Difference between revisions of "Longhouse" - New World Encyclopedia

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[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
 
[[Category:Lifestyle]]
 
[[Category:Lifestyle]]
 
[[Category:Housing]]
 
[[Category:Housing]]
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[[Image:Moa-4.jpg|thumb|A [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast|Pacific Northwest Coast]]-style longhouse at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]].]]
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[[Image:Theiroquoislonghouse.png|thumb|250 px| An [[Iroquois]] longhouse]]
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A '''longhouse''' or '''long house''' is a type of long, narrow, single-room building built by peoples in various parts of the world including [[Asia]], [[Europe]] and [[North America]].
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A '''longhouse''' or '''long house''' is a type of long, narrow, single-room building built by peoples in various parts of the world. Many were built from timber and represent the earliest form of permanent structure in many [[culture]]s. Ruins of [[prehistory|prehistoric]] longhouses have been found in [[Asia]] and [[Europe]]. Numerous cultures in [[medieval]] times built longhouses. [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas]], particularly the [[Iroquois]] on the East coast and the [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]], have significant longhouse traditions which continue to this day.
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{{toc}}
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Many were built from timber and often represent the earliest form of permanent structure in many cultures. Types include the [[Neolithic long house]] of Europe, the [[Medieval]] [[Dartmoor longhouse]] and the [[Native American long house]].
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Longhouses are large structures, built with the materials available in the local environment, that can house multiple families (usually related as an [[extended family]]), or a single family with their [[livestock]]. Large longhouses can also be used for community gatherings or ceremonies. While the traditional structures were often dark, smoky, and smelly, the design is practical both in physical and social aspects.
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== The Americas ==
 
== The Americas ==
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In [[North America]] two types of longhouse were developed: The Native American long house of the tribes usually connected with the [[Iroquois]] in the northeast, and an unrelated type used by [[indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]]. The longhouse inhabited by the Iroquois was a [[bark]]-covered structure which provided shelter for several related families. Each longhouse had a [[clan]] symbol placed over the doorway.
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{{readout||right|250px|[[Native American]] longhouses serve a symbolic as well as practical purpose}}
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In [[North America]] two types of longhouse were developed: The [[Native American]] longhouse of the tribes usually connected with the [[Iroquois]] in the northeast, and the type used by [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]]. The [[South America]]n [[Tucano people]] also live in multifamily longhouses.
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[[Image:Long House Iroquois Allen.jpg|thumb|Later day Iroquois longhouse housing several hundred people]]
 
 
[[Image:Powhatan john smith map.jpg|thumb|Interior of a longhouse with [[Chief Powhatan]] (detail of John Smith map, 1612)]]
 
[[Image:Powhatan john smith map.jpg|thumb|Interior of a longhouse with [[Chief Powhatan]] (detail of John Smith map, 1612)]]
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[[Image:Long House Iroquois Allen.jpg|thumb|250 px|Later day Iroquois longhouse housing several hundred people]]
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===Iroquois and other East Coast longhouses===
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[[Tribe]]s or [[ethnic group]]s in the northeast of North America, south and east of [[Lake Ontario]] and [[Lake Erie]] that had traditions of building longhouses include the [[Iroquois]] Confederacy (''Haudenosaunee'' which means "people of the longhouse") originally of the Five Nations [[Seneca tribe|Seneca]], [[Cayuga tribe|Cayuga]], [[Onondaga (tribe)|Onondaga]], [[Oneida tribe|Oneida]], and [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]] and later including the [[Tuscarora]]. Archaeological evidence shows that Iroquois longhouse construction dates to at least 1100 C.E.<ref>Lee Sultzman, [http://tolatsga.org/iro.html Iroquois History]. Retrieved July 29, 2011.</ref> Other East Coast tribes that lived in longhouses include the [[Wyandot]] and [[Erie (tribe)|Erie]] tribes, as well as the [[Pamunkey]] in [[Virginia]]. Some [[Algonquian]] tribes, such as the [[Lenni Lenape]] and the [[Mahican]], built longhouses in addition to [[wigwam]]s, using the longhouses for council meetings.<ref name=atlas>Carl Waldman, ''Atlas of the North American Indian'' (New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0816068593), 59.</ref>
  
