ABSTRACT
In terms of continuity and innovation, the vernacular is clearly the prime example of continuity; an innovatory vernacular is a contradiction in terms. The vernacular is a prime but certainly not the only example of survival over a long period. The funerary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari on the Nile dating from 1511-1480 B.C., designed by her architect Senmut, uses what can best be described as proto-Doric columns. A thousand years later the Doric column is widely used in classical Greek architecture, is modified by the Etruscans, is employed by the Romans in Italy and elsewhere and becomes one of the characteristic features of neo-classicism in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The form shows extraordinary tenacity over three and a half thousand years.
