, buried in a recess sleeping on his right side. At his left outstretched arm lay a scraper and a chopper. In France, in the La Ferrassie cave, six skeletons were found lying in artificial depressions; one of these graves was covered with a stone slab. These depressions in the ground, made for burial purposes, suggest that at the same time Neanderthal man could have made the same depressions for the construction of dwellings (dugouts).

Let us now turn to the next stage in the development of the construction activity of primitive man - the Upper (Late) Paleolithic.

This era of the ancient history of mankind, if we use its traditional periodization, consists of three periods, including the Aurignacian, Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures.

The early period of the Upper Paleolithic - Aurignacian, like the Mousterian, covers a period of time from approximately 40 to 14 thousand years. During this period, permanent winter communal dwellings first appeared and became widespread, both in the form of large dugouts and large above-ground structures. The nature of above-ground Paleolithic dwellings can be judged not only from archaeological data, but also from schematic images left to posterity by primitive artists on the walls of caves. Such above-ground dwellings (see Fig. 9) were, as can be seen, predominantly frame-type structures - huts made of twigs, or tent-type huts made of poles and having a cone-shaped shape, as well as semi-dugouts covered with two slopes.

The climate of this time, initially cold and dry, gradually, as the glaciers retreated, became more and more humid and by the end of the Upper Paleolithic period it was relatively close to the modern one.

By the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, the Neanderthal was replaced by the Cro-Magnon man, a new type of man who, according to his anthropological data, does not differ from modern people (Fig. 11).

The dwellings of these people, the remains of their stone industry, which characterizes their main occupation, were also found in especially large numbers in France in the departments of Dordogne (La Combe cave, Blanchard canopy, De la Rochette canopy) and Charente (sites of Fontechevade, La -Chez, La Quina, Vashon canopy, Des Rois cave).

There are also known sites of people from the period of the Aurignacian culture, found in Spain, Germany, Czechoslovakia, the USSR and other European countries, as well as in South-West Asia - the sites of Kzar-Akil, Jebel Qafzeh, Mugarel el-wad, etc.

This early period of the Upper Paleolithic, or the period of the Aurignacian and Solutrean culture, can be socially considered as the period of the formation of an early tribal society, which is characterized by the presence of exogamy, matriarchy, strong sedentism, and the improvement of chipping techniques in the manufacture of stone tools. Primitive realistic art appears: drawing, painting, high relief, round sculpture. Then, in the late Upper Paleolithic period (Magdalenian culture), jewelry (various bracelets and necklaces) and various household items became widespread.

Compared to the period of the Mousterian culture, tools became very diverse, but the most important of them remained the chisel and scraper; the first was intended for processing hard materials, and the second for processing soft materials. The disc-shaped cores became prismatic, that is, regularly faceted, and the knife-shaped plates, which, being larger, previously served only as material for the manufacture of various tools, now began to serve as very good cutting tools.

The early period of the Upper Paleolithic is characterized by the prevalence of rough-oval dwellings with one hearth. Most often, such structures are dugouts; a significant number of them were discovered in different parts of the USSR. The remains of such a structure were discovered by P.P. Efimenko (1937) at the so-called Telman site near the village of Kostenki near Voronezh. It was round in plan, had a diameter of 5.2-5.6 m and was buried 50-70 cm. Similar half-dugouts and dugouts were discovered in Gontsy (left-bank Ukraine), in a number of places in the Dnieper basin, near Bryansk (site Eliseevichi and Yudinoso) and in other places.

It should be noted here that much of the credit for the discovery, research and description of Paleolithic dwellings belongs to Soviet archaeologists, who put all this research on a truly scientific basis.

At the Kostenki II parking lot P.I. Boriskovsky (1953) discovered the remains of a larger dwelling than the Telman one. Its diameter is 7-8 meters. At the bottom of the dwelling there were mammoth bones, some of which were dug into the ground and formed structural elements of the walls and roof. There was a fireplace in the center of the dwelling. A.P. Okladnikov (1940) at the Buret site (Irkutsk region) examined the remains of an entire Late Paleolithic village, which consisted of four small oval-shaped dwellings.

In addition to the above round and oval dwellings, in the Late Paleolithic era there were also elongated dwellings, larger in size than the first. They looked like oval dugouts with several hearths attached to one another and connected to each other. The last circumstance, as P.I. rightly notes. Boriskovsky, points out that the primitive house-building technology that existed at that time had not yet developed the most convenient form of a large communal dwelling.

The remains of two such elongated dwellings were discovered by A.N. Rogachev (1938) in the lower cultural layer of the Kostenki IV site. The southern of these dwellings was 34 and the northern 23 m long; the width of both was 5.5 m, and the floor was buried 20-30 cm. On the floor of each dwelling, fireplaces were located along its longitudinal axis; in the northern one there were 9, and in the southern one - more than 10. No accumulations of large bones were found in this dwelling, which could indicate their use as structural elements. This gives reason to assume that in Kostenki IV not only a new housing layout took place, but also the volumetric construction of a certain type of structure that characterizes it was used.

On the territory of the USSR, there was another type of Late Paleolithic structure, from which residential areas measuring 500-800 m2 remained. They were not buried in the ground and, apparently, served as a habitat for a whole genus. Similar platforms, probably covered with a hut, in Kostenki I were 35 m long and 16 m wide. Fireplaces were located along their long axis at a distance of 2 m from each other.

The remains of similar dwellings were discovered in the village. Andeev near Kursk in 1946-1949. The length of the residential site in this case was 45 m, and the width was 20 m. The position of the fires and holes in the ground near them, along the edges of the entire site and along its axis, their dimensions, the depth of the depth and the general shape of the site give reason to assume that it was already a large above-ground dwelling, the basis of which was a post-and-beam structure.

In the Late Paleolithic era, simultaneously with the indicated types of dwellings, temporary hunting camps also existed.

At the very end of this era, during the periods of the late Solutrean and Magdalenian culture, permanent dwellings disappeared on the modern territory of the USSR. Their place was taken by seasonal camps located along the banks of rivers, which in the time following the Late Paleolithic began to serve as the main source of livelihood.

Large dugouts, semi-dugouts and ground dwellings, which had walls with a frame made of bones of large mammals, were replaced by small dwellings such as modern summer huts and huts.

It should be noted here that the Late Paleolithic is significant not only because during this period the entire external appearance of our distant ancestors finally changed and a certain type of dwellings they created appeared, but also because at this time a completely new sphere of human activity arose - fine art . The latter deserves a few special words about it, since without mastering the art a person would not be able to rise so quickly to that level of construction activity called architecture.

The leading subjects of this entire period, which included Aurignacian, Solutrean and Magdalenian art, were images of animals in drawing and painting, and in sculpture the image of a woman-mother. The first is explained by the fact that the study and recording of all the properties of animals, a person of this time, was prompted by the everyday need to know well the main object of his hunt in order to more easily master it, and the second, naturally, was associated with the role that belonged to a woman at that time as a economically and physiologically. Abundant material confirming what has been said has been collected by archaeologists in all, almost without exception, countries of the world.

The art of the Aurignacian period is characterized by numerous images of animals discovered in the Castillo cave (Spain). Most of them are made in the form of linear silhouettes painted with red paint; two outline drawings of horses are made with fine engraving. An interesting engraved image of a horse in the Horno de la Pena cave (Spain). By the end of this period, there is an ability to accurately capture and convey not only the main outlines of the general shape of the animal, but also its proportions, as well as the characteristic movements of its body.

Among the best figurines of this era, depicting a female body, with sharply emphasized signs of gender, along with those found in Willendorf (Lower Austria) and some other places in Europe, can be attributed ivory figurines found in Kostenki I and in the village of Gagarino, Voronezh areas.

In the subsequent - Solutrean - and the beginning of the Magdalenian period, the linear image of the animal is supplemented by shading along the contour, revealing individual parts of its body: ears, eyes, nostrils, mouth, etc., and also modeling of the entire form begins, transforming it from planar to volumetric.

Polychrome painting reached its greatest flowering during the Magdalenian period, when the primitive artist learned to model form using not only strokes, but also color. Excellent examples of such primitive realistic painting abound in the caves of France: La Madeleine, Font de Gaume, Lascaux, etc. and Spain: Castillo, Altamira, Horno de la Pena (Fig. 12).

The main objects of the image were large mammals and herbivores (mammoth, deer, bison, horse), as well as often large predators, whose habits and mode of action could not but be in the field of view of the primitive artist-hunter (Fig. 13). But a time came when the plains began to be overgrown with forests and these large animals (especially the mammoth) began to die out relatively quickly, and the herds of bison and wild horses decreased greatly. At the same time, the art associated with their images gradually sank into oblivion, which, due to the change in the object of the image, could no longer so actively serve the purposes of cognition and therefore lost the sharpness of perception, and therefore the reflection of reality, which we will talk about separately.

Of course, this does not mean at all that all the experience accumulated by people in mastering color, line and form was completely lost. It was useful in creating decorations associated with household items, weapons, clothing, shoes and homes. But this did not happen soon.