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'''Longhouses''' were and are built by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|native peoples]] in various parts of [[North America]], sometimes reaching over 100 meters long (330 ft) but generally around 5 to 7 meters wide (16-23 ft). The construction method was also different: the dominant theory is that walls were made of sharpened and fire-hardened poles (up to 1,000 saplings for a 50 meter house) driven into the ground and the roof consisted of leaves and grass. Strips of bark were then woven horizontally through the lines of poles to form more or less weatherproof walls with doors usually in one end of the house, although doors also were built into sides of especially long longhouses. They were long and sometimes had fireplaces that kept them warm.
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Longer than they were wide (hence their English name), the Iroquois longhouses had openings at both ends that served as doors and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. A typical longhouse was about {{convert|80|ft|m}} long by {{convert|20|ft|m}} wide by {{convert|20|ft|m}} high and served as a multi-family dwelling. They might be added to as the [[extended family]] grew.  
  
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===Iroquois and other East Coast longhouses===
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The components for constructing a longhouse were readily available in the forests. Small trees (saplings) with straight trunks were cut and their [[bark]] stripped to make the framework for the walls. Strong but flexible trees were used while still green to make the curved rafters. The straight poles were set in the ground and supported by horizontal poles along the walls. Strips of bark lashed the poles together. The roof was made by bending a series of poles, resulting in an arc-shaped roof.<ref>New York State Museum, [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/constructiontwo.html Longhouses]. Retrieved July 29, 2011.</ref> The frame was covered by large pieces of bark about {{convert|4|ft|m}} wide by {{convert|8|ft|m}} long, sewn in place and layered as shingles, and reinforced by light poles. There were centrally located firepits and the smoke escaped through ventilation openings, later singly dubbed as a [[smoke hole]], positioned at intervals along the roofing of the longhouse.<ref name=atlas/>
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The [[Iroquois]] ('''Haudenosaunee''' or '''People of the Longhouses''') who lived in [[New York]] and [[Ontario]] built and lived in longhouses. Longer than they were wide, these longhouses had openings at both ends that served as doors and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. On average a typical longhouse was about {{convert|80|ft|m}} long by {{convert|18|ft|m}} wide by {{convert|18|ft|m}} high (24 x 5.5 x 5.5 m) and was meant to house up to twenty or more families.  Poles were set in the ground and supported by horizontal poles along the walls. The roof is made by bending a series of poles, resulting in an arc-shaped roof. The frame is covered by bark,and twigs that is sewn in place and layered as shingles, and reinforced by light poles.
 
  
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In an Iroquois longhouse there may have been 20 or more families which were all related through the mothers' side, along with the other relatives.  
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The longhouses were divided into sections for different families, who slept on raised platforms, several of whom shared a fire in the central aisle. In an Iroquois longhouse there may have been twenty or more families which were all related through the mothers' side, along with the other relatives. Each longhouse had their [[clan]] symbol, a turtle, bear, or hawk, for example, placed over the doorway. Several longhouses constituted a village, which was usually located near water and surrounded by a palisade of tall walls made from sharpened logs for protection.
  
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[[Missionaries]] who visited these longhouses often wrote about how dark the interior of the dwelling was.
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Longhouses were temporary structures that were typically used for a decade or two. A variety of factors, both environmental and social, would lead to a relocation of the settlement and construction of new longhouses.<ref> John Ferguson, [http://www.iroquoismuseum.org/longhous.htm Longhouses and Archaeology], presentation by Dean Snow, April 27, 1995. Retrieved July 29, 2011.</ref>
  
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At the outer regions of the woodland housing locality were inviolable protective palisades that stood fourteen to sixteen feet high safeguarding the housing region from foreign nations and wild animals.
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The Haudenosaunee view the longhouse as a symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy, which extended like one large longhouse across their territory. The [[Mohawk]] who lived in the eastern end of the territory are the "Keepers of the Eastern Door" and the [[Seneca]] who live in the west, the "Keepers of the Western Door." Representing the Five Nations, five (later six to include the [[Tuscarora]]) ventilation holes were created in the roof of each longhouse.  
  
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Ventilation openings, later singly dubbed as a [[smoke hole]] were positioned at intervals possibly totaling five to six along the roofing of the long house.
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Today, with the adoption of the single family home, longhouses are no longer used as dwellings but they continue to be used as meeting halls, [[theater]]s, and places of [[worship]].
  
