Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
h e other method of raising up heavy burdens is to clean lit them into posi-
tion by ropes and pulleys (block and tackle). All surviving evidence indicates this
procedure was only introduced during the 6th Century BC by Classical (Archaic)
Greek builders, presumably under the stimulus of a nautical background. h e
economy and rapidity of clean lit ing ousted ramps and levering except in special
circumstances.
Subsequently only one major type of building installation was developed. h is
was the curved proi le timber staging erected to position and support arcuated
(vaulted) rooi ng during construction. It appeared in Greece during the 4th Century
BC for ashlar stone masonry construction, but continued to be used for rubble,
concrete and brick construction. h is was the counterpart to building arcuated
rooi ng in brick and stone by way of corbelling or pitched brick construction
known from earlier times.
h e history of installations for building parallels that of tools. h e most replete
building can be constructed with virtually no tools or installations. Yet on the other
hand when building construction required sophisticated tools and installations,
they were available surprisingly early in the history of building.
As predisposed by these factors the signii cant items in the history of ancient
building construction may be resumed as follows.
Initial Development of Solid Load Bearing Construction
Of recent years much has been published concerning building in Late Palaeolithic
times (or even earlier v Vol. I). Some of it has the doctrinaire aim of reducing the
“myth of the caveman”. Where there is any coherent account of building con-
struction it is dii cult to imagine anything more than temporary framed shelters
(tents or cabins). h e subject, in fact, pertains more to archaeology than to build-
ing construction.
h e account of building construction (as it is presently known) begins in the
Ancient Middle East in Early Neolithic times somewhere about 10,000 years ago.
In it can be traced a development from a sunken shelter (pit dwelling) protected
from encroachment by a barrier wall and shielded from the elements by an
independently supported canopy into a solid load bearing structure with walls of
mud brick and/or i eld stones supporting either a corbelled roof or a mud terrace
roof on wooden bearers. h is might pass for a description of the construction of
a rudimentary domestic dwelling in the region down to the Second World War.
In one sustained historical process evolved all that was necessary to construct a
stable weatherproof domestic dwelling place adequate for the elemental needs of
human society for many thousands of years. h is was the work of an individualist
and inventive age unfettered by traditions or by all pervading authority.
