Timgad vs. Pikillacta

This particular blog post covers different structural aspects of the sites of Pikillacta and Thamugadi (Timgad) and how the regions' layouts reflect their political and societal values.

Pikillacta served as a major administrative node in the Wari Empire, most likely as a provincial or regional capital. Like Thamugadi (Timgad), Pikillacta was also set up in a rigid, grid-like manner and furthermore the NE side of the site is higher in elevation than the SW side, and the ground rises and falls throughout the site. This I assume was for defensive purposes: like what we see at the citadel at Tiryns, Greece, where one side is higher to allow for a lookout, Pikillacta also follows a similar structural setup. Having the one side higher allows for Pikillacta’s inhabitants to have a better view of its attacker, and also it has a social hierarchy because being higher up is a sign of dominance, and was especially so at that time. 

 

                                  [Fig. 1] - Plan of Timgad                           [Fig. 2] - Plan of Pikillacta 

[Fig. 3] - Aerial view of Timgad 

Additionally, since Timgad and Pikillacta were set up in an orthogonal grid-like manner (as we see in [Fig. 1] and [Fig. 2]), they were pre-planned sites, as opposed to being more organic like at Rome for example which was organized in a more random manner. Later we see Rome’s colonies being more organized. Rome also expanded more because it became more socially strong, similar to at Timgad because the site, according to later excavations expanded itself. Also like what we see in Greece, Pikillacta has massive walls that are very constricting and it also only has two routes that approach the site. This might imply that the Wari Empire at that time wanted to maintain control over its occupants. 

                                        
                                                   [Fig. 4] - Walls within Pikillacta Complex

The confinement of the walls (as seen in [Fig. 4]) also allowed a certain processional flow in which occupants would have to travel in certain directions throughout the complex because of the way the structures were situated. Thus, this is another implication that the structures at Pikillacta induced certain social hierarchies between the occupants and those ruling over them. Timgad, as we can see in [Fig. 4], had several entrances to the site, which also might imply that their military program was more advanced than at somewhere like Pikillacta because it had more areas to defend and thus it might have been more advanced in terms of defence. 

Bibliography:

McEwan, Gordon F. “Archeological Investigations at Pikillacta: A Wari Site in Peru.” Journal of Field Archeology 23, no. 2 (1996): 169-186. 

Libre delle case...

This particular blog post focuses on a particular aspect of Rome and Roman buildings: Archival books documenting information on structure and the structures' history.

Roman institutions since the mid sixteenth century have kept inventories of buildings produced by the pious institutions of Rome including hospitals, and convents, which are based on initial plans, and later elevations to the structures. These inventories are referred to as the libre delle case. The introduction of these plans document a fundamental change in how the city of Rome was understood - it was thus far seen more as a continuous spatial field. 

At a time when real estate market was booming, these documents were very informative and gave a sense of the function of the building and even those who rented the buildings. These inscriptions along with the plans made the book like a mini archive. Later in the eighteenth-century, the book, also known as the house book of the Annunziata achieved an even greater appreciation because the "visual" plans allowed for easier categorization of structures in Rome. 

A particularly interesting Roman building is the Villa Valmarana at Lisiera, [Fig. 1]. This particular image is found in the text On Architecture (1570). It included relevant information including dimensions of the building on a separate page, and the actual building plan. 

The appearance of the house plans was very beneficial especially with Rome's growing real estate market. With the increase in population from around 40,000 in 1513 to 122,000 in 1655, and the fact that most people lived in rented accommodations, the house books transformed the way property was being leased because at that time. 

In conclusion, these house books were not only informative in terms of the buildings' aspects, they were also considered real estate catalogues. They give a description of the physical forms of the buildings, rental history, and payment of rent. This greater detail reflects the importance of the houses and it is also part of a general systematization of the administration of the institutions.

Bibliography

Friedman, David. “Visual Documents, Property Archives, and the Map of the City of Rome: 1563-1712.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 71, no. 3 (September 2012): 268-269.