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Tribes or ethnic groups in the northeast of North America, south and east of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie that had traditions of building longhouses are, among others, the [[Iroquois]] Confederacy (Haudenosaunee) including the Five Nations [[Seneca tribe|Seneca]], [[Cayuga tribe|Cayuga]], [[Onondaga (tribe)|Onondaga]], [[Oneida tribe|Oneida]] and [[Mohawk nation|Mohawk]]. Also the [[Wyandot]] and  [[Erie (tribe)|Erie]]. Another large group that built longhouses, among others, were the [[Lenni Lenape]], living from the lower Hudson river, along the Delaware river and on both sides of the Delaware Bay, and the [[Pamunkey]] of the maybe-related [[Powhattan|Powhattan Confederacy]] in Virginia.
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The [[Longhouse Religion]], known as The Code of Handsome Lake or Gaihwi:io (Good Message in Seneca and Onondaga), was founded in 1799 by the Seneca Chief [[Handsome Lake]] (Ganioda'yo) who designated the longhouse structure as their place of worship.
  
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Today, with the adoption of the single family home, longhouses are no longer used as dwellings, but continue to be used as meeting halls, [[theater]]s, and places of [[worship]].
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===Northwest Coast longhouses===
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[[Image:Moa-4.jpg|thumb|A longhouse with [[totem pole]] at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]].]]
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The [[Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast]] built their houses facing the ocean, using [[cedar]] wood. Tribes along the North American Pacific coast with a tradition of building longhouses include the [[Haida]], [[Tsimshian]], [[Tlingit]], [[Makah]], [[Clatsop]], [[Coast Salish]], and [[Multnomah people]].  
  
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The [[Longhouse Religion]] is a religious movement, founded in 1799, common among peoples who formerly lived in longhouses. The religious movement known as The Code of Handsome Lake or Gaihwi:io (Good Message in Seneca and Onondaga) was founded by the Seneca Chief Handsome Lake (Ganioda'yo) who designated the longhouse structure as their place of worship.
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Longhouses were made from cedar logs or split log frame and covered with split log planks. Planks were also used for flooring. The roofs were plank-covered, sometimes with an additional bark cover. Roof types included [[gable]] and [[gambrel]], depending on location. The gambrel roof was unique to [[Puget Sound]] [[Coast Salish]].<ref name=Suttles/>
  
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===Northwest Coast longhouse===
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Each longhouse contained a number of booths along both sides of the central hallway, separated by wooden containers (akin to modern drawers). Each booth also had its own individual fire. There was one doorway, usually facing the shore. The front was often very elaborately decorated with an integrated [[mural]] of numerous drawings of faces and heraldic crest icons of raven, bear, whale, etc. A [[totem pole]] was often situated outside the longhouse, though the style varied greatly, and sometimes was even used as part of the entrance way.  
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[[Image:Moa-4.jpg|thumb|A longhouse at the [[Museum of Anthropology at UBC|Museum of Anthropology]] at the [[University of British Columbia]].]]
 
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As there were more forests along the Pacific coast, these long house are built with logs or split log frame and covered with split log planks, and sometimes an additional bark cover. Cedar is the preferred resource. The length of these long houses is usually 60&ndash;100 feet (18&ndash;30 m).{{Fact|date=February 2007}}  The wealthy built extraordinarily large longhouses.  The [[Suquamish]] [[Old Man House]] at what became the [[Port Madison]] Reservation was 500 x 40&ndash;60 ft (152 x 12&ndash;18 m), c. 1850.<ref name=Suttles>Wayne P. Suttles and William C. Sturtevant (eds.), ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast'' (Smithsonian Institution, 1990, ISBN 978-0160203909), 491.</ref><ref>Old Man House is occasionally found (incorrectly or from [[Chinook Jargon]]) as Ole Man House or Oleman House.</ref>
 
  
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Usually there is one doorway that faces the shore.  Each long house contains a number of booths along both sides of the central hallway, separated by wooden containers (akin to modern drawers). Each booth also has its own individual fire. Usually an extended family occupied one long house, and cooperated in obtaining food, building canoes, and other daily tasks.  The roof is a slanted shed roof. and pitched to various degrees depending upon the rainfall.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}  The gambrel roof was unique to [[Puget Sound]] [[Coast Salish]].<ref name=Suttles/>  The front is often very elaborately decorated with an integrated mural of numerous drawings of faces and heraldic crest icons of raven, bear, whale, etc.  A [[totem pole]] is often accompanied with a long house, though the style varies greatly, and sometimes is even used as part of the entrance way.  
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The size of a home depended on the wealth of the owner, with the larger houses furnishing living quarters for up to 100 people. Within each house, a particular family had a separate cubicle. Each family had its own fire, with the families also sharing a communal central fire in the household. Usually an [[extended family]] occupied one longhouse, and cooperated in obtaining food, building canoes, and other daily tasks.  
  
