Medieval longhouses were the traditional homes of people living during the Middle Ages in many parts of Europe. They were long, rectangular buildings, usually made of wood and divided into two parts, the “hall” and the “house”.
The hall was the public area that extended the length of the building, while the house was the private area, divided into multiple small rooms. People of all classes lived in longhouses, though wealthier families usually had larger, more elaborate homes.
Generally, the head of the family and his crew would occupy the hall, while the women and children would live in the house. The house was often divided into three distinct rooms: a clean area for cooking and eating, a sleeping area for all family members, and a corner for storage.
Although the longhouse served as a home for many people, it also served other purposes, such as hosting feasts, celebrations, and trade. Depending on the family and their wealth, longhouses ranged in size from large and grand mansions to low-ceilinged one-room dwellings.
Overall, longhouses were dwelling places where extended families and servants lived and worked in a close-knit, communal atmosphere.
How many families lived in a longhouse?
The exact number of families who could inhabit a longhouse would depend on the tribe who built it and the region in which it was located. Generally speaking, many longhouses were large enough to comfortably accommodate between 10 and 20 families.
Larger longhouses were known to house up to 60 families, although this was quite rare. Most longhouses were usually divided into sections, each of which was inhabitated by a single family. The structure of the longhouse and the number of families it could support were usually determined by its overall size.
For example, a longhouse measuring around 30 metres in length might be divided into six sections and comfortably accommodate 11 to 20 families, including the longhouse chief’s family.
What was inside longhouses?
Longhouses were dwellings built by Native Americans, generally of the Northeastern Woodlands tribes including the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes. Inside longhouses, a single family lived with their extended family and usually other family members or friends.
They were built with wooden frames and were usually covered with woven mats or bark. Inside the longhouse, there would be a firepit in the middle which was used for both heat and light. Around the fire would be a raised platform of earth, stumps, and logs, often covered with mats or skins, which served as seating areas.
These platforms could also be used for sleeping and storage. Beds were commonly made of bark or animal skins and placed near the walls of the longhouse. Pottery bowls and baskets were used as storage containers while cloth and animal skins served as clothing and blankets.
There would be wild game, berries, fish, and roots to cook, as well as a variety of tools and weapons. Art was often used to decorate the longhouse and tell stories.
What houses did Vikings live in?
The Vikings lived in a variety of houses depending on where they were located and what resources they had access to. Most of the homes were constructed from wood and turf and were generally single-roomed and windowless.
The building styles were simple, but the houses were designed to take advantage of the elements to stay warm and dry. Large homes were usually divided into small, connected rooms for different purposes.
In the warmer climates, some Vikings built houses with a frame of wooden posts and a thatched roof of grass or reeds. In the northern climates, the roofs were made from sod, and the walls were covered with a mixture of stone, turf, and wood.
In Scandinavia, the typical Viking house was known as a “longhouse” and measured up to 80 feet long and 18 feet wide. The walls and roof of these buildings were made of thin timber poles or logs filled in with a thick layer of waterproof clay.
Viking homes also often had stone benches around the walls where people would sit and the fire would be placed in the center of the room.
Why did the Mohawk tribe live in longhouses?
The Mohawk tribe is a nation of Indigenous people who originally lived in what is now known as the Northeastern part of the United States and Eastern Canada. The Mohawk tribe has been living in longhouses since before Europeans arrived in North America.
Longhouses were the traditional homes of many Native American tribes, including the Mohawk. Mohawk longhouses were large rectangular buildings made of wooden poles, covered with elm bark and other materials.
The typical longhouse was around 30-50 feet wide and up to 150 feet long, with arched roofs.
Longhouses provided shelter from the many harsh winters of the northeast and could hold up to 60 people. They also provided a communal living space that could hold extended families and neighbors. As complex societies, the Mohawk relied on longhouses for everything from meeting places for social and religious gatherings to the spaces in which food was cooked and stored.