Humanity has entered a new phase of its existence - the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic). This period lasted only a few thousand years (from 12 to 5 thousand years BC), but had its own characteristic features both in economic and purely technical terms.

In connection with the changes that occurred in the fauna of Europe, as well as in other places affected by glaciation, the very object of hunting changed significantly, and therefore the tools necessary for it had to change. With the change in the number of large animals, the hunter’s attention naturally began to be attracted by smaller animals, as well as fish and birds. Bows, arrows, forts and microliths appeared, i.e. tools made from small stones, and then the so-called insert technique for using them: a person began to insert the stone into a specially prepared socket-sleeve (holder) for a handle made of durable wood or bone.

Driven hunting on a large scale, associated with the need to have a large hunting team, has lost its meaning. Now, in the new conditions of a sharp reduction in the ability to obtain a large amount of food at once in one fishing trip, such a collective now found it difficult to feed itself, and it was forced to decrease in its composition and become more mobile. Therefore, during this period, areas convenient for driven hunting, that is, those located near cliffs, crevices and rocks, ceased to serve as places of long-term habitation. This is reflected in multi-layered sites with a number of thin lenses of the cultural layer, for example, in a number of sites at the Dnieper rapids, etc. The areas of these sites are small, which indicates the fragmentation of communities. The disappearance of large communal houses, which are now being replaced by small dugouts and huts, speaks to the same thing. These are the sites of Elin Bor, Gremyache, Gorki (USSR), Dufort (France), a number of sites in Czechoslovakia and other countries.

New economic and purely technical opportunities that arose during this period had a direct impact on construction. The appearance of special tools (microlites) and the insert technology for their use led to significant progress in primitive construction and made it possible to erect the necessary buildings much faster than before.

The next and, moreover, the most significant step in this direction was taken at the beginning of the era of the new Stone Age - the Neolithic. It was associated with the emergence of such a tool as the stone ax, which radically changed all the methods of wood processing used before it. In addition, this tool played a significant role in the development of agriculture, making it possible to clear plots of land needed by the farmer from forests (“slash-and-burn farming”).

The ax began to play a particularly important role when the technique of grinding stone tools was mastered. This role was well revealed by the Soviet researcher S.A. Semenov. “In the Neolithic,” he writes, “society begins to process axes and adzes using the grinding technique. This fact, of course, is regarded as a progressive achievement. But researchers, while stating this fact and noting the improvement in the wood processing process, do not note what consequences this leads to. In reality, this narrowly technical achievement opens a new era in human history. Vast areas of the globe, still uninhabited, become available for settlement and development thanks to a polished ax and adze. The development of the forested areas of the northern hemisphere, the tropics and the island world in the Pacific Ocean occurs not only because ground axes were much more productive than unpolished trees for cutting trees for dwellings, boats, pile structures, and in slash-and-burn agriculture, but also because the grinding technique made it possible to produce these tools from rocks" (S.A. Semenov. Primitive technology. M., 1957, p. 229.).

At this time, woodworking tools were mainly polished, which significantly benefited from this in their productivity. Polishing stone tools helped to make their shapes clearer, which led to their differentiation.

15. Pueblo Bonito. General view (reconstruction) and plan

16. Trypillian culture: sectional housing and painted ceramics (village Zhura)

17. Long house of the Seneca-Iroquois tribe. General view and plan (according to L.G. Morgan)

At the end of the Neolithic, polished tools were sometimes drilled. Such a weapon, having a drilled hole, could be mounted on a handle. Most often, such an attachment was made for polished axes (Fig. 14).

The main occupations of the Neolithic people, where the clan system had already reached its peak, were developed hunting and fishing that competed with it, as well as the pottery craft that arose at that time. Cattle breeding, which owes its origin to the domestication of wild animals, and agriculture, genetically related to gathering, were at that time still in their infancy.

Both hunting animals and birds, and fishing required a fairly large human team, but not to the same extent as it was in the Mesolithic, since now, thanks to the advent of bows and arrows, perfect tools for fishing (harpoon, harpoon, net and hook), the overall yield of hunting in the forest and fishing on the water has increased significantly. This allowed hunting clan groups to gather again in large camps and build huge dwellings (up to 300 m2 in area) such as a huge round hut discovered in the village of Kelteminar, which could accommodate more than 100 people simultaneously under one roof. (This site of the 4th millennium BC was discovered in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya, in the Turtkul region, Uzbek SSR). Such a huge hut most likely housed a group of a whole clan.

Simultaneously with this type of settlement of a whole clan, there were other types of them, for example, sites consisting of 10-12 separate small dugouts, covered with a hut, with a fireplace in the middle, which accommodated 5-6 people, which usually indicated survival phenomena associated with the previous construction period.

A similar type of structure includes the round, well-shaped underground dwellings built by the Indians of the southwest of North America - kivas, which were probably older, since they had a flat roof with a light-smoke opening that also served as an entrance; It was possible to get into the home through it using a ladder. Apparently, from here this method of using stairs was then passed on by tradition to all Indian pueblos (Fig. 15).

Probably, the ancient structures of the Mexican Estufa Indians had a similar form, which later took on a different appearance.

The main building material from which these dwellings were constructed was wood.

Closed dwellings of this type, inaccessible from the outside, were also built at that time in other parts of the world, everywhere where people used a polished stone axe, and they were used everywhere in the Neolithic.

A characteristic feature of large dwellings of this time, which had a centric plan, was that they had several small domestic hearths inside and one large one - a common central hearth for religious purposes.

Let us note, by the way, that in general the gradual appearance of the cult center (altar), its isolation for use only for ritual purposes, and in connection with this the subsequent appearance of free-standing religious buildings (altars) and buildings (temples) marked the emergence of not only property, but also general social inequality, the development of which was facilitated in every possible way by the tribal leaders who gradually strengthened not only their military but also their economic power, as well as by the clergy who contributed in every possible way to this.

By the same time as the dwelling in the village of Kelteminar, i.e. by the 4th millennium BC. e., also include the early houses of the Trypillian culture, discovered on the territory of the right bank of Ukraine, along the course of the lower and middle Dnieper, Bug and Dniester (Fig. 16). These houses are gradually replaced by very large multi-compartment dwellings, divided into several rooms (Fig. 17).

In the Kolomiyshchyna tract, which is located half a kilometer from the village of Khalepye on the Dnieper, an entire settlement was opened in 1938, consisting of 39 Trypillian-type dwellings. They are arranged in two concentric circles. The diameter of the inner circle is 50-60 m, and the outer circle is 170 m. Some of these houses (8) are small, and the rest are medium and large in size, multi-centered; they could accommodate 20-30 people. The entire village had a population of over 500 people.

The presence of a large number of hearths in dwellings was associated with the division of the matriarchal clan into several paired families. “These families,” says L. G. Morgan, referring to similar principles of house planning among the Iroquois, “built large houses, large enough to accommodate several families, and it can be considered that in all parts of America during the native period people did not live in separate families in individual houses, but in large, multi-family households.”

Appearance in the 4th millennium BC. e. the clay wall and floor made of baked clay in the dwelling, as well as ceramic products (Fig. 16) indicate the homogeneous nature of these phenomena dating back to the Neolithic. In the process of laying the foundations of architecture, this period was marked by the appearance of not only more advanced above-ground dwellings than before, but also a more advanced type of their decor - ornament.

At the beginning of the Neolithic, pottery production was reduced mainly to the manufacture of vessels: large - for storing supplies, medium - for cooking food and small - for eating (Fig. 18). They were made by hand (without a potter's wheel), by laying clay bundles in layers on top of each other in a spiral. To apply the ornament, comb tiles were used - stamps, with the help of which a pattern was created from rows of lines and dimples. Later, ceramics appeared with geometric curvilinear designs and, finally, with painted colored designs applied with a brush.

The emergence and development of ornamental creativity was also facilitated by the weaving of various baskets and other products from thin, flexible branches or reeds. This is where the penetration of ornamental motifs into the construction industry began for the first time.

The appearance of painted ceramics is usually associated with the emergence of settlements, most typical of the Chalcolithic - the transition period between the Stone and Bronze Ages. Such settlements in the 4th millennium BC became widespread everywhere and are characterized by the following four features, which simultaneously determine the essence of the Eneolithic era itself, that is, the period when copper and stone tools coexisted; hoe farming begins to dominate other types of farming; the presence of a large number of female figurines, characteristic of the existence of the maternal family, is noted; Large, usually adobe residential buildings are becoming widespread.

There were very few copper tools; they were mostly axes, which largely replicated their stone prototype. By all accounts, the copper ax could not withstand the bronze ax, which soon replaced it; however, the same fate befell many other tools associated with the Chalcolithic era.

Early stone dwellings of the Neolithic era in Europe also include round, oval and rectangular houses in the Aegean Sea basin.