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Tribes or ethnic groups along the North American Pacific coast with some sort of longhouse building traditions are among others [[Haida]], [[Tsimshian]], [[Tlingit]], [[Makah]], [[Clatsop]], [[Coast Salish]], and [[Multnomah people]]. The houses of the Multnomah, like the other Chinookan peoples, were largely longhouses made of Western Redcedar planks. The size of a home depended on the wealth of the owner, with the larger houses furnishing living quarters for up to 100 people. Within each house, a particular family had a separate cubicle separated by woven mats that was approximately the size of a stall in a modern barn. Each family had its own fire, with the families also sharing a communal central fire in the household.
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The wealthy built extraordinarily large longhouses, also known as "bighouses." The [[Suquamish]] [[Old Man House]], built around 1850 at what became the [[Port Madison]] Reservation, and home of [[Chief Seattle]], was {{convert|500|ft|m}} x {{convert|40|ft|m}}&ndash;{{convert|60|ft|m}}.<ref name=Suttles>Wayne P. Suttles and William C. Sturtevant (eds.), ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast'' (Smithsonian Institution, 1990, ISBN 978-0160203909), 491.</ref>
  
 
===South America===
 
===South America===
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In [[South America]] the [[Tucano people]] of [[Colombia]] and northwest [[Brazil]] traditionally combine a household in a single long house. The Tucano are a group of indigenous South Americans living in the northwestern Amazon, along the Vaupés River and the surrounding area. They are present in both Colombia and Brazil, although most live on the Colombian side of the border. They are usually described as being made up of many separate tribes, although the appellation is somewhat problematic due to the complex social and linguistic structure of the region.
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In [[South America]] the [[Tucano people]] of [[Colombia]] and northwest [[Brazil]] traditionally combine a household in a single longhouse. The Tucano are a group of indigenous South Americans living in the northwestern Amazon, along the Vaupés River and the surrounding area. They are present in both Colombia and Brazil, although most live on the Colombian side of the border. They are usually described as being made up of many separate tribes, although the appellation is somewhat problematic due to the complex social and linguistic structure of the region.
  
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Like most other groups of the Vaupés system, they are an [[Exogamy|exogamous]] [[patrilineal]] and [[Patrilocal residence|patrilocal]] [[Kinship#Descent_groups|descent group]], with a [[Segmentary lineage|segmentary]] social structure. The constitutive groups live in isolated settlements in units of four to eight families dwelling in multifamily [[longhouses]].<ref>Jean Elizabeth Jackson, ‘Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians,’ p.53</ref> Their practice of linguistic exogamy means that members of a linguistic descent group marry outside their own linguistic descent group. As a result, it is normal for Tucano people to speak two, three, or more Tucanoan languages, and any Tucano household (longhouse) is likely to be host to numerous languages. The descent groups (sometimes referred to as tribes) all have their accompanying language.
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Like most other groups of the Vaupés system, they are an [[Exogamy|exogamous]] [[patrilineal]] and [[Patrilocal residence|patrilocal]] [[Kinship#Descent_groups|descent group]], with a [[Segmentary lineage|segmentary]] social structure. The constitutive groups live in isolated settlements in units of four to eight families dwelling in multifamily [[longhouses]].<ref>Jean Elizabeth Jackson, "Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians," 53.</ref> Their practice of linguistic exogamy means that members of a linguistic descent group marry outside their own linguistic descent group. As a result, it is normal for Tucano people to speak two, three, or more Tucanoan languages, and any Tucano household (longhouse) is likely to be host to numerous languages. The descent groups (sometimes referred to as tribes) all have their accompanying language.
  
 
== Asia ==
 
== Asia ==
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Longhouses of various sorts have been used by numerous [[ethnic group]]s throughout [[Asia]], from [[prehistory|prehistoric]] times until today. The following are a few examples of cultures that have used longhouses and some that continue to do so.
  
