Final answer:
Archaic domestic architecture involved materials like mud bricks and reeds, with designs focused on central rooms and courtyards for cooling and privacy. Wealthier homes had additional rooms and decorative elements, and Roman atrium houses were notable for their layout. Earlier forms of shelter were more temporary and made from readily available natural materials.
Step-by-step explanation:
Archaic domestic architecture varied based on culture and geographic location. In Mesopotamia, families built their own homes using mud bricks, wooden doors, and reeds, often with a central room surrounded by smaller ones. Thick walls were essential for insulation against heat. The introduction of courtyards in the Ubaid period provided natural cooling and continued into modern Iraqi architecture. In the communities of the Babylonians, commoners lived in simple, windowless mud-brick homes, while the wealthier citizens had larger houses with central courtyards, multiple rooms, and plastered walls. Roman homes were designed around an atrium and featured various rooms, with the wealthy having elaborately decorated spaces, often with frescoes.
Further east, the typical Jomon house in Japan evolved from circular to square or rectangular structures with an improved roof support system and indoor fire pits. In the context of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest of America, common structures included single-story Hall and Parlor houses and two-story I-houses, which are believed to be archetypal European folk houses. Evidence from ancient Rome shows a similar pattern of atrium houses with multiple stories and specific functional rooms like the fauces and the tablinum.
Palaces, derivative of domestic architecture, displayed greater complexity, size, and decorations such as courtyards for practical and ceremonial uses. However, earlier shelters, like the ones made by Paleolithic humans, were less permanent, often using materials like stones, sticks, and mammoth bones.