The most ancient round house was discovered in Orchomen (Boeotia); its diameter reached 6 m. The lower part of its walls (1 m thick) was made of small stones with clay mortar, the upper part was made of raw brick. It was probably covered with a dome. In houses of the late period, one of the walls was straight, due to which an elongated semi-oval was formed in the plan. Rectangular houses in Orchomen appeared only together with bronze tools (Fig. 19). Similar houses are found in the Neolithic period (house in Seruzzi, Italy; Fig. 20) and later in Ancient Greece on the island. Argose (Fig. 21).

The Bronze Age covers the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. e., but it did not immediately spread throughout the globe. And when the slave society was already flourishing throughout the Aegean world, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, China and India, the primitive communal system was still preserved in most European and Asian countries.

The climate change, which began in the late Neolithic, became increasingly drier, led to the fact that forests over a significant area gave way to steppes. Thanks to this, the development of cattle breeding accelerated and agriculture spread to areas previously occupied by small communities of hunters and fishermen.

With the growth of cattle breeding, the nature of agriculture changed significantly, from hoeing to arable farming, plowing, based on the use of livestock as draft power.

By the end of the Bronze Age, a patriarchal clan system had developed in Europe. A developed cult of ancestors and complex rituals arose, which led to the creation of religious buildings such as mounds, cromlechs and a number of megalithic structures.

Here we cannot fail to mention other continents, which also made a significant contribution to the overall development of both religious buildings and arts, especially plastic arts, directly related to architecture.
In this regard, let us dwell on Ancient Africa.

Foreign science paid little attention to the achievements of the material culture of the “dark continent,” but thanks to later objective research by its own figures, it was established that, just like in the territory of future France and England, the ancient inhabitants of South Africa used the same hand axes. The technique of stone grinding also made great strides here, which predetermined a significant leap in construction.

Evidence of the relatively high culture of South Africa can be seen, in particular, in the fact that mummification (as established by the famous Italian scientist Fabrizio Mori) was practiced much earlier than in the ancient period of cultural development in the Nile River Valley.

Returning to the Bronze Age, we note that at the beginning of this era in Central Europe there were two types of dwellings that made up small settlements: houses dug in the loess, round in plan, beehive-shaped in cross-section, and ground-based houses, rectangular in plan, with wattle walls coated with clay.

In Brittany during this period there also existed two types of dwellings: dug in the ground, covered with conical roofs, and round above ground with walls made of stone. Near the settlement, which consisted of such houses, a fence was built to corral livestock. Residents of such a village were engaged in raising livestock and growing cereals.

In what is now southeastern Spain, residential buildings sometimes had two floors, and settlements were surrounded by high stone walls.

Pile buildings became widespread in the Bronze Age, the Italian variety of which was the so-called terramara - wooden log houses filled with stones and clay, on which platforms were built, which served as the basis for huts that were usually round in plan (Fig. 22).

Pile buildings were also built in other places: in Oceania, among the northern Dayaks on the island. Borneo, in Switzerland, etc. The large settlement of Morsch on stilts was created in the Bronze Age on Lake Geneva. It was up to 360 m long and 30 to 45 m wide.

By this time, Trypillian settlements had also significantly changed their character. In connection with the development of cattle breeding, large large-family above-ground buildings disappeared, they were replaced by small adobe houses and half-dugouts.

In the 2nd millennium BC. e. Painted ceramics, typical of the earlier Trypillian culture, are almost no longer found here. It becomes one color. Ceramics with corded ornaments, with a rope imprint on the surface of the product, are widespread. Whorls are increasingly found during excavations, which indicates the development of spinning and weaving. Occasionally there are items made of iron.

At the very end of the Chalcolithic and in the Bronze Age, fortified settlements appeared, which later, at the beginning of the Iron Age, became more widespread, as wars became a constant phenomenon.

An example of this kind of Iron Age settlement is the ancient settlement of Tushemlya in the Smolensk region, excavations of which began in 1955 (Fig. 23). The site of this settlement has an outline close to an oval. Its length is 35 m, width (in the middle part) 32 m. It occupies the cape of the main bank of the Tushemlya River, the left tributary of the Sozha. On the shore side, this site was protected by five earthen ramparts and ditches. The height of the largest rampart above the level of the site of the fort was 3 m.

The general nature of residential buildings, their fences and structural design, as well as the location of the cult site are visible in the example of the Bereznyaki settlement (Fig. 24).

Along with settlements such as Tušemlya, which served as places of temporary refuge from the enemy, there also existed the so-called pilakalnis (Latvian and Lithuanian SSR) - small settlements that were intended for permanent habitation. The log structures of this time (the second half of the 2nd millennium BC and the beginning of the 1st millennium) deserve special attention. This includes mounds, which we have already mentioned as memorial structures. As usual, in the history of the development of memorial structures, their prototype was residential buildings, in this case a log house.

The mounds were constructed as follows.

First of all, a large rectangular hole was dug in the ground, then a log house with a wooden floor was built in it. Another log box was installed in this log house, which served as a burial chamber. The space between both chambers was sometimes filled with stones. Then they were covered with two rolls of logs and, covered with birch bark and bark, covered with earth, which formed a hill. A stone was thrown onto the top of this hill. Thus, in particular, the Pazyryk mound was built, located in the Pazyryk valley of the Altai Mountains.

The wooden core of these structures is a log house. Like the Italian terramara, they should be considered the first step towards the creation of an above-ground chopped log building, which owes its appearance to a metal ax, but has not yet been brought structurally to the technique of various modern cuttings. Log dwellings were also common among the Baltic, Finnish and Turkic tribes.

25. Menhirs: a - menhirs in Brittany; 6 - menhir statue near Saint-Germain (Aveyron, France)
26. Dolmen near Maykop (USSR) and a group of dolmens near Salisbury (England)	27. Megalithic structures

In the Bronze Age, structures made of huge stones that appeared in the Neolithic, the so-called megaliths, also reached their highest development: menhirs, dolmens, alinemans, covered passages, cromlechs, etc. (Fig. 25, 26).

All types of these structures are usually associated with one or another cult of veneration of ancestors (menhir, dolmen), fire or sun (cromlech), totem (betil), etc.

Megalithic structures are very widespread almost everywhere - from Scandinavia to Algeria, from Portugal to China, Korea and India. A lot of them are found in France, Belgium, the USSR (especially in the North Caucasus), Sweden, England and Scotland, Greece, along the Mediterranean coast, Tunisia, Egypt and many other countries (Fig. 27).

The fact that this type of structure was almost ubiquitous indicates that they served as an expression of ideas that were common to all people of this era, regardless of their geographical location. Such an idea, it seems to us, could be the desire to materialize the consciousness of the significance of one’s personality, to affirm its power and inviolability, to preserve the memory of it for centuries for posterity. It is no coincidence that these stones had enormous (especially for the lifting equipment of that time) weight and size. If we keep in mind their historical relationship with later structures that have architectural features, then a menhir is a tombstone or monument, similar in its idea to a memorial votive column, a dolmen is a crypt, a simple tomb, or a sarcophagus, and a cromlech at Stonehenge is already a temple, albeit a very primitive one (Fig. 28).

In the latter type, we have reason to see a structure in which the technical problem not only found a certain type of solution, but also received a certain aesthetic embodiment, testifying to the builders’ mastery of a sense of space, rhythm, proportions, scale and form. Other megaliths do not possess such qualities, since all of them, according to the indicated characteristics and their appearance, are closer to the amorphous creatures of nature than to the work of human hands.

But the cromlech at Stonehenge is not yet an established architectural structure, although it already has some of its features that we have indicated. It is too massive, its verticals are heavy in relation to the horizontals. The technicality of the image here prevails over its artistry, as in all other structures without exception that preceded the creation of the cromlech: dugouts, half-dugouts, huts, above-ground adobe and other structures that had only a purely utilitarian purpose. An artistic form arises when a utilitarian form reaches a certain perfection. This was the case both at the final stage of the Bronze Age and during the Early Iron Age, when crafts and the artistic industry began to emerge especially actively. More elementary forms of development of spatial representations preceding the cromlech are indicated by strings of stones (Fig. 29).

The improvement of construction and technical forms could not but be affected by the improvement of the tools themselves, which at this time became stronger, sharper, and more convenient, due to which the material they processed also became less rough and more beautiful. This, naturally, was facilitated by the wider specialization of tools, which allowed for more refined processing of both the main building materials - wood and stone, and metal (Fig. 30).

Improved iron tools, developed metal processing, turning into artistic craft, raising the general level of material, and at the same time spiritual production, as F. Engels pointed out [ F. Engels. Origin of the family, private property and the state. M., Gospolitizdat, 1945, pp. 33-34.], this is what made it possible for civilization to emerge. The achievements of this primitive civilization allowed the ancient builder to rise to a higher level in achieving the artistic quality of his buildings (Fig. 31-32).

Thus, from the solution of a purely technical (structural-construction) problem and the subsequent aesthetic understanding of building structures and their details, as well as giving the structure created with their help a certain ideological content, artistic and technical construction arose, capable of satisfying not only the utilitarian, but also the spiritual needs of people, - architecture.

A clear example confirming this is the Greek megaron, which, if we consider it at the stage of development dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, was an elementary technical structure designed to provide shelter from rain and wind, heat, cold, etc. etc., i.e. for housing. There were rough walls, a valley, a doorway, and instead of a window there was a light-smoke opening over a simple fireplace.

