In architecture, a socle is a short plinth used to support a pedestal, sculpture, or column. In English, the term tends to be most used for ...
[Read more]
the bases for rather small sculptures, with plinth or pedestal preferred for larger examples. This is not the case in French.
In the field of archaeology this term refers to a wall base, frequently of stone, that supports the upper part of the wall, which is made of a different material – frequently mudbrick. This was a typical building practice in ancient Greece, resulting in the frequent preservation of the plans of ancient buildings only in their stone-built lower walls, as at the city of Olynthos. A very early example is the two-storey fortified House of the Tiles at Lerna in the Peloponnese, built of mud-brick over a stone socle, with much use of wood, and clay for the floors and as stucco for the walls. This dates to the Early Helladic II, of four thousand years ago.
