Excavations at a variety of sites in Europe dated to prior to 12,000 bce program circular rings of stones that are thought to have formed part of such shelters. They might have braced crude huts made of wood poles or have actually weighted down the walls of camping tents made from animal skins, probably supported by central poles.
The tent produces a membrane to shed rain and snow; cold water on the human skin absorbs temperature. The membrane minimizes wind speed too; air over the human skin likewise promotes heat loss. It controls heat transfer by keeping out the hot rays of the sun and confining heated air in cold weather condition.
The membrane needs to be supported versus the forces of gravity and wind; a structure is essential. Membranes of hides are strong in stress (tensions enforced by stretching forces), but poles should be included to take compression (stresses enforced by compacting forces). Certainly, much of the history of construction is the search for more advanced services to the same standard problems that the camping tent was set out to solve.
The Saudi Arabian goats' hair camping tent, the Mongolian yurt with its collapsible wood frame and felt coverings, and the American Indian tepee with its multiple pole supports and double membrane are more refined and elegant descendants of the crude shelters of the early hunter-gatherers. I Found This Interesting farming transformation, dated to about 10,000 bce, offered a significant impetus to building and construction.
Residences started to be more permanent. Historical records are scanty, but in the Middle East are discovered the remains of entire villages of round dwellings called tholoi, whose walls are made of packed clay; all traces of roofs have actually vanished. In Europe tholoi were built of dry-laid stone with domed roofings; there are still enduring examples (of more recent building and construction) of these beehive structures in the Alps.
Still later the circular type was dropped in favour of the rectangle as residences were divided into more spaces and more houses were positioned together in settlements. The tholoi marked an essential step in the search for toughness; they were the start of masonry building. Evidence of composite building and construction of clay and wood, the so-called wattle-and-daub approach, is likewise found in Europe and the Middle East.