But centuries passed, and this interior space of the Greco-Italian house (which once had a smoky ceiling and walls) began to look not only bright, clean, but also beautiful, since instead of the rough four pillars that stood at the corners of the light-smoke opening, an elegant colonnade appeared , which formed the architectural core of the atrium. Instead of a hearth, an artistically decorated altar appeared.

Everything here was done in pleasing forms, scales, proportions, color, texture, etc., that is, it was aesthetically ennobled, and began to represent, along with the solution of a certain technical problem, its artistic embodiment - an architectural work.

A more complete and comprehensive examination of the paths taken by construction and the architecture it gave birth to, having entered the second socio-economic formation - slave society, forms the content of the subsequent chapters of this work.

Chapter “The Origin of Architecture” of the book “General History of Architecture. Volume I. Architecture of the Ancient World." Author: V.Yu. Tsirkunov; edited by O.Kh. Khalpakhchna (ed.), E.D. Kvitnitskaya, V.V. Pavlova, A.M. Pribytkova. Moscow, Stroyizdat, 1970

Chapter 1. Construction and architecture of the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic and early Bronze Age

Already at the dawn of human history in 50–70 thousand BC. e. People were faced with very simple but vitally important tasks: where and how to shelter from bad weather or from what simple available materials to create protective barriers from wild animals. In that era, which scientists called paleolithic, this was the most pressing matter after getting food. Millennia will pass, people will begin to perceive the world around them differently. However, problems of arranging life will always be relevant. The solution to them will be taken over by the wonderful sphere of human activity called “architecture” (from the Greek “architecton” - the main builder). The main “concern” of architecture will remain the organization of the human environment in all its diverse forms.

In the Paleolithic era, up to 12–10 thousand BC. e., man was formed as a rational being, capable of communicating through speech. People united in clan communities (up to 100 people) under the leadership of women, created tools and, with their help, obtained food and arranged their lives. This era of the tribal system is called matriarchy and is characterized by initial - appropriating - forms of management, such as collecting berries, roots, mushrooms and, of course, hunting and fishing. The tools were still very primitive and crude. They were made exclusively from hard wood or stone. Existence and survival depended mainly on natural factors, and the community of people moved around the habitat depending on living conditions. Man was not constrained by agriculture, much less domesticated animals. And therefore the dwelling is chosen for a short time - it was either a cave, or a dug hole, or a hut. At the beginning of this period, people often created temporary sites with a fireplace in the center, which were fenced off with specially collected large stones or branched animal horns. It happened that people simply occupied a cave, in which it was easier to hide from bad weather and wild animals. Subsequently, the situation changed significantly.

The era is of greatest interest Upper Paleolithic, covering the period from 40–30 thousand BC. e. up to 12–10 thousand BC e.

The oldest remains of a dwelling from this era in Europe were discovered by de Lumley on the French Riviera near Nice. The site is called Terra Amata, and not far from it, in the Grotto du Lazaret cave, a special type of housing was discovered. Inside a large cave, the remains of a hut were found (Fig. 1.1). A study of the find showed that the cave area was not completely occupied by housing. Piles of stones held up the vertical posts. Horizontal floor beams were laid at one end on these posts with a fork-shaped upper branch, and at the other they rested on a ledge in the cave wall. The structure of the hut was not adjacent to the wall, which saved it from water seeping through the walls of the cave. The frame was covered with animal skins, which retained heat well and protected people from the constantly dripping water from above. This is how the first “rooms” appeared inside the cave, separating the living part from the rest of the space. Moreover, the space of the hut itself was also divided into independent compartments. Inside the hut there was a small entrance part - a canopy or vestibule, and behind a partition made of skins there was the actual living space. The hearth was located in a cave outside the hut. Thus, there is the emergence of the first functional division of living space, and the designs of the simplest supports and beams give primary ideas about post-beam system, which will be developed and processed subsequently. This structural system exists as one of the fundamental ones in construction to this day.

Rice. 1.1. Reconstruction of the interior of the hut at the Grotto du Lazarette (according to Lumley)

Weather conditions forced the use of such dwellings in the winter, but in the summer people left them, going in search of new territories for hunting and fishing.

Depending on climatic conditions, both the shape of the dwelling and the material of construction changed. In 1950, B. Klima discovered the remains of detached huts on the territory of Czechoslovakia in Dolni Vestonice. In one of them, to create a level floor, the ancient builders had to dig the left side of the site 80 cm into the hillside, and raise the right side using an artificially created embankment of stones. Before us are the first attempts at vertical planning - the future basic section of construction. The hut has an oval shape with a fireplace in the center. Research has shown that its design consisted of supports to support the coating. The supports were located on one side only. The roof was laid on pillars, and the other side rested on the ground, forming a sloping roof. A lot of clay with traces of modeling was found in the hut. Archaeologists have proven that this was the workshop of a primitive sculptor, which makes this find especially valuable (Fig. 1.2).

Rice. 1.2. Reconstruction of a circular hut in Dolni Vestonice, general view

On the territory of modern Ukraine and Siberia, housing structures using horns, tusks and animal carcasses were widely used. The foundation in such dwellings was made up of long bones and mammoth skulls. The entrance on both sides was also marked by mammoth skulls with their alveoli (nasal openings) turned upside down. Long tusks were inserted into them and connected on top with a third bone (Fig. 1.3). In this way, an entrance arch was created, which served as the main strength structure (Fig. 1.4). The dome was made of deer antlers. The circular hut-like dwelling from the Malta site in Siberia in the Angara basin, discovered by M.I. Gerasimov and examined and reconstructed by him, represents just such an example (Fig. 1.5, incl. Fig. 1). The structures of the main frame of the hut are made of wooden poles in such dwellings. There was a lot of forest in Siberia, and primitive tools made it possible to roughly process it.

The further south the territories inhabited by primitive man were, the lighter the dwelling structures became. They served more as canopies protecting from the sun's rays than as barriers protecting from bad weather (Fig. 1.6–1.9).

For better protection from wild animals, settlements were also built on stilts. Such buildings were often built over water (Fig. 1.10).

Rice. 1.3. Mezinsky dwelling (Ukraine). For greater clarity, tusks were stuck into the vertical jaws of the mammoth (according to Shovkoplyas)

Rice. 1.4. Reconstruction of Late Paleolithic dwellings (Mezin, Ukraine)

Rice. 1.5. Reconstruction of a hut-shaped circular dwelling (Malta, Russia)

In conclusion, we can say that Paleolithic man, owning crude tools, learned to organize his habitat in order to satisfy the primary needs for safety and warmth in the winter, and in the south, for protection from the hot rays of the sun. He made his first attempts at the functional organization of space, learned to choose building materials and, using structures made of stone, bones and animal skins, and wood, to build fairly durable dwellings, even using retaining walls or piles and, if necessary, taking measures to prepare and level the site for future construction.

era Neolithic(IX - mid-VI millennium BC) radically changed living conditions. Widespread climate warming forced many animals to move to more northern areas, and hunting could no longer feed human communities. People gradually moved to the development of steppe territories for agriculture and the domestication of animals in order to obtain milk and wool, as well as to the use of animals as draft power. Against the background of the beginning of the production of material goods, as a result of successful management, there was an accumulation of excess product in individual hands or families. A period of division of the clan community into family clans began, which in turn entailed significant changes in the layout of the home.

The dwelling of the farmer was supposed to become as stationary as possible, and the dwelling of the nomadic herdsman acquired the qualities of prefabricated lightweight structures.

Rice. 1.6. Spherical dwelling of the South African Bushmen. The hut is made of branches (according to B. Allchin)

Rice. 1.7. Light pandan leaf hut (Northern Australia)

Rice. 1.8. Lightweight eucalyptus bark hut (Central Australia)

Rice. 1.9. The skeleton of a Central Australian Aboriginal spherical hut

Rice. 1.10. Reconstruction of a primitive pile settlement

Rice. 1.11. Layout of a long multi-focal dwelling, in the center there is a row of hearths (Kostenki IV)

In 1937, archaeologists P. P. Efimenko and A. N. Rogachev excavated interesting sites with spacious elongated dwellings near the village of Kostenki in Ukraine. The size of the largest reached 33.5 x 5.5 m. The dwelling was buried 40 cm and its long axis was located along the slope, this reduced the risk of it being flooded by spring meltwater. A large number of fireplaces were located along the longitudinal axis of the structure, which indicates the presence of a gable roof, the highest point of which is the middle line (Fig. 1.11, 1.12). Such a dwelling was most likely divided according to the number of families living in it, which corresponds to the number of hearths. In later construction, it was possible to differentiate the general pitched roof structure into separate roofs and walls, and to apply frame solutions. The latter were quite simple, although they can still be found in rural areas today. We are talking about structures made of poles and wattle from flexible tree branches. They could serve as a fence, and if they were coated with clay and dried, they became reliable walls of houses. Neolithic VII - VI millennium BC e. represented by the first mud bricks and stone foundations. In architecture, floors and walls were painted with white or red ocher.