Longhouses were much larger than the single-family dwellings used by many European cultures, and permitted whole families and extended kin to live together. In this way, they provided a structure that allowed the Mohawk to maintain their complex social network of extended families and clans.
The structure of these longhouses also provided a sense of privacy because families had their own area. Being able to rely on the network of extended family and friends was of great importance to the Mohawk.
Ultimately, the longhouse provided a sense of community and kinship among the Mohawk people. The shape of the longhouse symbolized the Mohawk’s long-maintained ideology of belonging.
What are long houses used for?
Long houses, also known as longhouses or long halls, are an architectural form of houses used by indigenous peoples of North America, especially in the Northwest Pacific Coast, the Plateau, the Plains, and the Northeast Woodlands regions.
These large Wooden structures, built from logs and held together by ties and mud, are also found in other parts of the world, such as Scandinavia, Central and South America, and Korea. The structures were used by a single family or several related families, and often held up to dozens of people.
Long houses were designed to be self-sufficient dwellings and had multiple uses, including domestic, religious and political activities. They were primarily used as residences, providing homes for the entire extended family.
The houses were often arranged in a linear design with the front doors facing the gardens and smoke holes in the roof serving as ventilation. Some longhouses were partitioned so that each family had their own sleeping and cooking areas.
Long houses were also used for gathering places and important fiestas. The larger houses were divided into rooms called cabins, each of which served as a separate room/function. Common rooms could include a central living/social area and separate kitchen, storage, or sleeping areas that allowed multiple activities to take place simultaneously.
Community activities could be arranged in the main room with a separate area for dining and a space for ceremonial dances and rituals.
In addition to providing shelter, long houses also played a vital role in protecting extended families from potential danger, such as floods, predators, and human raids. The large size, combined with ingenious wood and mud construction, enabled the long house to survive violent storms, standing firm against nature’s fury and providing a safe haven for the inhabitants.
Today, long house construction survives mostly as a cultural practice among some indigenous groups, allowing them to continue using the traditional methods and design of these dwellings.
Did longhouses have floors?
Yes, longhouses did have floors. In many longhouses, the floors were made of planks of wood, though other materials such as earth and stone were used in some cases. In some longhouses, the plank floors would be replaced regularly with fresh pieces of wood.
Floors were typically covered with animal hides that had been tanned and smoked, woven mats, or both. These materials helped provide insulation and reduced the amount of dirt and dust that would otherwise enter the house.
Some longhouse floors were also constructed with a pit in the center where a hearth was located. This served as the main source of heat and light and was also used for cooking.
How long did it take to build a longhouse?
It typically took about two to three weeks to construct a longhouse. The longhouses were made of large wooden beams set in postholes, usually several feet apart and intertwined with smaller sticks to provide support.
The walls were then covered in cattails, rushes, and grass and sealed with mud. Later on, planks of wood or animal skin were used as well. Once the structure was completed, longhouses were often decorated with artwork, animal totems, and religious symbols.
Once the longhouse was constructed, each extended family unit lived within their part of the longhouse and sometimes shared various tasks.
How were longhouses different from teepees?
Longhouses and teepees were two distinct types of dwellings used by different indigenous cultures throughout North America.
Longhouses were most commonly built by northeastern tribes, such as the Iroquois, while teepees were more commonly associated with Plains Indians like the Sioux, Blackfeet, and Cheyenne.
The most obvious difference between longhouses and teepees is their shape. Longhouses were usually rectangular, while teepees were conical. Longhouses were also more permanent dwellings, constructed by mortising together vertical logs and daubing the walls with a water-resistant mixture of clay and straw.
And while some longhouses could stretch up to 200 feet in length, they were generally much larger than teepees and could accommodate multiple families.
In contrast, teepees were much smaller, easily taken down and transported when needed, and made of wooden frames covered with layers of buffalo skins or hides. In addition to their smaller size, teepees were built in a circular shape that allowed smoke to easily escape from the central fire, and the suede-like material helped shed snow and keep drafts out.
