Theme:
1. The Material Record: Current Trends and Future Directions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Residential Building Techniques with Wood and Daub in Prehistory: What We Find and What We Reconstruct
Content:
Architecture, or the practice of building houses, encompasses a range of related activities, such as the consensus reached of where and what to build, preparing the building site by felling trees and levelling the ground, supplying construction timber for crafting various parts of the house, excavating foundation trenches or postholes, obtaining and refining clay for the home's walls and other elements. After the structure was completed, it may have required repairs to its walls and roof. The hearths or ovens would have needed periodic renewal in their original position or occasional reposition to another room or location. In temperate European regions during prehistory, wood and daub were primary construction materials. Prehistoric house-building techniques share common aspects with traditional, vernacular architecture, and therefore can enhance our comprehension of prehistoric building techniques and the remains of prehistoric houses and structures unearthed in excavations. The session will focus on the construction techniques and raw materials used for building in prehistoric temperate Europe. The aspects covered will include the evidence we have for the types of wood used, the traces and techniques of woodworking, the choice of raw materials and their preparation for building in daub. While the focus remains on direct evidence recovered during excavations, additional insights from vernacular architecture, ethnoarchaeology or scientific analyses of the building materials retrieved can be gleaned. We welcome a diverse range of contributions spanning from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, encompassing various forms of settlements and architectural styles. These may include, but are not limited to, flatland sites, settlement mounds and wetland sites, with a specific focus on building processes and techniques, as well as materials that were used. We invite contributions that consider relevant features from archaeological excavations, based on the scientific analysis of building remains, as well as a broader perspective including ethnoarchaeological approaches.
Keywords:
building methods, wood and daub, chaîne opératoire, reconstructions
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Klara Pusztaine Fischl (Hungary) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Tobias Kienlin (Germany) 3
Marian Lie (Romania) 4
Jana Anvari (Germany) 3
Affiliations:
1. HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities Institute of Archaeology
2. University of Miskolc Institute of Archaeology
3. Universität zu Köln Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte
4. Institute of Archaeology Iași, Romanian Academy
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