Rice. 1.12. Reconstruction of two long residential buildings (Kostenki IV, Aleksandrovka) (according to Efimenko)

However, man was not limited to solving purely utilitarian problems. Destructive natural phenomena left him in awe. There was a need to imagine the forces of nature in the images of deities and try to appease them. This is how the first megalithic structures arose, dedicated to deities, funeral rites, for death was beyond understanding, or, finally, simply to vivid memorable events. Megalithic structures - buildings made of stone blocks or vertical stones - amaze with their size. It is difficult to even imagine how they could have been created. Megalithic structures include:

– menhirs – stone pillars 1 m or more high (Fig. 1.13), which can stand individually or in groups, marking the site or burial place of totemic ancestors;

– dolmens – table-shaped combinations of large stone blocks (incl., Fig. 2), which most likely represent the remains of above-ground burial structures;

– cromlechs – complex structures that have a rounded shape and are composed of roughly hewn stone blocks supported by overlying flat stone slabs.

Menhirs and dolmens appeared during the Neolithic and became widespread in the following era of the Bronze Age. A particularly large number of menhirs are found in Europe, namely in French Brittany. The word “menhir” is of Celtic origin and came into use only in the 19th century. There are about 6,000 menhirs in France. The largest has a height of 20.5 m. It is taller than the columns of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow (14 m) and even for a modern person it looks huge. Such a menhir had a stunning effect on ancient people. I was especially impressed by the boldness of the concept and the complexity of execution. There were smaller menhirs - 11, 10 and even 1 m. It is impossible to say absolutely exactly what these huge stone pillars were dedicated to. However, sometimes burials of people were found underneath them, apparently noble or prominent members of the community. The installation of menhirs is associated with the collapse of the clan system. The first stones were small and belonged to the period when the clan system was at the apogee of its development. The further the processes of its decomposition went, the higher the menhirs became. Obviously, there was a need to rally the clan around the symbol of its unity, for the menhir was placed over the grave, most likely, of the elders of the clan. Power was inherited by the living elder.

To create a menhir, they first found a stone, then processed it with stone tools of harder rocks, rolled it to the desired place and, finally, transferred it to a vertical position. Previously, the stones looked roughly processed, today they have a smooth surface due to atmospheric influences. From the place of its discovery to the place of installation, the stone was rolled in a horizontal position, exerting enormous efforts of a large number of people. To turn it into a vertical position, a hole was dug at the selected location, one end of the stone was raised with the help of logs (analogous to the first lever). An embankment was created under this end. When a stone slid into a hole, its base was filled in so that it stood firmly. This development of events seems quite probable, but it is only a hypothesis.

The significance of the first monument, which carries not so much a practical, but an ideological and artistic meaning, is great. A person selects a stone of the required cigar shape, processes it and finally turns it into a vertical position, making it a symbolic phenomenon. You can see in this some image of the vertical, which is the main distinguishing feature of an upright person.

The size of the menhir indicated that beneath it rested an important, outstanding person for the family. At the same time, the menhir was a compositional landmark, a spatial axis that hovered above the surrounding area, since the menhir was usually installed on a hill. At its foot, residential buildings were chaotically located. In contrast to the fragility of their building materials, the grandiose menhir, made of durable stone, looked like a symbol of eternity, against which everyday life is broken. Thus, by consistently selecting and transforming a stone into an ancient monument, finding a spatially significant location for it, man for the first time followed the path of artistic creativity, along the path of creating an architectural and artistic composition.

The second type of megalithic structure of the Stone Age is the dolmen. Archaeologists have proven that dolmens were tombs, moreover, for a privileged part of the family. The main purpose of the construction of these structures was to create an eternal home for the deceased. The dolmen was formed from menhirs. A group of menhirs was placed side by side and covered first with one slab (Fig. 1.14), and then with two or even three. The supports were moved, and a closed internal space was created (see incl., Fig. 2). A hole was left at the top “for the soul.” Through it, according to the ideas of primitive people, the soul of the deceased communicated with the outside world. Archaeologists excavated one dolmen, in which the entrance could only be closed from the inside. This has led to the idea that the dolmens may have originally been the “palaces” of the nobility. The hole for removing smoke from the home has become an analogue for the hole “for the soul”. Subsequently, the dolmens were covered with earth, and large mounds were formed above them. In some cases, entrances led to the mounds (Fig. 1.15), in others, the mound was completely filled up. Just like menhirs, dolmens were processed very roughly. And if the menhir was a monument, then the dolmen became the first monumental building.

Bronze Age dates back to the beginning of the 4th - 1st millennium BC. e. This period is characterized by the social division of labor into agriculture and cattle breeding. Agriculture spread to forest-steppe territories in the temperate climate zone, and cattle breeding was forced out into the steppes and semi-deserts. In public life, matriarchy is replaced by patriarchy. Changes in social relations lead to the formation of the first states: Egypt in the Nile Valley, the Mesopotamian states in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley, as well as India and China. Bronze tools radically changed construction technologies, and social relations - the principles of housing formation. The construction of cities with their fortifications begins. How the architecture and construction of these states developed during the Bronze Age will be discussed in the second chapter.

Rice. 1.13. Menhir

Rice. 1.14. Dolmen (Brittany, France)

Rice. 1.15. Dolmen (Brittany, France)

Megalithic structures continued to be built during the Bronze Age. They were especially common, as already mentioned, in Europe. Here, the formation of states was hampered by more severe climatic conditions. The largest megalithic structure of the cromlech type - Stonehenge (England) - has 90 m in diameter and consists of 125 stone blocks weighing up to 25 tons (incl., Fig. 3). Moreover, the mountains from where these stones were delivered are located 280 km from Stonehenge. The cromlech dates back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

The relatively uniform nature of these ancient structures, approximately the same time of their appearance in Europe, their huge number and incredibly wide distribution indicate the existence of similar beliefs that existed among various peoples who erected these gigantic monuments everywhere from Ireland to Burma and Korea, from Scandinavia to Madagascar. There are about four thousand of them in France alone. The hypothesis about some unknown unified cultural tradition is also supported by the fact that not only the idea of ​​such structures itself is becoming widespread, but also some symbols and decorative elements associated with them, including solar signs.

Rice. 1.16. Kurgan Arzhan. Plan of opened burial cages (Tuva, Russia)

The possibility of a connection between megalithic structures and the cult of the sun is also indicated by the fact that such structures as Stonehenge are oriented with their main axis towards the point of sunrise on the day of the summer solstice. There are suggestions that the cromlech could have been used as the first astronomical observatory.

The cromlech elements at Stonehenge are stone parallelepipeds of abutments on which stone beams lie. All of them, thanks to the metal tools of the Bronze Age, are much better hewn than the blocks in the dolmens of the Neolithic period. All elements have an almost correct shape. In this grandiose structure, a very important moment in the development of architecture was revealed for the first time. For the first time in history, cromlech architecture received span solution with the basic principles of a post-beam system.

The separation of families and individuals based on property and the stratification of society are reflected not only in everyday life, but also during the burial of people. The burial grounds of the nobility and wealthy members of the community were often very large. For example, in Siberia, in Tuva, “royal mounds” have been preserved, which are 120 m in diameter and occupy a huge area (Fig. 1.16). The shape of such mounds could be either round or trapezoidal. The chambers of the mound in Tuva extend radially from the center. The main structure is made of log stands covered with 3–4 m of rubble stone. Weapons, horses, rich utensils, jewelry and even concubines were placed inside the burial grounds. Sanctuaries occupy a special place among ancient megalithic structures. These are later religious buildings. An example is the sanctuaries on the islands of the Maltese archipelago (Malta, Gozo and Camino islands). The cultures that existed here left their descendants with 34 prehistoric settlements, most of which are represented by the remains of temples. The most ancient ones date back to the 5200s. BC e. Sanctuary in Ggantiia on the island. Gozo consists of two temples, representing the union of several apses, and dates back to the 3600s. BC e. (Fig. 1.17).

In this building it is clearly visible how the internal space is distributed depending on the functional requirements. The central entrance leads to the main altar. The space of the temple is divided by five apses. The plan shows two altars, the base of the sacred stone and the sacred triangle. In the left second apse there is an altar placed in three niches (incl., Fig. 4). The design principle of the altar niches is the same as in the cromlech of Stonehenge (the racks on which the slabs are laid), only their sizes are smaller. But the upper slabs are significantly loaded with stones. However, the thickness of the slabs and their span dimensions are correlated in such a way that they have a large margin of safety, which allowed them to stand for millennia. The cyclopean dimensions of the stones from which the walls of the sanctuaries are made are surprising, which remains a mystery even for modern researchers (incl., Fig. 5).

Rice. 1.17. Plan of the temple complex (Ggantia, Malta): 1 - entrance; 2 – stone of purification; 3 – cup for sacrificial wine; 4 – altar; 5 – stone with ritual images; 6 – oracle bowls; 7 – sacred triangle; 8 – stone pedestal; 9 – altar in a niche; 10 – main altar

So, we have traced how ancient architecture developed and the construction thought of primitive man improved, how he moved from the simplest decisions of a utilitarian nature to decisions associated with the high complexity of structures and the vivid expressiveness of megalithic structures, reflecting his spiritual culture.

