Like all living beings with the ability to move, a person needs temporary or permanent shelter or housing for sleep, rest, protection from bad weather and attacks from animals or other people. Therefore, concerns about housing, along with concerns about food and clothing, should have, first of all, worried the mind primitive man. In the essays on primitive culture, we said that already in the Stone Age, man used not only caves, tree hollows, rock crevices, etc. as natural shelters, but also developed various types of buildings that we can see among modern peoples at all levels of culture. Since the time when man gained the ability to mine metals, his construction activities have advanced rapidly, facilitating and providing other cultural achievements.
“When one thinks of the nests of birds, the dams of beavers, the tree platforms made by monkeys, it will hardly be possible to suppose that man has ever been incapable of making a shelter of one kind or another for himself” (E. B. Taylor, Anthropology "). If he was not always satisfied with it, it was because, moving from place to place, he could find a cave, hollow or other natural shelter. South African Bushmen live in mountain caves and make temporary huts for themselves. Unlike animals, which are capable of only one type of building, man creates, depending on local conditions, buildings of various types and gradually improves them.
Since the ancestral home of man was in the tropical region, the first human building appeared there. It was not even a hut, but a canopy or screen made of two stakes stuck into the ground with a crossbar, against which tree branches and huge leaves of tropical palm trees leaned on the windward side. On the leeward side of the canopy there is a fire, on which food is prepared, and around which the family warms itself in cold weather. Such dwellings are built for themselves by the natives of central Brazil and Australians who walk completely naked, and sometimes by modern hunters in the northern forests. The next step in the construction of a dwelling is a round hut made of branches with dense foliage stuck into the ground, tied or intertwined with tops, forming a kind of roof above the head. Our round garden pavilions, covered with branches, bear a strong resemblance to such a savage hut.
Some of the Brazilian Indians put more art into their work, as they make a frame from the tops of young trees tied together or poles stuck into the ground, which they then cover with large palm leaves. Australians also make the same huts in case of a long stay, covering the frame of branches with bark, leaves, grass, sometimes even laying turf or covering the outside of the hut with clay.
Thus, the invention and construction of a round hut is a simple matter and accessible to the most backward peoples. If wandering hunters carry with them the poles and cover of the hut, then it turns into a tent, which more cultured peoples cover with skins, felt or canvas.
The round hut is so small that you can only lie or squat in it. An important improvement was the installation of a hut on pillars or walls made of intertwined branches and earth, that is, the construction of round huts, such as were in ancient times in Europe, and are now found in Africa and other parts of the world. To increase the capacity of the round hut, a hole was dug inside it. This digging of an internal hole inspired the idea of constructing the walls of the hut from the earth, and it turned into a dugout with a conical flat roof made of tree trunks, brushwood, turf and even stones, which were placed on top to protect against gusts of wind.
A major step in the art of construction was the replacement of round huts with quadrangular ones. wooden houses, the walls of which were much stronger than earthen walls, easily washed away by rain. But solid wooden walls made of horizontally laid logs did not appear immediately and not everywhere; their construction became possible only with the availability of metal axes and saws. For a long time their walls were made of vertical pillars, the spaces between which were filled with turf or intertwined rods, sometimes coated with clay. In order to protect against people, animals and river floods, buildings on pillars or on stilts, already familiar to readers, began to appear, which are now found on the islands of the Malay Archipelago and in many other places.
Further, doors and windows were an improvement in human habitation. The door remains for a long time the only opening of the primitive dwelling; later, light holes or windows appear, in which now in many places bull's bubble, mica, even ice, etc. are used instead of glass, and sometimes they are only plugged up at night or in bad weather. A very important improvement was the introduction of a hearth or stove inside the house, since the hearth not only allows one to maintain the desired temperature in the home, but also dries and ventilates, making the home more hygienic.
Types of dwellings of cultural peoples: 1) the house of an ancient German; 2) home of the Franks; 3) Japanese house; 4) Egyptian house; 5) Etruscan house; 6) ancient Greek house; 7) ancient Roman house; 8) old French house; 9) Arabic house; 10) English mansion.
Types wooden buildings different times and peoples are extremely diverse. Buildings made of clay and stone are no less diverse and even more widespread. A wooden hut or hut is easier to build than a stone one, and stone architecture probably evolved from the simpler wooden one. The rafters, beams and columns of the stone buildings were undoubtedly copied from the corresponding wooden forms, but, of course, on this basis one cannot deny the independent development of stone architecture and explain everything in it by imitation.
Primitive man used natural caves for living, and then began to build artificial caves for himself where soft rocks lay. In southern Palestine, entire ancient cave cities, carved into the rocks.
Artificial cave dwellings still serve as shelter for humans in China, northern Africa and other places. But such dwellings have a limited area of distribution and appear in places where people already possessed fairly high technology.
Probably the first stone dwelling it was the same as those found among Australians and in some other places. Australians build the walls of their huts from stones picked up from the ground, not connected in any way. Because you can't find it everywhere suitable material from raw stones in the form of slabs of layered rocks, then man began to fasten the stones with clay. Round huts made of rough stones held together with clay are still found in northern Syria. Such huts made of rough stones, as well as those made of clay, river silt and mud along with reeds, were the beginning of all subsequent stone buildings.
Over time, the stones began to be hewn so that they could be fitted one to another. A very important and major step in the construction business was the cutting of stones in the form of rectangular stone slabs, which were laid in regular rows. Such cutting of stone blocks reached its highest perfection in ancient Egypt. Cement for fastening stone slabs was not used for a long time, and was not needed, these slabs adhered so well to each other. Cement, however, has long been known and ancient world. The Romans used not only ordinary cement made from lime and sand, but also waterproof cement, to which volcanic ash was added.
In countries where there was little stone and a dry climate, buildings made of clay or mud mixed with straw were very common, since they were cheaper and even better than wooden ones. Sun-dried bricks made of fatty clay mixed with straw have been known in the East since ancient times. Buildings made from such bricks are now widespread in the dry regions of the Old World and in Mexico. Fired bricks and tiles, necessary for countries with rainy climates, were a later invention, improved by the ancient Romans.