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===Prehistoric===
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;Korea
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In [[Daepyeong]], an [[archaeology|archaeological site]] of the [[Mumun pottery period]] in [[Korea]] longhouses have been found that date to circa 1100-850 B.C.E. Their layout seems to be similar to those of the [[Iroquois]] with several fireplaces arranged along the longitudinal axis of the building, indicating that the occupants were likely members of an [[extended family|extended household]].<ref> Martin T. Bale and Min-jung Ko, "Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Pottery Period Korea," ''Asian Perspectives'' 45(2) (2006):159-187.</ref>
  
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=== Borneo ===
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Later the ancient Koreans started raising their buildings on stilts, so that the inner partitions and arrangements are somewhat obscure. However, the size of the buildings and their placement within the settlements suggests they were buildings for the nobles of their society or some sort of community or religious buildings. In [[Igeum-dong]], an excavation site in [[South Korea]], the large longhouses, 29 and 26 meters long, are situated between the [[megalithic]] [[cemetery]] and the rest of the settlement.
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[[Image:Modern Iban Longhouse.JPG|right|thumb|200px|A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division]]
 
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Many of the inhabitants of the Southeast Asian island of [[Borneo]] (now Kalimantan, Indonesia and States of Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia), the [[Dayak]], live traditionally in buildings known as a longhouse, ''Rumah panjang'' in Malay, ''rumah panjai'' in [[Iban]]. Common to most of these is that they are built raised off the ground on stilts and are divided into a more or less public area along one side and a row of private living quarters lined along the other side. This seems to have been the way of building best accustomed to life in the [[jungle]] in the past, as otherwise hardly related people have come to build their dwellings in similar ways. One may observe similarities to South American jungle villages also living in large single structures.  The design is elegant: being raised, flooding presents little inconvenience. The entry could double as a canoe dock. Being raised, cooling air could circulate as well as have the living area above ground where any breeze is more likely. Livestock could shelter underneath the longhouses for greater protection from predators and the elements.
 
  
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In modern times many of the older longhouses have been replaced with buildings using more modern materials but of similar design.  In areas where flooding is not a problem, beneath the longhouse between the stilts, which was traditionally used for a work place for tasks such as threshing, has been converted into living accommodation or has been closed in to provide more security. Also in modern times long houses in Asia were made of grass and tree bark
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===Traditional to Contemporary===
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;Borneo
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[[Image:Modern Iban Longhouse.JPG|right|thumb|250px|A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division]]
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Many of the inhabitants of the Southeast Asian island of [[Borneo]] (now [[Kalimantan]], [[Indonesia]], and States of [[Sarawak]] and [[Sabah]], [[Malaysia]]), the [[Dayak]], live in traditional longhouses, ''Rumah panjang'' in [[Malay]], ''rumah panjai'' in [[Iban]]. They are built raised off the ground on stilts and are divided by a wall running along the length of the building into a more or less public area along one side and a row of private living quarters lined along the other side.  
  
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The layout of a traditional longhouse could be described thus:
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The private units, ''bilik'', each have a single door for each family. They are usually divided from each other by walls of their own and contain the living and sleeping spaces. The kitchens, ''dapor'', sometimes reside within this space but are quite often situated in rooms of their own, added to the back of a ''bilik'' or even in a building standing a little away from the longhouse and accessed by a small bridge due to the fear of fire, as well as reducing smoke and insects attracted to cooking from gathering in living quarters.
  
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A wall runs along the length of the building approximately down the longitudinal axis of the building. The space along one side of the wall serves as a corridor running the length of the building while the other side is blocked from public view by the wall and serves as private areas.
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The corridor itself is divided into three parts. The space in front of the door, the ''tempuan'', belongs to each ''bilik'' unit and is used privately. This is where [[rice]] can be pounded or other domestic work can be done. A public corridor, a ''ruai'', basically used like a village road, runs the whole length in the middle of the open hall. Along the outer wall is the space where guests can sleep, the ''pantai''. On this side a large veranda, a ''tanju'', is built in front of the building where the rice ''(padi)'' is dried and other outdoor activities can take place. Under the roof is a sort of attic, the ''sadau'', that runs along the middle of the house under the peak of the roof. Here the ''padi'', other food, and other things can be stored. Sometimes the ''sadau'' has a sort of gallery from which the life in the ''ruai'' can be observed. The livestock, usually [[pig]]s and [[chicken]]s, live underneath the house between the stilts.
  
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Behind this wall lay the private units, ''bilik'', each with a single door for each family. These are usually divided from each other by walls of their own and contain the living and sleeping spaces. The kitchens, ''dapor'', sometimes reside within this space but are quite often situated in rooms of their own, added to the back of a ''bilik'' or even in a building standing a little away from the longhouse and accessed by a small bridge due to the fear of fire, as well as reducing smoke and insects attracted to cooking from gathering in living quarters..  
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The design of these longhouses is elegant: being raised, [[flood]]ing presents little inconvenience. Being raised, cooling air circulates and having the living area above ground locates it where any breeze is more likely. Livestock shelter underneath the longhouse for greater protection from predators and the elements. The raised structure also provides security and defense against attack as well as facilitating social interaction while still allowing for privacy in domestic life. These advantages may account for the persistence of this type of design in contemporary Borneo societies.<ref>James J. Fox (ed.), ''Inside Austronesian Houses'' (Canberra: The Australian National University, 1993, ISBN 978-0731515950).</ref>
  
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The corridor itself is divided into three parts. The space in front of the door, the ''tempuan'', belongs to each bilik unit and is used privately. This is where rice can be pounded or other domestic work can be done. A public corridor, a ''ruai'', basically used like a village road, runs the whole length in the middle of the open hall.  Along the outer wall is the space where guests can sleep, the ''pantai''. On this side a large veranda, a ''tanju'', is built in front of the building where the rice (''padi'') is dried and other outdoor activities can take place. Under the roof is a sort of attic, the ''sadau'', that runs along the middle of the house under the peak of the roof.  Here the ''padi'', other food, and other things can be stored.  Sometimes the ''sadau'' has a sort of gallery from which the life in the ''ruai'' can be observed.  The pigs and chicken live underneath the house between the stilts.
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The houses built by the different tribes and ethnic groups differ somewhat from each other. Houses described as above may be used by the [[Iban people|Iban]] [[Sea Dayak]] and [[Melanau]] Sea Dayak. Similar houses are built by the [[Bidayuh]], Land Dayak, however with wider verandas and extra buildings for the unmarried adults and visitors. The buildings of the [[Kayan]], [[Kenyah]], [[Murut]], and [[Kelabit]] used to have fewer walls between individual ''bilik'' units. The [[Punan]] seem to be the last ethnic group that adopted this type of house building. The [[Rungus]] of Sabah in north Borneo build a type of longhouse with rather short stilts, the house raised three to five feet of the ground, and walls sloped outwards.
  
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The houses built by the different tribes and ethnic groups can differ from each other. Houses described as above may be used by the [[Iban people|Iban]] [[Sea Dayak]] and [[Melanau]] Sea Dayak. Similar houses are built by the [[Bidayuh]], Land Dayak, however with wider verandas and extra buildings for the unmarried adults and visitors. The buildings of the [[Kayan]], [[Kenyah]], [[Murut]], and [[Kelabit]] used to have fewer walls between individual ''bilik'' units.  The [[Punan]] seem to be the last ethnic group that adopted this type of house building. The [[Rungus]] of Sabah in north Borneo build a type of longhouse with rather short stilts, the house raised three to five feet of the ground, and walls sloped outwards.
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In modern times many of the older longhouses have been replaced with buildings using more modern materials but of similar design. In areas where flooding is not a problem, beneath the longhouse between the stilts, which was traditionally used for a work place for tasks such as [[threshing]], has been converted into living accommodation or has been closed in to provide more security.
  
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A lot of place names in [[Sarawak]] still have the word "Long" in their name and most of these still are or once were longhouses.  Some villages like Long Semado in Sarawak even have airfields of their own. Regions with long houses are for example [[Ulu Anyut]] and [[Ulu Paku]] in Sarawak. Another long house is the [[Punan sama]].
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;Siberut
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[[Image:Mentawai Uma.jpg|right|250 px|thumb|An Uma, the traditional communal house of the Mentawai]]
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''Uma'' are traditional houses of the [[Sakuddei]] found on the western part of the island of [[Siberut]] in [[Indonesia]]. The island is part of the [[Mentawai islands]] off the west coast of [[Sumatra]].  
  
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=== Vietnam ===
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Uma longhouses are rectangular with a verandah at each end. They can be as much as {{convert|300|m2}} in area. Villages are located along the river banks and made up of one or more communal Uma longhouses, as well as single-storey family houses known as ''lalep''. