We take pride in building, organizing, and decorating the place we call home. Some dwellings last and others are abandoned for reasons unknown.

Dwellings I came across during my travels were the result of searches triggered by some random reading and some I came across by chance. 

One such read was a book “At Home†by Bill Bryson. It took me to Skara Brae, a Neolithic settlement in the Orkney Islands in Scotland. As the photograph in the gallery suggests, this 5,000-year-old settlement had an all-modern sense of domesticity. Why it was abandoned remains a mystery. Was the abandonment gradual or sudden? We do not know.

A similar phenomenon is seen at Gobekli Tepe in Urfa, Turkey. The monument was built between 9,600 and 8,200 BCE by hunter-gatherers. The structure was, probably, both a dwelling and a “templeâ€. Claiming to be the first permanent human settlement, it was a huge transition from hunter gatherers to farming communities. The complex, however, was abandoned and covered up around 8,000 BCE and we do not yet know why.

The Hadza people of Tanzania are among the last hunter-gatherers who still exist today. Genetically they are not closely related to any other people. The domed dwellings of the Hadza, are made from tree branches for the framework and grass for shelter. But grass is getting scarce. Cattle grazing has started to encroach on the land. Survival is becoming increasingly expensive and difficult. It will not be long before the last of these people are lost.

Over time the way we build has changed. We see the nuraghes, stone structures of Sardinia, standing by virtue of their weight. We see buildings around Wadi Rum, carved out of stone, giving an impression of habitability. Functionality underwent some changes too. Some dwellings are merely utilitarian, others are visually appealing, sometimes making an artistic statement, and sometimes being just plain loud or reminding us that we are not infallible.

Having spent time trying to understand this aspect of our lives, I believe dwellings may not necessarily reflect “domesticity†or a “haven against the siege of the outer world.†Dwellings also tend to offer other diverse messages – playfulness, social injustice, strength in our differences, natural creative instincts, beautifying the world outside as well as inside and of course a place to come back to.