Stone buildings were originally covered with reeds, straw, wood, the roof frame is now made of wood, wooden beams have only recently begun to be replaced with metal ones. But long ago people thought of constructing first false and then true vaults, In the false vault stone slabs or bricks are laid in the form of two stairs until the tops of these stairs meet so much that they can be covered with one brick; Children make such false vaults from wooden cubes. Similar false vaults can be seen in the Egyptian pyramids in the ruins of buildings in Central America and in the temples of India. The time and place of invention of the true code is unknown; The ancient Greeks did not use it. It was introduced into use and perfected by the Romans: all later buildings of this kind originated from Roman bridges, domes and vaulted halls. A person’s home serves as a complement to clothing and, like clothing, depends on the climate and geographic environment. Therefore, in various regions of the globe we find a predominance various types dwellings.
In areas with a hot and damp climate, inhabited by naked, half-naked or lightly dressed people, the dwelling is intended not so much for warmth, it plays the role of protection from tropical downpours. Therefore, the dwellings here are light huts or huts, covered with thatch, bamboo, reeds and palm leaves. In hot and dry areas of deserts and semi-deserts, the settled population lives in clay houses with flat earthen roof, providing good protection from the heat of the sun, and nomads in Africa and Arabia live in tents or tents.
In more or less humid areas with an average annual temperature of 10° to + 20°C. in Europe and America thin wall panels predominate stone houses, covered with thatch, reeds, tiles and iron, in Korea, China and Japan - thin-walled wooden houses, covered mostly with bamboo. An interesting variety The last areas are japanese houses with movable internal partitions and external walls of mats and frames that can be moved aside to allow air and light to enter and enable the occupants to jump outside in the event of an earthquake. In thin-walled houses of the European-American type, the frames are single, stoves are absent or replaced by fireplaces, and in the Chinese-Japanese east - by heating pads and braziers. In the dry areas of this area, the settled population lives in the same stone houses with flat roofs, as in dry tropical countries. Huts are used here in spring, summer and autumn. Nomads live here in winter in dugouts, and in summer in felt tents or yurts, the frame of which is made of wood.
In areas with an average annual temperature of 0° to +10° C, maintaining warmth in the home plays a decisive role; Therefore, the brick and wooden houses here are thick-walled, on a foundation, with stoves and double frames, with the ceiling topped with a layer of sand or clay and with a double floor. Roofs are covered with thatch, planks and shingles (shingles), roofing felt, tiles and iron. The area of thick-walled houses with iron roofs is also the area of urban high-rise buildings, the extreme expression of which is the American "skyscrapers" of dozens of floors. Nomads of semi-deserts and deserts live here in dugouts and felt yurts, and wandering hunters of the northern forests live in huts covered with reindeer skins or birch bark.
The zone with lower annual temperatures is characterized in the south by warm winter wooden houses covered with planks, and to the north, in the tundra region, among polar nomads and fishermen - portable tents or tents covered with deer, fish and seal skins. Some polar peoples, for example, the Koryaks, live in winter in pits dug in the ground and lined inside with logs, over which a roof is erected with a hole that serves for the exit of smoke and for entering and exiting the dwelling via a permanent or ladder.
In addition to housing, a person erects various buildings for storing supplies, for housing pets, for his labor activity, for various meetings, etc. The types of these structures are extremely diverse, depending on geographical, economic and living conditions.
The dwellings of nomads and wandering hunters are not fenced in anything, but with the transition to settled life, fences appear near the estate, near plots occupied cultivated plants or intended for corralling or grazing livestock.
The types of these barriers depend on the availability of a particular material. They are made of earth (ramps, ditches and ditches), wicker, poles, planks, stone, thorny bushes and, finally, barbed wire. In mountainous areas, for example, in the Crimea and the Caucasus, stone walls predominate, in the forest-steppe zone - fences; in wooded areas with small plowed spaces, fences are made of poles and stakes, and in some places of boulders. Fences include not only estate or rural fences, but also wooden and stone walls ancient cities, as well as long fortifications, which in ancient times were erected to protect entire states. These were the Russian “guard lines” (total length 3600 km), which were built in the 16th-17th centuries to protect against Tatar raids, and the famous Chinese Wall (finished in the 5th century AD), 3300 km long, protecting China from Mongolia .
The choice of a place for human habitation is determined, on the one hand, by natural conditions, i.e., relief, soil properties and proximity to sufficient amounts of fresh water, and on the other hand, by the ability to obtain a livelihood in the chosen place.
Settlements ( separate houses and groups of houses) are usually located not in lowlands or basins, but on hills with a horizontal surface. So, for example, in mountain villages and cities, individual streets are located, if possible, in the same plane in order to avoid unnecessary ascents and descents; therefore, the lines of the houses have an arcuate shape and correspond to isohypses, that is, lines of equal height. In the same mountain valley there are many more settlements on the slope that is better illuminated by the sun than on the opposite one. Very steep slopes(above 45°) human dwellings, with the exception of caves, are not found at all. Sandy loam or light loamy soil is best for human habitation. When constructing housing, avoid soil that is swampy, clayey or too loose ( quick sand, black soil). In populous settlements, soil deficiencies that impede movement are eliminated by means of bridges, sidewalks and various pavement structures.
The main reason determining the emergence and distribution of human settlements is fresh water. River valleys and lake shores are the most populated, and in interfluve spaces, dwellings appear where groundwater is shallow and the construction of wells and reservoirs does not present insurmountable difficulties. Waterless spaces are deserted, but are quickly populated with artificial irrigation. Among other reasons that attract human settlements, important role belongs to mineral deposits and roads, especially railways. Any accumulation of human dwellings, a village or a city, arises only where a knot of human relations is tied, where roads converge or where goods are transshipped or transferred.
In human settlements, houses are either scattered without any order, as in Ukrainian villages, or they stick out in rows, forming streets, as we see in Great Russian villages and villages. With an increase in the number of inhabitants, a village or city grows either in width, increasing the number of houses, or in height, i.e. turning one-story houses in multi-storey buildings; but more often this growth occurs simultaneously in both directions.
