ABSTRACT
Caves were the first dwelling of humans and his experience with architecture. However one needs to make a distinction between natural and manmade caves. The practice of creating buildings and other structures by carving natural rock is known as rock-cut or cliff architecture which differs from normal architecture in that the type and quality of material being used cannot be chosen. Hence the freedom available in normal architecture does not exist. Based on construction type, cliff architecture can be classified into several main groups. Studying these dwellings provides a historic insight and information on the evolution of culture, art and architecture of different eras. This paper aims to review the different types of underground structures in addition to the historic background and architecture of some ancient underground dwellings in Iran.