The Late Stone Age (Neolithic) was a colorful period of prehistory, when unprecedented examples of human cooperation began to appear. Therefore, some of the most mysterious and interesting archaeological sites that can be seen today belong to this era. In fact, there are so many of them that some amazing ancient monuments have simply begun to be forgotten. So let's take a look at some of the best ancient Neolithic structures that can be found in the UK.

10. Carn Gluze, or Ballowall Barrow

This ancient mound is quite well known. Located in southwest UK Cornwall, the site was originally littered with rubbish from a nearby mine. Local legend says that dark rituals were performed here, and that it is better to avoid this place at night.

The structure consists of two concentric circles and a burial mound located at their center, surrounded by a circular wall. The burial mound itself initially rose several meters. In the hill, archaeologists discovered 5 tombs, which contained a variety of pots dating back to the Bronze Age. It is believed that the rectangular excavation was the resting place of one of the victims. The hill was then covered with earth or covered with stones, and supposedly represented a symbolic entrance to the other world. Some archaeologists believe that the mound is located at the site of an ancient man from the Early Stone Age.

9. Lanyon Quoit


This interesting structure is called a dolmen and is part of another tomb complex. Some dolmens were built as early as 4000 BC, which means they are 2000 years older than the pyramids at Giza. Initially, this structure was high enough for a rider on a horse to pass under it. In prehistoric times, the structure was surrounded by an earthen rampart, like a mound, but the ground has been eroded.

The huge stone lying on top of the standing stones weighs no less - 13.5 tons, and in order to even move it would require the efforts of several dozen people.

8. Men-an-tol or Devil’s Eye


Translated from the original Cornish language, "Men-an-tol" means "stone with a hole". Little is known about the stones themselves, all we know is that they were carved from very durable granite. The center stone supposedly took several hundred man-hours to make. Some theories suggest that the round stone was the entrance to an ancient tomb, or perhaps part of a calendar. These stones have been here since the Neolithic, however a local farmer may have moved them after some of them fell due to bad weather.

A round stone with a hole in the center was considered a panacea for all diseases, and was used in healing rituals in which children were passed through a hole in the stone to cure illnesses. Legend has it that if a woman walks through the hole 7 times while the moon is full, she will become pregnant.

7. West Kennet Longbarrow


West Kennet Long Barrow is a huge structure, stretching over 91 meters. It predates Stonehenge by 400 years and was built in 3600 BC. Unlike the mounds from the previous points, at West Kennet Long Barrow you can go inside. The lower right photo shows the view from the entrance to the building. Archaeologists have found more than 50 human skeletons in West Kennet Long Barrow. The most interesting thing is that, apparently, the bones were sorted into different types and stored in different rooms. The wide facade stone, which can be seen in the top photo, was periodically used to cover the entrance to protect the structure from potential grave robbers.

This main stone also supposedly served as a setting for the burial rituals that took place before the deceased were brought inside. During the thousand years of mound use, a popular type of ritual was sky burial. Archaeologists believe that the bodies of the deceased were placed near the burial site. Once the flesh had been removed from the bones by the forces of nature, the bones were collected and transported within the structure.

6. Rollright Stones


This complex consists of several different structures, the most interesting of which is the Kingsmen, pictured above. These standing stones are laid out in a perfect circle, their height ranges from a few tens of centimeters to 2.1 - 2.4 meters. It is believed that the stones originally touched each other, forming a perfect continuous circle. Archaeologists have found evidence of fires that were lit in the center of the circle. It is quite possible that this is evidence of ancient feasts or sacrifice rituals that took place in a circle.

5. Devil's Arrows


The Devil's Arrows are three standing stones or menhirs. They are riddled with distinctive grooves left by centuries of rain. The stones are lined up from north to south and may have been markers of the tribe's territory or a meeting place. Other ancient structures are believed to be in line with the stones, and it is possible that the stones represented pilgrimage landmarks. However, very little is known about these stones. Local legend says that the devil threw these stones at the nearby town of Aldborough, but missed, and the stones themselves remained where they fell.

4. Stonehenge


Stonehenge is one of the most legendary places on Earth, which has occupied the imagination of archaeologists for many centuries. The most interesting thing is that this structure is not actually a henge at all. Typically, henges are distinguished by the fact that they have an outer circular earthen rampart and an inner circular platform, but at Stonehenge the opposite is true - an inner earthen mound surrounded by a plane.

Stonehenge is an example of unprecedented cooperation in a country whose population was very small and widely dispersed. The 80 stones forming the inner circle were brought here from the territory of modern Wales, which is located at a distance of more than 386 kilometers. Each of these stones weighs over a ton, so just transporting these stones required a high degree of coordination and is undoubtedly an impressive achievement in itself. However, larger boulders weighed several tons and their installation required advanced knowledge of block lifting mechanisms or a huge amount of labor. Cornice stones or lintel stones were secured to standing stones using trunnions.

It is believed that Stonehenge was used as a crematorium or temple to celebrate the lives of the dead. A ritual paved path connects Stonehenge to a nearby river, which in turn is connected to another henge called Durrington Walls, which has wooden pillars instead of stones. One theory is that people first celebrated the life of a deceased person at Darrington Walls, before moving down the river to Stonehenge, where they celebrated the death of the deceased.

3. Skara Brae


Skara Brae is one of the best preserved places on this list. Skara Brae is located on one of the Scottish islands of Orkney and is often called Scotland's version of Pompeii due to the fact that it is so well preserved.

In essence, this place is a city built on a hill formed from the economic waste of primitive man, buried under a layer of sedimentary rocks. Some archaeologists believe that this site dates back to the third millennium BC.

This place is very useful because it can tell us a lot about the life of ancient people. We know that its inhabitants were major producers of a type of pottery known as grooved pottery, which was widespread throughout Britain. The area of ​​each house is approximately 12 square meters and there is a fireplace in the very center. It is believed that the inhabitants of the houses heated them by burning local peat. Their diet consisted mainly of seafood, and for the most part they lived on seaweed and shellfish. Each house had stone furniture, including wardrobes, armchairs, chests of drawers, storage boxes, and a door that was locked from the inside. Even more impressive, each house had a complex drainage system and a primitive version of a modern toilet.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this place. Some archaeologists believe that the people who lived here were simple pastoral farmers, while others believe that the inhabitants of these houses were a group of dignitaries and theocrats who were considered local sages, much like the ephors of ancient Greece.

2. Cheddar Gorge


Cheddar Gorge, often seen as the British equivalent of the Grand Canyon, is without a doubt the oldest archaeological site on this list. The gorge, 137 meters deep, contains a myriad of different Stone Age structures, the oldest of which date back to the Late Paleolithic (early period of the Stone Age). It is almost 12,000 years old, making it older than the earliest Egyptian cultures.

There are a number of caves in the gorge. The two main caves are Gough's Cave and Cox's Cave. It was in the Gau Cave that archaeologists discovered the earliest complete human skeleton. The skeleton was named Cheddar Man and is more than 9,000 years old. Archaeologists found signs of violent death on it. It is possible that he was a victim of cannibalism, judging by the potentially fatal skull injury.

Other finds included flint ax heads and flint arrowheads. They were scattered throughout the area, indicating that it was most likely a hunter-gatherer community. Both caves may have been used for prehistoric cheese making, hence their name.

1. Newgrange


Newgrange is one of the most underrated places in the UK. It is larger and older than Stonehenge. Newgrange is a huge mound that is part of the 5,000-year-old Bru na Boinne complex.

Its height is 13.5 meters and its diameter is 85 meters - this is a structure of truly monumental scale. The mound surrounds the reconstructed white quartz façade, as the old façade has partially crumbled due to erosion. The weight of the stones alone used in the construction of this mound totals 200,000 tons. In all likelihood, the hill was built by hundreds of workers, and very experienced and skilled engineers were needed to supervise its construction.

Inside the mound there is one of the largest tombs in Western Europe, an 18-meter, almost cruciform passage leads to it, and the entrance to the mound, located on the south-eastern side, is very richly decorated.

This tomb may have originally contained the bones of local tribal leaders or sages. If this is the case, then the structure could technically be called a crypt, since in those days, the common practice was sky burial or excarnation, in which the bodies of the deceased were left in the open air to be stripped down to the bones by the forces of nature, and then these bones were buried in tombs . Finally, it is worth noting that this structure contains rare examples of stone carving art dating back to the Neolithic. Carving these abstract scrollwork, which can be seen when entering the mound, required considerable skill.

The most famous stone historical and archaeological monuments created by man include the pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, dolmens, idols of Easter Island and stone balls of Costa Rica.
Today I would like to bring to your attention a selection of not so famous, but no less interesting stone historical and archaeological structures of antiquity.