A dwelling is a structure or structure in which people live. It serves for shelter from bad weather, for protection from the enemy, for sleep, rest, raising offspring, and storing food. The local population in different regions The world has developed its own types of traditional dwellings. For example, among nomads these are yurts, tents, wigwams, and tents. In the mountainous areas they built pallasos and chalets, and on the plains - huts, mud huts and huts. The national types of housing of the peoples of the world will be discussed in the article. In addition, from the article you will learn which buildings remain relevant today and what functions they continue to perform.
Ancient traditional dwellings of the peoples of the world
People began to use housing since the times of the primitive communal system. At first these were caves, grottoes, and earthen fortifications. But climate change forced them to actively develop the skills of building and strengthening their houses. In the modern sense, "dwellings" most likely arose during the Neolithic, and stone houses appeared in the 9th century BC.
People sought to make their homes stronger and more comfortable. Now many ancient dwellings of one or another people seem completely fragile and dilapidated, but at one time they served their owners faithfully.
So, about the dwellings of the peoples of the world and their characteristics in more detail.
Dwellings of the peoples of the north
The conditions of the harsh northern climate influenced the characteristics of the national structures of the peoples who lived in these conditions. The most famous dwellings northern peoples are booth, tent, igloo and yaranga. They are still relevant today and fully meet the requirements of the absolutely difficult conditions of the north.
This dwelling is remarkably adapted to harsh climatic conditions and a nomadic lifestyle. They are inhabited by peoples engaged primarily in reindeer herding: Nenets, Komi, Entsy, Khanty. Many people believe that the Chukchi also live in a tent, but this is a misconception; they build yarangas.
The chum is a tent in the shape of a cone, which is formed by high poles. This type of structure is more resistant to gusts of wind, and the conical shape of the walls allows snow to slide over their surface in winter and not accumulate.
They are covered with burlap in the summer and with animal skins in the winter. The entrance to the tent is covered with burlap. To prevent snow or wind from getting under the lower edge of the building, snow is raked from the outside to the base of its walls.
In the center there is always a fire, which is used to heat the room and cook food. The temperature in the room is approximately 15 to 20 ºС. Animal skins are laid on the floor. Pillows, feather beds and blankets are made from sheep skins.
The chum is traditionally installed by all family members, from young to old.
- Showcase.
The traditional home of the Yakuts is a booth; it is a rectangular structure made of logs with a flat roof. It was built quite easily: they took the main logs and installed them vertically, but at an angle, and then attached many other logs of smaller diameter. Afterwards the walls were smeared with clay. The roof was first covered with bark, and a layer of earth was poured on top of it.
The floor inside the dwelling was trampled sand, the temperature of which never dropped below 5 ºС.
The walls consisted of a huge number of windows; they were covered with ice before the onset of severe frosts, and with mica in the summer.
The hearth was always located to the right of the entrance, it was smeared with clay. Everyone slept on bunks, which were placed to the right of the hearth for men and to the left for women.
- Igloo.
This is the housing of the Eskimos, who did not live very well, unlike the Chukchi, so they did not have the opportunity or materials to build a full-fledged home. They built their houses from snow or ice blocks. The structure had a dome shape.
The main feature of the igloo device was that the entrance had to be below floor level. This was done to ensure that oxygen entered the home and carbon dioxide evaporated; in addition, this location of the entrance made it possible to retain heat.
The walls of the igloo did not melt, but melted, and this made it possible to maintain a constant temperature in the room of approximately +20 ºС even in very coldy.
- Valkaran.
This is the home of the peoples living off the coast of the Bering Sea (Aleuts, Eskimos, Chukchi). This is a half-dugout, the frame of which consists of whale bones. Its roof is covered with earth. Interesting feature home is that it has two entrances: the winter one - through a multi-meter underground corridor, the summer one - through the roof.
- Yaranga.
This is the home of the Chukchi, Evens, Koryaks, and Yukaghirs. It's portable. Tripods made of poles were installed in a circle, inclined wooden poles were tied to them, and a dome was attached on top. The entire structure was covered with walrus or deer skins.
Several poles were placed in the middle of the room to support the ceiling. The yaranga was divided into several rooms with the help of curtains. Sometimes they placed inside it covered with skins. small house ik.
Dwellings of nomadic peoples
The nomadic way of life has formed a special type of housing for the peoples of the world who do not live settled down. Here are examples of some of them.
- Yurt.
This is a typical type of structure among nomads. It continues to be a traditional home in Turkmenistan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Altai.
This is a dome-shaped dwelling covered with skins or felt. It is based on large poles, which are installed in the form of gratings. There is always a hole on the roof of the dome for smoke to escape from the hearth. The domed shape gives it maximum stability, and the felt maintains its constant microclimate indoors, not allowing either heat or frost to penetrate there.
In the center of the building there is a fireplace, the stones for which are always carried with you. The floor is laid with skins or planks.
The home can be assembled or disassembled in 2 hours
The Kazakhs call a camping yurt abylaysha. They were used in military campaigns during Kazakh Khan Abylaye, this is where the name comes from.
- Vardo.
This is a gypsy tent, essentially a one-room house that is mounted on wheels. There is a door, windows, a stove, a bed, and drawers for linen. At the bottom of the wagon there is a luggage compartment and even a chicken coop. The cart is very light, so one horse could handle it. Vardo became widespread at the end of the 19th century.
- Felij.
This is the tent of the Bedouins (Arab nomads). The frame consists of long poles intertwined with each other, it was covered with fabric that was woven from camel hair, it was very dense and did not allow moisture to pass through when it rained. The room was divided into male and female parts, each of them had its own fireplace.
Dwellings of the peoples of our country
Russia is a multinational country, on whose territory more than 290 people live. Each has its own culture, customs, and traditional forms of housing. Here are the most striking of them:
- Dugout.
This is one of the oldest dwellings of the peoples of our country. This is a hole dug to a depth of about 1.5 meters, the roof of which was made of planks, straw and a layer of earth. The inside wall was reinforced with logs, and the floor was coated with clay mortar.
The disadvantages of this room were that smoke could only escape through the door, and the room was very damp due to the proximity of groundwater. Therefore, living in a dugout was not easy. But there were also advantages, for example, it completely ensured safety; in it one could not be afraid of either hurricanes or fires; it maintained a constant temperature; she did not miss loud sounds; practically did not require repairs or additional care; it could easily be built. It is thanks to all these advantages that dugouts were very widely used as shelters during the Great Patriotic War.
