Scholarly record

ANCIENT PROTOARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE PALEOLITHIC PERIOD

V.Kochergin

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the question of finding conceptual basis of prehistoric architecture. The author tried to discern the reasons why it came to existence and the principles of its functioning, as well as developing architectural spaces of permanent structures. The remains of ancient constructions, made from mammoths’ skulls, tusks and larger bones dug into the soil, served as the subject of the research. “Bone” structures like these are the phenomena of the Paleolithic era. These monuments of prehistoric architecture were created 35-15 thousands years ago and discovered in the East European Plane and the West Siberian Plain in a comparatively small geographic area – 49°N to 56°N. Prehistoric constructions were identified according to the aims of their design. The author used the research technique that combined mathematical and statistical methods of evaluating results, measurements and observations, and basic principles of archaeology when analyzing the content of the results of archaeological excavations of ancient structures and the accompanying artifacts. The aforementioned results of the work have been published. In the he process of solving the task there was made the analysis of both contemporary ideas and author’s hypothesis considering the meaning and function of long-lasting constructions belonging to Paleolithic Period. The conditions and reasons of their building were revealed, together with explaining the logic of their development and singling out different ways of their forming. The key object that allowed to find the connection between the function of the “building”, its structure and architectural form, became the construction made of mammoth’s tusks and femurs found on the Achinsk Upper Paleolithic culture (appr. 18 000 B.C.) The architectural analysis proved that bone structures were not designed for living in them (were not huts) but actually served as special devices for measuring and watching cycles of nature. This type of prehistoric architecture developed as an instrumental base for time measurement. They were built according to the same pattern as near-horizon observatories, or as static calendar calculator devices that showed the movement of celestial objects. Those mammoth bone structures were situated, usually, on the treads of ancient fluvial terraces, where one was able to see the horizon in every season, and choosing fossils as the basic building material ensured they would last long and provide credible geometrical data. Thus the constructions acquired their practical and cult functions. Ancient people lived in harmony with the rhythms of cosmos, searched and found the connection between configuration of celestial bodies and things happening on Earth. The emergence of complicated structures like this, connected with time cycles, is a new area for the theory and history of architecture. Knowing how long those cycles lasted, ancient people widely used it in their rituals for creating planetary calendars and astrological constructions. This knowledge was passed from generation to generation, for thousands of years, as encoded figure inscriptions that the scientists discovered on artifacts, and it greatly influenced the principles of building megalithic circle structures of Neolithic Europe.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2017/62/S22.002

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