Valley of the Jars in Laos

The Valley of Jugs is a group of unique sites that contain unusual historical and archaeological monuments - huge stone jugs. These mysterious objects are located in Xiang Khouang province, Laos. Thousands of gigantic stone vessels are scattered among the dense tropical flora. The size of the jugs ranges from 0.5 to 3 meters, and the weight of the largest reaches 6 thousand kg. Most giant stone pots are cylindrical in shape, but oval and rectangular jars are also found. Round disks were found next to the unusual vessels, which were presumably used as lids for them. These pots were made from granite, sandstone, rock and calcined coral. Scientists suggest that the age of the stone bowls is 1500 – 2000 years.

The territory of the valley includes more than 60 sites on which groups of gigantic vessels are located. All the platforms are stretched along one line, which may be evidence that there used to be an ancient trade route here, which was served by platforms with jugs. The largest number of jars is concentrated in the city of Phonsavan; this place is called the “First Site”, on which there are about 250 vessels of various sizes.

There are a huge number of theories and assumptions regarding who created such unique vessels and for what purposes. According to scientists, these jugs were used by the ancient people living in southeast Asia, whose culture and customs still remain unknown. Historians and anthropologists suggest that the huge jars could have been funerary urns and were used in funeral rituals. There is a version that food was stored in them, another version says that rainwater was collected in the vessels, which was used by trade caravans. Laotian legends say that these gigantic jugs were used as ordinary utensils by the giants who lived here in ancient times. Well, the version of local residents says that rice wine was made and stored in megalithic jugs. No matter how many versions and theories are put forward, the Valley of the Jugs undoubtedly remains an unsolved mystery.

National Historical and Archaeological Reserve "Stone Grave"

The historical and archaeological reserve “Stone Grave”, which is located near the city of Melitopol on the banks of the Molochnaya River and is a world monument of ancient culture in Ukraine. These are the remains of sandstone of the Sarmatian Sea; as a result of natural transformations, a unique stone monolith gradually formed in this place, in which caves and grottoes were formed over thousands of years, which ancient people used for religious purposes. Rock paintings and stone tablets with ancient writings, mysterious signs and images dating back to the 22nd – 16th millennium BC have survived to this day.

The stone grave is located 2 km from the village of Mirnoye, Melitopol district, Zaporozhye region and is a pile of stones with an area of ​​​​about 30,000 square meters. meters, up to 12 meters high. The shape of the pile resembles a mound (Ukrainian grave), hence its name. The stone grave at first was probably a sandstone shoal of the Sarmatian Sea, the only sandstone outcrop in the entire Azov-Black Sea depression, which makes it a unique geological formation

No human settlements that can be associated with the monument were found either in the Stone Grave itself or in the immediate vicinity of it. Based on this, the researchers conclude that the stone grave was used exclusively for religious purposes, as a sanctuary

Arkaim

Arkaim is a fortified settlement of the Middle Bronze Age at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e., related to the so-called. "Land of Cities" Located on an elevated cape formed by the confluence of the Bolshaya Karaganka and Utyaganka rivers, 8 km north of the village of Amursky, Bredinsky district and 2 km southeast of the village of Aleksandrovsky, Kizilsky district, Chelyabinsk region. The settlement and the adjacent territory with a whole complex of archaeological monuments of different times is a natural landscape and historical and archaeological reserve - a branch of the Ilmensky State Reserve named after V. I. Lenin, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The monument is distinguished by the unique preservation of defensive structures, the presence of synchronous burial grounds and the integrity of the historical landscape.

In the summer of 1987, archaeologists from Chelyabinsk State University conducted routine surveys of archaeological sites in the Bolshekaragan Valley, in the southwest of the Chelyabinsk region. The valley was supposed to be flooded in order to create a large reservoir there for neighboring state farms. The builders were in a hurry, and archaeologists hastily compiled a map of ancient monuments for posterity, so as never to return here again. But the attention of the researchers was attracted by the ramparts, which, as it turned out, surrounded the settlement of an unusual type - these had not been found in the steppe zone before. During the study, it became clear that the monument was a settlement created according to a pre-thought-out plan, with a clear urban planning idea, complex architecture and fortification.
Over the next few years, another 20 such settlements were discovered, which made it possible to talk about the discovery of an interesting ancient culture, which received the code name “Land of Cities.”

In science, this archaeological culture is called Arkaim-Sintashta. The significance of the discovery of Arkaim and other fortified settlements of this type is indisputable, as it provided completely new data on the migration routes of the Indo-Europeans and made it possible to prove that 4 thousand years ago a fairly highly developed culture existed in the South Ural steppes. The Arkaim people were engaged in metallurgy and metalworking, weaving, and pottery. The basis of their economy was cattle breeding.
The fortified settlements of the Arkaim-Sintashta culture date back to the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. They are five to six centuries older than Homeric Troy, contemporaries of the first dynasty of Babylon, the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and the Cretan-Mycenaean culture of the Mediterranean. The time of their existence corresponds to the last centuries of the famous civilization of India - Mahenjo-Daro and Harappa.

Stone monuments in the Ulytau mountains

Archaeologists have discovered groups of stone sculptures and rock paintings with images of sabers, daggers, dishes and much more.
Particularly unique are the stone sculptures - balbals, which were placed in front of the stone statues of warriors; a string of balbals is placed in front of the commanders. Sometimes their number reaches 200.

Along with male statues, female ones were also installed. Depending on the age of the person, they are called “girl-stone”, “woman-stone”, “old woman-stone”. That is why there is another Slavic name for balbals - stone women.

Archaeological site of Gunung Padang

The sacred mountain Gunung Padang is located in Bandung, West Java. The “Mountain of Light” (or “Mountain of Enlightenment”) is a mountain on the top and slope of which a multi-tiered complex of structures with a main pyramid on top was discovered.

The Dutch were the first to notice it in 1914. In their report, the colonial Archaeological Service referred to it as Mount Gunung Padang (Mountain of Enlightenment), to the top of which local residents climb for meditation. She flashed for the second time in 1949, after which she disappeared for exactly 30 years. Only in 1979 did scientists – geographers and geologists – climb to its summit.
At the top of the mountain they found hundreds of stone blocks of regular shape, arranged in a certain order.

In addition to the obvious division of Mount Padang into five levels, megaliths scattered throughout the entire height of the mountain, an area of ​​900 square meters, andesite columns, etc., research has shown the presence of a hollow chamber. The chamber measures 10 m in width, height and length.
It is widely believed that it is located in the “heart of the Mountain”.
The distance to the cavity is 25 meters from the rotation. Soil samples recovered by drilling indicate the age of the structure in the range from 20,000 to 22,000 BC.

Ancient stones of Great Britain

Men-En-Tol, Cornwall - a mysterious stone that has seemingly stood forever in the Penwith swamps.

Callanish, located on the Isle of Lewis in the Great Hebrides archipelago, is currently the largest monument of megalithic culture in the British Isles. The reconstructed form of the "Callanish stones" was established presumably during the Neolithic period, approximately between 2.9 and 2.6 thousand years BC. Experts note that previously (until 3000 there was a sanctuary here).

Callanish is formed by thirteen vertically standing monuments or groups of stones that form circles up to thirteen meters in diameter. The average height of the stones is 4 meters, but can vary between 1-5 meters. The stones are cut from local gneiss. In terms of popularity, the Callanish stones can compete with Stonehenge.

Avebury, Wittshire. Local farmers routinely herd sheep among Stonehenge's coeval sites, which date back to 2500 BC.

Circle of Brodgar, Stromness, Orkney - Britain's answer to the pyramids of Egypt. The Stones period dates back to 3000 BC. Only 27 of the 60 sculptures remain.

Rolleith Stones, Oxfordshire.

Bryn Selley, Anglesey, Wales. Wales is rich in ancient stone deposits, but the most famous pagan structure is, of course, Bryn Seley (“Dark Room Mound”). On the island of Anglesey it appeared during the Neolithic period (4000 years ago).

Arbor Low, Midleton-on-Yolgreave, Derbyshire. 50 stones stand silently on the Arbor Low plateau, a short drive from Bakewell.

Castlerigg, Keswick, Lake District

Nine Stones, Dartmoor.

Megaliths of the Urals

Vera Island on Lake Turgoyak.
Megaliths of Vera Island - a complex of archaeological monuments (megaliths - chamber tombs, dolmens and menhirs) on an island in Lake Turgoyak (near Miass) in the Chelyabinsk region. The island is located near the western shore of the lake and, at low water levels, is connected to the shore by an isthmus, turning into a peninsula.
The megaliths were presumably built about 6000 years ago, in the 4th millennium BC. uh

Cult site Island of Faith.

The largest structure on the island is megalith No. 1 - a stone structure measuring 19x6 m, cut into the rocky ground and covered with massive stone slabs. The walls of the structure are made using dry masonry from massive stone blocks. The megalith consists of three chambers and corridors connecting them. In two chambers of the megalith, rectangular pits were found carved into the rock. The connection between the building and the main astronomical directions has been recorded. The building is tentatively interpreted as a temple complex.

Architectural complex at the bottom of the Chinese Lake Fuxian

The pyramid was found at the bottom of the Chinese lake Fuxian (southwestern Yunnan province).
Its height is 19 m, the length of the side of the base is 90 m. The structure is built of stone slabs and has a stepped structure. At the bottom of the lake there are about a dozen more similar objects and about 30 structures of other types. The area of ​​the entire architectural complex is about 2.5 square meters. km. From the bottom of the lake, archaeologists recovered a clay vessel, which, according to experts, was made during the Eastern Han Dynasty, which ruled from 25 to 220 AD, Xinhua reports.

We fly into space, race to build skyscrapers, clone living organisms and do many things that only recently seemed impossible. And at the same time, they are still unable to solve the mysteries of the builders and thinkers who lived thousands of years ago. An ancient cobblestone weighing a hundred tons surprises us more than a computer half the size of a palm.

Goseck Circle, Germany, Goseck

The ring system of concentric ditches and wooden enclosures was created between 5000 and 4800 BC. The complex has now been reconstructed. Presumably it was used as a solar calendar.

Reptilian statues, French Polynesia, Nuku Hiva island

The statues in a place called Temehea Tohua in the Marquesas Islands depict strange creatures whose appearance in the popular consciousness is associated with aliens. They are different: there are large large-mouthed “reptilians”, and there are others: with small bodies and disproportionately large elongated helmet heads with huge eyes. They have one thing in common - an angry expression on their faces. Whether these were aliens from other worlds or just masked priests is unknown. The statues date back to around the beginning of the 2nd millennium.

Stonehenge, UK, Salisbury

Altar, observatory, tomb, calendar? Scientists have not come to a consensus. Five thousand years ago, a ring ditch and ramparts around it with a diameter of 115 m appeared. A few centuries later, ancient builders brought here 80 four-ton stones, and a couple of centuries later - 30 megaliths weighing 25 tons. The stones were installed in a circle and in the shape of a horseshoe. The form in which Stonehenge has survived to this day is largely the result of human activity in recent centuries. People continued to work on the stones: peasants chipped away pieces of amulets from them, tourists marked the territory with inscriptions, and restorers figured out for the ancients how things stood correctly here.

Pyramid of Kukulcan, Mexico, Chichen Itza

Every year, on the days of the spring and autumn equinox, thousands of tourists gather at the foot of the sanctuary of the supreme Mayan deity - the Feathered Serpent. They witness the miracle of Kukulkan's "appearance": the Serpent moves down along the balustrade of the main staircase. The illusion is created by the play of triangular shadows cast by the nine platforms of the pyramid at the moment when the setting sun illuminates its northwestern corner for 10 minutes. If the sanctuary had been shifted even a degree, nothing like this would have happened.

Carnac stones, France, Brittany, Carnac

In total, about 4,000 megaliths up to four meters high are arranged in slender alleys near the city of Karnak. The rows run parallel to each other or fan out, forming circles here and there. The complex dates back to the 5th–4th millennium BC. There were legends in Brittany that it was the wizard Merlin who turned the ranks of Roman legionnaires to stone.

Stone balls, Costa Rica

Pre-Columbian artifacts scattered near the Pacific coast of Costa Rica were discovered in the 1930s by banana plantation workers. Hoping to find gold inside, vandals destroyed many of the balls. Now most of the remaining ones are kept in museums. The diameter of some stones reaches 2.5 meters, weight - 15 tons. Their purpose is unknown.

Georgia Tablets, USA, Georgia, Elbert

In 1979, someone under the pseudonym R.C. Christian ordered the construction company to manufacture and install the monument - a structure of six granite monoliths weighing more than 100 tons. The ten commandments to descendants are engraved on the four side plates in eight languages, including Russian. The last point says: “Don’t be a cancer for the Earth, leave room for nature too!”

Nuraghi of Sardinia, Italy, Sardinia

Semiconical structures resembling huge beehives (up to 20 m high) appeared in Sardinia at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, before the arrival of the Romans. The towers were built without a foundation, from stone blocks superimposed on each other, not held together by any mortar and supported only by their own gravity. The purpose of the nuraghe is unclear. It is characteristic that archaeologists have more than once discovered miniature bronze models of these towers during excavations.

Sacsahuaman, Peru, Cusco

The archaeological park at an altitude of 3,700 meters and an area of ​​3,000 hectares is located north of the capital of the Inca Empire. The defensive and at the same time temple complex was built at the turn of the 15th–16th centuries. The zigzag battlements, reaching 400 meters in length and six in height, are made of multi-ton stone blocks, including 200-ton ones. How the Incas installed these blocks, how they adjusted them one after another is unknown. From above, Sacahuaman looks like the toothy head of a Cusco puma (the city was founded in the shape of the sacred animal of the Incas).

Arkaim, Russia, Chelyabinsk region

The Bronze Age settlement (III–II millennium BC) is located at the same latitude as Stonehenge. Coincidence? Scientists don't know. Two rows of circular walls (the diameter of the far one is 170 m), a drainage and sewer system, a well in every house are evidence of a highly developed culture. The monument was discovered by students and schoolchildren from an archaeological expedition in 1987. (The photo shows a reconstruction model.)

Newgrange, Ireland, Dublin

The Celts called it the fairy mound and considered it the home of one of their main gods. The circular structure made of stone, earth and rubble with a diameter of 85 meters was erected more than 5,000 years ago. A corridor leads inside the mound, ending in a ritual chamber. On the days of the winter solstice, this chamber is brightly illuminated for 15–20 minutes by a ray of sun falling through the window above the entrance to the tunnel.

Coral Castle, USA, Florida, Homestead

The bizarre structure was built single-handedly over 28 years (1923–1951) by Latvian emigrant Edward Lindskalnin in honor of a lost love. How a man of modest stature and build moved huge blocks in space remains a mystery.

Pyramids of Yonaguni, Japan, Ryukyu Archipelago

Monuments of huge stone platforms and pillars located underwater at a depth of 5 to 40 meters were discovered in 1986. The main one of these structures has the shape of a pyramid. Not far from it there is a large platform with steps, similar to a stadium with spectator stands. One of the objects resembles a huge head, like the moai statues on Easter Island. There is debate in the scientific community: many believe that the formations lying on the ocean floor are exclusively of natural origin. But loners like Masaaki Kimura, a professor at the University of the Ryukyu, who has repeatedly dived to the ruins, insist that there was a human presence here.

Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe, Masvingo

One of the largest and oldest stone structures in South Africa was built from the 11th century, and was abandoned in the 15th for an unknown reason. All structures (up to 11 meters in height and 250 in length) were erected using the dry masonry method. Presumably, up to 18,000 people lived in the settlement.

Delhi Column, India, New Delhi

The iron column, over 7 meters high and weighing over 6 tons, is part of the Qutub Minar architectural complex. It was cast in honor of King Chandragupta II in 415. For reasons that are unclear, the column, which is almost 100% iron, is virtually resistant to corrosion. Scientists are trying to explain this fact with various reasons: the special skill and technology of ancient Indian blacksmiths, dry air and specific climatic conditions in the Delhi region, the formation of a protective shell - in particular, as a result of the fact that the Hindus anointed the sacred monument with oils and incense. Ufologists, as usual, see in the column yet another evidence of the intervention of extraterrestrial intelligence. But the secret of “stainless steel” has not yet been solved.

Nazca Lines, Peru, Nazca Plateau

A 47-meter spider, a 93-meter hummingbird, a 134-meter eagle, a lizard, an alligator, a snake, and other zoomorphic and humanoid creatures... Giant images from a bird's eye view seem to be scratched on a rock devoid of vegetation, as if with one hand, in the same style . In fact, these are furrows up to 50 cm deep and up to 135 cm wide, made at different times in the 5th-7th centuries.

Nabta Observatory, Nubia, Sahara

In the sands next to a dry lake lies the oldest archaeoastronomical monument on the planet, 1000 years older than Stonehenge. The location of the megaliths makes it possible to determine the day of the summer solstice. Archaeologists believe that people lived here seasonally, when there was water in the lake, and therefore needed a calendar.

Antikythera Mechanism, Greece, Antikythera

A mechanical device with dials, hands and gears was found at the beginning of the 20th century on a sunken ship sailing from Rhodes (100 BC). After lengthy research and reconstruction, scientists found that the device served astronomical purposes - it made it possible to monitor the movement of celestial bodies and make very complex calculations.

Baalbek slabs, Lebanon

The Roman temple complex dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries AD. But the Romans did not build sanctuaries out of nowhere. At the base of the Temple of Jupiter lie more ancient slabs weighing 300 tons. The western retaining wall is made up of a series of "trilithons" - three limestone blocks, each over 19 m long, 4 m high and weighing about 800 tons. Roman technology was not able to lift such weight. By the way, not far from the complex, another block has been lying for more than one thousand years - under 1000 tons.

Gobekli Tepe, Türkiye

The complex on the Armenian Highlands is considered the oldest of the largest megalithic structures (approximately X-IX millennium BC). At that time, people were still hunting and gathering, but someone was able to erect circles of huge steles with images of animals.