- Izba.
The Russian hut was traditionally built from logs using an axe. The roof was made gable. To insulate the walls, moss was placed between the logs; over time, it became dense and covered everything. large gaps. The outside walls were coated with clay, which was mixed with cow dung and straw. This solution insulated the walls. A stove was always installed in a Russian hut, the smoke from it came out through the window, and only starting from the 17th century they began to build chimneys.
- Kuren.
The name comes from the word “smoke,” which meant “to smoke.” The traditional home of the Cossacks was called kuren. Their first settlements arose in the floodplains (river reed thickets). The houses were built on stilts, the walls were made of wickerwork, coated with clay, the roof was made of reeds, and a hole was left in it for the smoke to escape.
This is the home of the Telengits (people of Altai). It is a hexagonal structure made of logs with a high roof covered with larch bark. The villages always had an earthen floor and a hearth in the center.
- Kava.
The indigenous people of the Khabarovsk Territory, the Orochi, built a kava dwelling, which looked like a gable hut. The side walls and roof were covered with spruce bark. The entrance to the home was always from the river. The place for the hearth was laid out with pebbles and fenced wooden beams which were coated with clay. Wooden bunks were built near the walls.
- Cave.
This type of dwelling was built in mountainous areas composed of soft rocks (limestone, loess, tuff). People cut down caves in them and built comfortable homes. In this way, entire cities appeared, for example, in the Crimea, the cities of Eski-Kermen, Tepe-Kermen and others. Fireplaces were installed in the rooms, chimneys were cut, niches for dishes and water, windows and doors.
Dwellings of the peoples of Ukraine
The most historically valuable and famous dwellings of the peoples of Ukraine are: mud hut, Transcarpathian kolyba, hut. Many of them still exist.
- Muzanka.
This is an ancient traditional dwelling of Ukraine; unlike the hut, it was intended for living in areas with a mild and warm climate. It was built from wooden frame, the walls consisted of thin branches, on the outside they were smeared with white clay, and on the inside with a solution of clay mixed with reeds and straw. The roof consisted of reeds or straw. The mud hut house had no foundation and was not protected from moisture in any way, but served its owners for 100 years or more.
- Kolyba.
In the mountainous regions of the Carpathians, shepherds and woodcutters built temporary summer dwellings, which were called “kolyba”. This is a log house that had no windows. The roof was gable and covered with flat chips. Along the walls inside they installed wooden sunbeds and shelves for things. There was a fireplace in the middle of the dwelling.
- Hut.
This is a traditional type of home among Belarusians, Ukrainians, southern Russian peoples and Poles. The roof was hipped, made of reeds or straw. The walls were built from half-logs and coated with a mixture of horse manure and clay. The hut was whitewashed both outside and inside. There were shutters on the windows. The house was surrounded by a zavalinka (a wide bench filled with clay). The hut was divided into 2 parts, separated by a vestibule: residential and utility.
Dwellings of the peoples of the Caucasus
For the peoples of the Caucasus, the traditional dwelling is the saklya. This is a one room stone structure with dirt floors and no windows. The roof was flat with a hole for the smoke to escape. Sakli in mountainous areas formed entire terraces, adjacent to each other, that is, the roof of one building was the floor of another. This type of structure served a defensive function.
Dwellings of the peoples of Europe
The most famous dwellings of European peoples are: trullo, palliaso, bordei, vezha, konak, culla, chalet. Many of them still exist.
- Trullo.
This is a type of dwelling of the peoples of central and southern Italy. They were created by dry masonry, that is, the stones were laid without cement or clay. And if one stone was removed, the structure would collapse. This type of structure was due to the fact that it was prohibited to build houses in these areas, and if inspectors came, the structure could easily be destroyed.
Trullos were one-room with two windows. The roof of the building was cone-shaped.
- Pallasso.
These dwellings are characteristic of the peoples living in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. They were built in the highlands of Spain. These were round buildings with a cone-shaped roof. The top of the roof was covered with straw or reeds. There was always a way out east side, the building had no windows.
- Bordey.
This is a semi-dugout of the peoples of Moldova and Romania, which was covered with a thick layer of reed or straw. This is the oldest type of housing in this part of the continent.
- Klochan.
The home of the Irish, which looks like a domed hut built of stone. The masonry was used dry, without any solutions. The windows looked like narrow slits. Basically, such dwellings were built by monks who led an ascetic lifestyle.
- Vezha.
This is the traditional home of the Sami (Finno-Ugric people of northern Europe). The structure was made of logs in the form of a pyramid, with a smoke hole left at it. A stone hearth was built in the center of the vezha, and the floor was covered with reindeer skins. Nearby they built a shed on poles, which was called nili.
- Konak.
A two-story stone house that was built in Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia. This building in plan resembles the Russian letter G; it was covered with a tiled roof. The house had a huge number of rooms, so there was no need for outbuildings in such houses.
- Kula.
It is a fortified tower, built of stone, with small windows. They can be found in Albania, the Caucasus, Sardinia, Ireland, and Corsica.
- Chalet.
This is a rural house in the Alps. It is distinguished by protruding eaves overhangs, wooden walls, the lower part of which was plastered and lined with stone.
Indian Dwellings
The most famous Indian dwelling is the wigwam. But there are also buildings such as teepees and wickiups.
- Indian wigwam.
This is the home of the Indians living in the north and northeast of North America. Nowadays, no one lives in them, but they continue to be used for various kinds of rituals and initiations. It is dome-shaped and consists of curved and flexible trunks. At the top there is a hole for smoke to escape. In the center of the dwelling there was a fireplace, along the edges there were places for rest and sleep. The entrance to the home was covered with a curtain. The food was prepared outside.
- Tipi.
Dwelling of the Great Plains Indians. It has a cone-shaped shape up to 8 meters high, its frame consisted of pine trees, covered with bison skins on top and reinforced with pegs at the bottom. This structure was easily assembled, disassembled and transported.
- Wikiap.
Home of the Apaches and other tribes living in the southwestern United States and California. This is a small hut covered with branches, straw, and bushes. It is considered a type of wigwam.
Dwellings of the peoples of Africa
The most famous dwellings of the peoples of Africa are considered to be rondavel and ikukwane.