In terms of their design, longhouses and teepees may have been different, but they fulfilled similar purposes. Both provided shelter, kept the elements out, and provided a safe and secure space to cook, work, and craft items using natural materials.
Ultimately, these dwellings have helped shape the cultural identities of the people who used them, and even today, both longhouses and teepees are still seen as visual reminders of the indigenous people’s nomadic lifestyle and their deep connection to the land.
Whats the definition of long house?
A long house is a type of traditional longhouse that is built by some Native American, Canadian First Nations, and Meso American indigenous cultures. The traditional long house is rectangular in shape and consists of several communal family rooms, which are occupied by more than one family.
The length of the long house typically ranges from three to five times the width. Native American longhouses are typically built using straight tree trunks as framing and are covered with Bark, mats, or woven siding.
The roof of the long house is commonly vaulted and made of bark, animal hides, or thatch. Long houses serve a variety of purposes. In addition to housing a family or group of people, the long house is also used for ceremonies and events, such as tribal councils and religious rituals.
As such, the long house has a deep significance to traditional indigenous cultures.
What are the five types of Native American houses?
The five types of Native American houses are as follows:
1. Tepee or Tipi: This was a common choice of housing throughout North America, made of wooden poles and animal skins. Tepees provided protection in a variety of climates and could be taken apart and moved with relative ease.
2. Wigwam or Wauga: These domed homes were made of saplings, wicker and grass, covered in bark, rushes, cloth and animal skins. They were smaller than tepees and usually were surrounded by a protective fence.
3. Longhouse: These were rectangular-shaped homes made from wooden frames usually covered in elm bark by the Iroquois. They were large and could house several families within its walls.
4. Earth Lodge: These were dome-shaped homes used by Plains Indians in the Great Plains region. They were constructed using wooden frames and covered with either animal skins or a type of sod from the area.
5. Hogans: These were buildings constructed by Navajo and other Southwestern tribes. They were built using wooden frames and covered with mud. They also had holes in the roof to let smoke out.
How did longhouses get their name?
Longhouses get their name from their long, rectangular shape. They were typically around 80 to 100 feet long and 20 to 30 feet wide. They were made from native materials found in the region such as bent saplings, animal hides, and bark.
These dwellings were generally inhabited by extended families and clan members and provided shelter from the elements. As these dwellings needed to be large enough to accommodate all of the inhabitants, they needed to be longer in length.
This eventually gave them their name, longhouse.
How long was a long house?
A Long House was a traditional tribal dwelling created by the Iroquois, as well as other indigenous tribes in the northeastern region of North America. Typically, these homes were constructed with a rectangular shape measuring between 60-90 feet in length, 15–18 feet in width, and 16–20 feet in height.
The framework was made of bent saplings that were covered with bark or animal hides. The structure was divided into multiple compartments and had a central fire pit running down its length. Inside, a hearth was located at one end and sleeping benches lined the walls of the house.
These dwellings could house multiple generations of a family and were used as communal meeting spaces. In addition to providing shelter, the Long House was an integral part of spiritual and cultural life in these tribes, providing a place for religious observances, socializing, and council meetings.
Who built the longhouses?
Native Americans of many different tribes built longhouses. Depending on the region, longhouses were primarily constructed by the Iroquois, Algonquian, and/or Sioux. The building of longhouses was traditionally a very communal effort with women and children often taking part in gathering materials and helping to construct the framework.
The longhouse was large enough to house multiple families and was often large enough to provide room for rituals, ceremonies, and community gatherings.
Longhouses were built using materials that were readily available in their surroundings. Trees such as hemlock and cedar were used for the framework and the walls were typically made from saplings or strips of basswood.
The structure was then covered with a thick layer of mud and the roof was constructed of bark or wooden slats covered in grass and similar vegetation. These shelters were both warm and sturdy and could often survive the cold winters.
The longhouse was used by many cultures as a primary dwelling place, providing shelter and protection for multiple individuals and extended families. While many aspects of longhouse construction varied amongst the different tribes, it was largely seen as a practical and essential form of architecture.