INDIAN HOMES

Each culture area had their own type of home. Indians used the natural resources around them to make their home. For instance, if they lived in or near the forests, they would use wood for their homes. This is why different cultures of Indians had different types of homes. Below are different types of Indian homes and descriptions of each.

Native Americans had different styles based upon their environment and lifestyle. Styles included: tepees (or tipis), hogans, adobe houses, long houses, wigwams (or wikkiups). Most of these appear to be rather simplistic in design.

However, It should be noted that some of the ancient civilizations, the dwellings of the Anasazis, for example, were quite intricate in structure and accommodations. The residents lived in a huge semicircular masonry structure that covered over three acres and was built around a central plaza. The entire complex rose four or five stories high in the outermost ring and was contained in the front by a wall. Another major Anasazi find for archeologists was the ruins of Mesa Verde, a 20 mile long stretch of land perched on cliffsides 1,000 to 2,000 feet above Colorado countryside. it is cut into numerous fingershape plateaus by rugged canyons.

Tepees (or tipis): The name tepee is derived from a Dakota word meaning a place where one lives. Developed by Indians of the northern forests, the tepee was crafted from a pole frame then covered with birchbark, caribou hides or other materials. The basic structure was then adapted by nomadic Plains tribes, who strengthened the frame against strong winds and sewed buffalo hides together for the covering. Since the Plains Indians were constantly on the move, their homes had to be readily transportable.   The supporting poles were lashed to the sides of a horse and the other pieces dragged along the ground forming a kind of triangle. The buffalo hide covering as well as most of the family's other belongings were then carried off to the new location by the horse. This transport system was called a travois.

The tepee was the home of the Plains Indians. The frame of the tepee was made of long wooden poles pointed together and fastened at the top. The bottoms were spread out to form a circle. This was covered with a tent of animal skins which fastened to the ground. These Indians would often paint decorations on the outside of the teepee. The Plains Indians would have a fireplace inside the tepee. This form of home could quickly be taken down when the Plains Indians moved to follow the buffalo.

Hogans: Used by the Navajos, these were cone shaped structures made on a wooden frame around a log tripod surrounded by polesred theirs with grass.

The Navajo tribe in New Mexico and Arizona built hogans. Hogans have six sides built from wood poles and adobe.(mud). There was one room in the hogan and the doorway faced to the east. Beautiful Navajo rugs covered the doorway. There was a hole in the roof so smoke from the fires could escape.

Adobe Houses (or pueblos): Although the word is Spanish in nature meaning sun-dried bricks composed of clay and straw, or refers to a building made of those items, Indians were using these materials to construct homes long before the Spanish arrived in the Americas. Indians used adobe to construct compact, terraced, multi-story apartment-like homes.

The Indians of the Southwest Culture lived in apartment-style buildings. These buildings were made of adobe, clay and vegetables dried in the sun. This type of home was especially good for areas that had very little rainfall and a hot desert climate. Many families lived in each apartment. As families grew, rooms were added on top of the rooms that were already there. Families slept on rugs or animal skins. The word "pueblo" is not a native word. It means town in spanish. "Pueblo" is used for both the houses and the people who live in them. Other Native Americans that live in pueblos are the Hopi and the Zuni. Today, some Native Americans still live in pueblos.

Long Houses: The Iroquois built wooden structures 50 to 100 feet long which could house as many as 12 families. They cleared the land nearest to a river to provide an area for cultivation, to easily see raiders and to use the wood for fuel and building. Along one side of the house was a ground-level platform which served as a kind of bunk bed where men, women and children slept together. Another platform was used for storage of pots, kettles, weapons and so forth. On nearby walls and rafters hung dried fruits and vegetables, tobacco and roots. The central corridor of the house is where all the cooking and socializing took place. Privacy was achieved by lowering "curtains" between compartments on the sleeping platform.

The homes of the Eastern Woodland Indians were called longhouses. Like the homes of the Northwest Culture, these were rectangular homes with barrel shaped roofs. As their name states, these homes were very long. The outsides of these homes were made of wooden frames with bark sewn together to cover them. Families shared these homes also. The insides had a long hallway with rooms for each family on each side. There were low platforms for the families to sleep on, and higher platforms for storing goods, baskets, and pelts. The Woodland Indians lived in wigwams and longhouses. The Iroquois, Cherokee and Mound Builders were important Woodland tribes.

People who lived in the Pacific Northwest lived in cedar plank longhouses. Boards were cut from cedar trees to build the large houses. Many families of the same clan lived in each house. There were no windows, one door, and a hole in the roof to let the smoke from fires out. Beautiful clan symbols were sometimes painted on the outside. Huge totem poles telling the story of the clan were placed in front.

Wooden lodges:The Northwest Indian Culture was in what is today the states of Washington, Oregon, and northern California. Many small tribes such as the the Makah, the Chinook, and the Tillamook lived in this culture area. The tribes in this culture were much smaller than the other cultures.The Indians in the Northwest Culture lived in wooden lodges.

Every home was made of wood.The homes themselves were quite large. They were built for more than one family. There is evidence of houses that were over 1,000 feet long--big enough for the whole village. The houses were built with frames of large trees. These were then covered with wooden planks that overlapped to keep out the wet weather. There were no windows, but there was a hole in the roof that let in air.. Outside of each home was a totem pole.The totem pole was considered a very important part of the lodge. Some lodges even had totem poles decorated on the inside beams of their homes. Each lodge had a different totem pole. The inside of the house also had carved posts if the family was an important one.

Some woodland people, especially of the Algonquin family, lived in wigwams.

Wigwams (or wikkiups): Wigwams were built like longhouses but they were much smaller. Only one family lived in a wigwam.  Built by the Eastern Algonquins, these structures were oval, dome shaped frames of wood that were covered with bark, cattail stalks, or woven mats which could then be raised to let in light. They stripped sapling trees of their branches, bark and foliage then bent them over so they could tie them together to form a series of arches. The tribes who used wigwams tended to move around often to good hunting grounds. These kind of people were called hunters and gatherers.  Apaches also favored this style of lodging.