- Rondavel.
This is the home of the Bantu people. It has a round base, a cone-shaped roof, and stone walls, which are held together with a mixture of sand and manure. Inside, the walls were coated with clay. The top of the roof was covered with reeds.
- Ikukwane.
This is a huge domed reed house that is traditional to the Zulu people. Long twigs, reeds, and tall grass were intertwined and reinforced with ropes. The entrance was closed with special shields.
Dwellings of the peoples of Asia
The most famous dwellings in China are diaolou and tulou, in Japan - minka, in Korea - hanok.
- Diaolou.
These are multi-story fortified fortified houses that have been built in southern China since the Ming Dynasty. In those days, there was an urgent need for such buildings, since gangs of bandits operated in the territories. In a later and calmer time, such structures were built simply according to tradition.
- Tulou.
This is also a fortress house, which was built in the form of a circle or square. On the upper floors, narrow openings were left for loopholes. Inside such a fortress there were living quarters and a well. Up to 500-600 people could live in these fortifications.
- Minka.
This is the dwelling of Japanese peasants, which was built from scrap materials: clay, bamboo, straw, grass. Functions internal partitions made screens. The roofs were very high so that snow or rain would roll off faster and the straw would not have time to get wet.
- Hanok.
This is a traditional Korean home. Clay walls And tile roof. Pipes were laid under the floor, through which hot air from the hearth circulated throughout the house.
When our prehistoric ancestors sought the refuge they would later call home, they used Natural resources around itself as a means of shelter.
Ancient people lived in caves. But man is the most brilliant creation of nature. And over time he learned to build abodes for himself.
For centuries, people had to live underground, in trees and under rocks. Over time, a person began to develop skills, he began to use auxiliary means in the construction of his house: wood, metal, brick, stone, ice and animal skins.
Nowadays, in most cases, houses are built of brick and concrete, with some exceptions, for example, cabins, prefabricated buildings and wooden sheds.
However, there are some civilizations in the world that still live in the dwellings used by their ancestors hundreds of years ago.
This article highlights some of the more unusual types of dwellings that man has called home, just as they have been for hundreds of years (since they were first built).
Bamboo houses
Bamboo is a fast-growing, evergreen grass that grows in many places around the world.
Bamboo has been used for housing construction thousands of years ago. This is special durable material, making it ideal for construction.
Constructions modern houses made of bamboo, based on ancient technologies, designed for the rapid construction of housing, especially in disaster areas in Southeast Asia.
Earthen houses, as their name suggests, are dwellings built underground and, along with caves, are probably the oldest method of construction on the planet.
The centuries-old idea of such design has found recognition all over the world, and today there are many buildings called eco-earth dwellings.
House made of timber
Log houses are well known and, as a rule, are used in the construction of holiday homes. Construction log houses The roots go back many years, to the times when man was first able to cut off large tree branches. But even today such houses are very popular.
The log house has found its application in mountain and forest areas. Such houses were especially common in areas inhabited by settlers in new lands, such as America and Australia. Today they are a landmark of the European Alps and Scandinavia, here these buildings are called “chalets”.
For many centuries, adobe houses were used as quick way construction of dwellings.
These types of housing are commonly found in dry and hot countries around the world, but most notably on the African continent.
To build them, soil or clay is mixed with water, and sometimes grass is added. The shaped squares are then dried in the sun until they reach the required hardness. After this, they are ready for use just like any other building brick.
Tree houses
Did you think that such houses are built only for children?
In fact, a tree house is quite common in jungle areas around the world, where the terrain is infested with snakes, dangerous wild animals and crawling insects.
They are also used as temporary shelter in areas prone to flooding and heavy monsoon rains.
Tent house
Tents are a popular means of refuge for outdoor enthusiasts. fresh air, and are also regularly used for quick construction.
Large tents were typically made from animal skins and were used as regular dwellings by many civilizations over the centuries. They are most widespread among nomadic peoples.
Today, tent-shaped housing is used mainly by nomadic peoples, such as the Bedouin tribes of Arabia and Mongolian herders, whose shelter - yurts - have existed for several generations.
Cabana (beach house)
The picture shows a wild boar located on the grounds of a hotel in Ecuador. This small house, which currently functions as a hotel room, is a bamboo frame topped with a grass roof and is typical of indigenous South American Indian architecture.
Tod's Huts
These bamboo and rattan houses come from a village located in South India, where locals have been living in such houses for over a thousand years.
Half a dozen of these buildings will be installed in one of the villages, where each of the buildings is used for a specific purpose, such as: living for people, finding animals, preparing food, and so on.
Houses of the Toba Batak tribe
These impressive structures, built in the likeness of a boat, are the huts of the indigenous people on the island of Sumatra.
The dwellings are called jabu and have been used by fishing communities for centuries.
From time immemorial Slavic peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Serbs, Poles, etc.) were treated as an important and significant event. At the same time, our ancestors sought to solve not only a practical problem, that is, to provide overhead, but also to organize the living space so that it was filled with peace, warmth, love and other blessings of life. And this, according to the ancient Slavs, could only be built by following ancient traditions and covenants. In the previous article we talked about , and today we will talk about ground-based - huts, huts and huts.
Izba - the first above-ground dwelling of the Northern Slavs
The first land-based ones appeared among the Slavs approximately in the 9th-10th centuries, and the name “izba” itself was recorded in ancient Russian chronicles dating back to the 10th century. Initially, log huts appeared in the northern regions of Slavic settlements, where the ground was very damp, swampy or deeply frozen. All these factors did not make it possible to equip warm semi-underground and underground ones.
First Slavic huts, as a rule, consisted of one insulated room-cage, to which in some cases there was an entryway. Wooden hut was equipped with a door and a small window up to 40 cm in size, which was closed with a wooden plank and was most often used for.
In winter, the main part of the family’s life took place in the hut; young cattle were kept here. If the stove did not have a pipe, then it was called "chicken hut", and the house with a chimney stove was called "white hut". The hut could have a lower floor (basement) or do without it. The internal layout of the room depended on the position of the stove: diagonally from it there was a “red” or front corner, below there was a wooden box, and on the side under the ceiling there were floors.
Mostly, the walls of the hut were built from logs, the roof could be thatched or wooden, the windows could be slanted (with frames) or woven (cut into the logs). For this purpose they usually used okhlupen (carved skate); the façade was decorated with window frames, towels and pedestals; walls, doors, ceilings and stoves - with characteristic Slavic ornaments in the form of animals, birds, plants and geometric patterns.
By the way, the carved ridge on the roof was not used by the Slavs for beauty. The fact is that, thus, the Slavs brought a “construction sacrifice” to the Gods in the form of a hut in the shape of a horse: the four corners are the legs, the house is the body, the horse is the head. Such a sacrifice symbolized the creation of something intelligently organized from primeval chaos (wood). Often, a tail made of bast was also tied to the back of the horse - in this case, the dwelling, according to the Slavs, was completely likened to a horse. In addition, archaeological excavations have shown that the very first huts were decorated not with carved skates, but with real horse skulls.
Over time, the size of the hut increased: in addition to the hut itself, there was also an upper room, which was separated from the main housing by a wall. These were called “five-walled”. In the northern regions, six-walled and double huts began to appear, representing two independent log cabins, having a common canopy and covered common roof. Often, light galleries were adjacent to the huts, which connected residential buildings, storerooms and workshops, which made it possible to move from one room to another without going outside.
Slavic houses could have several options for blocking the utility part from. This could be a single-row connection, which was called "under one horse"(that is, the household and living quarters were under one roof); two-row communication - "two horses"(the utility yard and the hut were covered with separate roofs with parallel ridges); three-row connection - "for three horses"(the hut, outbuilding and yard stood side by side and were covered with separate roofs with three parallel ridges). most often they were gable, but hip or hip-shaped roofs could also be found.
Hut - traditional dwelling of the South Slavic peoples
To some extent, a hut is akin to a hut, with the difference that more solid and insulated huts were built mainly in the northern regions of Slavic settlements, while in the southern regions (in Ukraine, Belarus and partly in Poland) huts - lighter types - predominated . The huts could be made of wicker, logs, adobe, etc. Inside and outside, they were usually coated with clay and whitewashed. Like the hut, the hut usually had a living room with a stove, a canopy and a utility block.
The main difference between a hut and a hut is that it is built not from whole, but from half or other lumber, which is then coated with adobe - a mixture of straw, horse manure and clay. It should be noted here that adobe is not at all mandatory element huts: in more prosperous villages and in later times, huts could be upholstered with iron roofing and painted in bright colors (most often a combination of blue and white). The traditional adobe hut was coated with white clay or whitewashed with chalk outside and inside.
It is curious that by the word “hut” the Slavs meant not only the hut itself, but also its parts - there were such concepts as back and front hut. The back hut was half of the house, the windows of which overlooked the courtyard. The front hut had windows facing the street. The back and front huts were usually separated from each other using either simpler and rougher Ukrainian stove, which stood in the middle of the room, and/or a wall partition in the form of a wicker or wooden frame coated with clay. At the same time, the front hut played the role of a ceremonial room, intended for meeting guests, relaxing and placing icons, and the back one carried the economic load - food was prepared here, and in severe frosts young livestock could be warmed up. In some cases, the part of the back hut adjacent to the stove was fenced off with a separate partition and got something similar to a separate kitchen.
Usually the hut was equipped with thatch, which protected the home from snow and rain, but at the same time provided natural ventilation premises. An indispensable element of all huts were shutters that could be closed in hot and sunny weather. In rich dwellings the floor was made of planks (with a high underground), in poorer ones it was earthen. As for the materials for building walls, their choice largely depended on the natural conditions of a particular area. For example, in Ukraine, forest reserves are quite scarce, so when building houses (most often mud huts) they tried to use less wood.
The housing stock of modern Russian villages has been developing over a long period of time. In some villages and hamlets there are still dwellings built at the end and even in the middle of the 19th century; Many buildings erected at the beginning of the 20th century have been preserved. In general, in most Russian villages, houses built before the Great October Revolution make up a relatively small percentage. In order to understand the changes currently taking place in the development of traditional forms of housing, as well as the process of formation of new features of housing construction, it is necessary to give an idea of the main features of Russian rural housing, which were traced in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Characteristic features of traditional Russian housing in various regions of the country
The diverse nature of Russia, various social, economic and historical conditions contributed to the creation of different types of Russian housing, fixed in a particular territory by a certain local ethnic tradition. Along with general features, characteristic of all Russian houses, in different areas of Russian settlement there were features that manifested themselves in the position of the house in relation to the street, in the building material, in the covering, in the height and internal layout buildings, in the forms of yard development. Many local features of housing developed back in the feudal era and reflect the cultural characteristics of certain ethnographic groups.
In the middle of the 19th century. In the vast territory of Russian settlement, large areas stood out, distinguished by the characteristics of rural residential buildings. There were also smaller areas with less significant uniqueness of housing, as well as zones of distribution of mixed forms of housing.
In the northern villages of Russia - in Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Olonets, as well as in the northern districts of Tver and Yaroslavl provinces - large log buildings were erected, which included residential and utility premises in one whole, placed with a narrow end facade perpendicular to the street. A characteristic feature of the northern dwelling was the high height of the entire building. Due to the harsh northern climate, the floor of living quarters was raised above the ground to a considerable height. The crosscuts (beams) of the floor were cut into the sixth to tenth crown, depending on the thickness of the logs. The space under the floor was called the basement, or podzbitsa; it reached a significant (1.5-3 m) height and was used for various household needs: keeping poultry and young livestock, storing vegetables, food, and various utensils. Often the basement was made residential. Directly adjacent to the living quarters was a courtyard, covered with the same roof and forming a single whole with the housing (“house - courtyard”). In the covered courtyard, all utility rooms were combined into one unit under a common roof and were closely adjacent to the housing. The spread of the covered courtyard in the northern and central non-black soil provinces of Russia was due to the harsh climate and long snowy winters, which forced residential and outbuildings to be combined into one whole.
Covered courtyards in the north, as well as living quarters, were built high and arranged on two floors. The lower floor housed cattle sheds, and top floor(poveti) kept feed for livestock, household equipment, means of transportation, and various household items; small unheated log cabins were also built there - cages (gorenki), in which the family's household property was stored, and in the summer they lived married couples. Outside, an inclined log flooring was attached to the poveti - a drive-in (import). The covered courtyard was closely adjacent to the rear wall of the house, and the entire building stretched perpendicular to the street, in one line, forming a “single-row connection”, or “single-row type of development”. In northern buildings there was also a type of “two-row” building, in which the house and the covered courtyard were placed parallel, close to each other. In Zaonezhye, the so-called wallet house was widespread, in which the courtyard, built on the side, was wider than the hut and covered with one of the elongated slopes of its roof. There were also “verb-shaped” buildings, when a courtyard was added to the back and side walls of a house placed perpendicular to the street, as if enveloping the house on both sides.
On a vast territory, which included all the northern, western, eastern and central Russian provinces of the European part of Russia, as well as in the Russian villages of Siberia, housing was covered gable roof. The roof covering material depended on local capabilities. In the northern forest provinces, huts were covered with planks, shingles, and at the beginning of the 20th century, also with wood chips.
The most ancient and characteristic design of a gable roof, which survived especially for a long time in the north, was the male one (roof with a cut, a notch, on bulls, on males). In the design of such a roof, chickens served an important practical purpose - naturally curved spruce rhizomes that supported streams, or water inlets, that is, gutters into which the ends of the roof planks rested. Important constructive role they had brackets (pillows, pomochi, gaps), arranged from the outlets of the upper logs of the longitudinal walls and supporting the corners of the roof, as well as okhlupen (gielom) - a massive log, oppressing the roof shingles with its weight. All these details gave a peculiar beauty and picturesqueness to the peasant building, due to which in a number of places their construction was caused not only by practical, but also by decorative considerations. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The male roof structure is replaced by a rafter roof.
Several windows were cut on the facade of tall log huts in northern villages; The building was enlivened by a porch at the entrance to the house, a balcony on the chopped pediment and a gallery, often encircling the entire house at the window level. Using a knife and an ax, the rounded ends of chickens, flows, fells, and ohlupny were given plastic sculptural forms of animals, birds and various geometric figures; The image of a horse's head was especially characteristic.
The architectural appearance of the northern hut is extremely beautiful and picturesque. The flat plank surfaces of window frames, piers (boards used to cover the protruding ends of the roof), valances (boards running along the eaves), towels (boards covering the joint of the roof), porches, balcony gratings were decorated with flat geometric carvings (with low relief) or a slot. The intricate alternation of all kinds of cutouts with straight and circular lines, rhythmically following each other, made the carved boards of northern huts look like either lace or the ends of a towel made in the Russian folk style. The planked surfaces of northern buildings were often painted.
Dwellings were built significantly lower and smaller in size in the Upper and Middle Volga regions, in the Moscow province, the southern part of the Novgorod province, the northern districts of the Ryazan and Penza provinces, and partially in the Smolensk and Kaluga provinces. These areas are characterized by a log house on a medium or low basement. In the northern and central parts of this zone, floor cuts were cut mainly into the fourth, sixth and even seventh crown; in the south of Moscow province. and in the Middle Volga region, a low basement predominated in the dwelling: floor cuts were cut into the second or fourth crown. In some houses of the Middle Volga region in the second half of the 19th century. one could find an earthen floor, which, in all likelihood, was a consequence of the influence of housing construction by the peoples of the Volga region, who in the past were characterized by underground housing. In the villages of Nizhny Novgorod province. rich peasants built semi-houses - wooden houses on high brick basements, which were used as a storeroom, store or workshop.
In Central Russian villages, houses were placed mainly perpendicular to the street; two, three, and sometimes more windows were cut into the front facade. The materials used to cover the gable roof were planks, shingles, and straw. Directly to the house, just like in the North, a covered courtyard was attached, but it was lower than the house, consisted of one floor and did not form a single whole with the house. In the northern regions of the Upper Volga region, especially in the Trans-Volga region, higher courtyards were built, located on the same level as the house.
In Central Russian villages, courtyards were built at the back of the house according to the type of single-row building; in rich farms, verb-shaped building was often found; The two-row type of building was especially characteristic of the Upper and Middle Volga regions. At the end of the 19th century. the double-row type of connection was gradually replaced by a more rational single-row type. This was explained by the inconvenience and cumbersomeness of two-row courtyards; Due to the accumulation of moisture at the junction of the house and outbuildings, these courtyards were damp. In more southern regions, in the Volga-Kama interfluve, in the Middle Volga region, in the Penza province. The so-called “quiet courtyard” was common. The quiet building consists of two parallel rows of buildings - a house with outbuildings attached behind it, and opposite it a row of outbuildings, which in the rear part of the yard bent at a right angle and connected with the buildings of the first row. Such a yard has significant open space; this type of development refers to the “open” or “semi-closed” type of courtyard 1.
Semi-closed courtyards constitute a kind of transition zone from an indoor courtyard to an open one (a significant part of the Moscow, Vladimir, Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga provinces, and the Middle Volga region). To the south of this area, an open courtyard dominated.
The architectural appearance of Central Russian huts is also characterized by the richness and variety of decorations. As in the north, sculptural carvings were used to decorate the rounded ends of streams, chickens, and ohlupnya, but it did not have the bizarre artistic variety as in the northern huts, and was less common. The decoration of the roof of a peasant hut in the Yaroslavl, Kostroma and partly Nizhny Novgorod provinces was unique. two sculptural skates with their muzzles facing in different directions. The facades of Central Russian huts were decorated with flat triangular-recessed carvings with a pattern of rosettes or individual parts circle, which was usually accompanied by patterns of parallel elongated grooves. If in the north the main attention was paid to decorating the roof, then in middle lane First of all, the windows were decorated. In the areas adjacent to the Volga (Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, Simbirsk provinces), in the second half of the 19th century. More complex carvings with high relief and a convex rich pattern of the design (ship carving, blind carving, or chisel carving) became widespread. The ornament of relief carvings was dominated by plant patterns, as well as images of animals and fantastic creatures. Carved patterns were concentrated on the pediment of the hut; they also decorated window shutters, the ends of protruding corner logs, and gates. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. labor-intensive relief and flat carvings were supplanted by sawing carvings, which were easier to execute, spreading along with a new tool - a jigsaw, which made it possible to easily and quickly cut out a variety of end-to-end patterns. The motifs of the saw-cut ornament were very diverse.
In the northeast of Russia, in the Perm and Vyatka provinces, the housing had many features similar to northern Russian and central Russian buildings, which is explained by the settlement of these areas by immigrants from the Novgorod land and the close ties of the northeast with the Volga region and the central provinces in the XIV-XVII centuries ., and similar conditions for the development of these areas. At the same time, some specific features can be traced in the northeastern dwelling. The log dwellings of the Vyatka-Perm region stood mostly perpendicular to the street and were covered with planked gables, less often hipped roof(in more developed houses). In the northwestern districts of the region, taller and larger houses were built on a high basement and floor cuts were cut into the seventh crown; in the southern regions of the region, the height of the underground decreased and floor cuts were more often cut into the fourth and fifth crowns. For the dwellings of the Vyatka and Perm provinces, the most characteristic was the peculiar quiet development of the courtyard. These courtyards were closed when the free space of the courtyard was covered pitched roof, semi-closed and open. In some areas of the Perm province. they arranged a quiet courtyard, called “three horses,” in which the house, the open space of the courtyard and the next row of courtyard buildings were covered with three gable parallel roofs. The external facades of the north-eastern dwelling were relatively poorly decorated.
In the western provinces of Russia - in Smolensk, Vitebsk, in the southern districts of Pskov, in the southwestern districts of Novgorod province - log huts were placed on a low (Smolensk, Vitebsk province) or middle (Pskov province) basement and covered with gable thatch, less often plank roofs. Distinctive feature appearance Western Russian hut was the presence of only one window on the front facade of the house, located perpendicular to the street, and poor decoration of the front facade of the hut. Carved decorations were more common in the northwestern regions (Pskov, northern districts of Novgorod province), where the huts were taller and larger in size. In the western regions (Pskov and Vitebsk provinces) a unique type of three-row estate development was common, which can simultaneously be classified as an indoor and an open type of courtyard. In a three-row building, a covered courtyard was closely adjacent to the blank side wall of the house (similar to a type of double-row connection), while on the other side of the house, at some distance from it (6-8 m), a number of outbuildings were built parallel to the house. The open space between the house and outbuildings was enclosed by a log fence. In the housing of the western provinces, features similar to the housing of the Belarusians and the peoples of the eastern Baltic regions can be traced (planizba, the presence of a hanging boiler near the stove, the construction of a log house from beams, terminology, etc.), which was a consequence of ancient historical and ethnocultural ties of the population of these areas with their western neighbors . For almost four centuries (XIV-XVII centuries) the Smolensk lands were under the rule of Lithuania, and then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
A unique type of Russian housing developed in the southern black earth provinces - Kaluga, Oryol, Kursk, Voronezh, Tambov, Tula, and in the southern districts of Ryazan and Penza provinces. Here small log huts, often coated on the outside with clay, and later adobe, arched and brick low huts without a basement with a wooden, and more often adobe or earthen floor, were built. The houses were placed with the long side along the street and covered with a hipped thatched roof truss structure. Low southern Russian huts were less picturesque and poorer in architectural decoration. One or two windows were cut through on the front facade of the hut. To protect against summer heat and strong steppe winds, shutters were almost always installed at the windows. Brick houses often decorated with complex bright patterns of painted different colors bricks, as well as relief patterns laid out from turned bricks.
In the southern provinces of Russia it was widespread open type yard The courtyard buildings were located behind the house and formed a closed, open space in the center. In Ryazan, Penza, Tula, a significant part of Oryol, Kursk, Voronezh, and also in Smolensk provinces. A closed “round” courtyard was common, which differed from the resting one mainly in the longitudinal position of the house to the street. In the southern part steppe zone- in the southern districts of Kursk, Voronezh, and partly Saratov provinces, as well as in the region of the Don Army, in the Kuban and Terek regions, in the Stavropol province, among the Russians of Central Asia, an open, unenclosed courtyard was common. The open space in this courtyard occupied a significant area, on which, without of a certain order, not always adjacent to each other, various outbuildings were located separately from the house. The entire space of the yard was usually enclosed by a fence. Character traits dwellings - low underground huts, free development of residential and outbuildings, an abundance of straw as building material and a significantly lower value of the tree - arose in the conditions of the forest-steppe and steppe zone with dry soils and a relatively warm climate.
The residential buildings of the prosperous lower Don Cossacks presented a sharp contrast to the low southern Russian housing. Already in the middle of the 19th century. Two-story multi-room houses on a high basement were common here. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. two types of houses were built there - “ round house"(close to square in plan), multi-room under a hip roof, and an "outbuilding" - a house rectangular shape under a gable roof. The houses were made from tetrahedral beams, sheathed on the outside with planks and covered with iron or plank roofs. It was typical for Cossack houses big number large windows with paneled shutters and a variety of architectural details. Open galleries, porches, balconies and terraces, decorated with openwork saw-cut carvings, gave the buildings a specifically southern flavor. In the same villages, most of the non-resident population and the poorest strata of the Cossacks lived in small oblong adobe and arched houses under hipped thatch or reed roofs.
Among the Kuban and Terek Cossacks and among the peasants of the Stavropol region in the middle of the 19th century. the predominant buildings were reminiscent of low Ukrainian huts - adobe and turluch, whitewashed on the outside, oblong in plan, without a basement, with an adobe floor, under a hipped thatch or reed roof. A similar type of dwelling, brought to Kuban at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. immigrants from Ukraine, influenced the entire national construction of Kuban, Terek and Stavropol. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. in the eastern and to a lesser extent in the western regions of the Kuban, wealthy Cossack households also began to build “round”, multi-room houses, which were slightly lower and fewer houses grassroots Cossacks. The spread of a more advanced type of housing occurred both under the influence of developing capitalism and under the direct influence of Don traditions, since the eastern regions of the Kuban were populated to a large extent by the Don Cossacks. The housing of the Terek Cossacks developed under a certain influence of neighboring mountain peoples, for example, “mountain sakli” - huts - were erected in Cossack estates; carpets, felts and other items of mountain household utensils were used in living quarters.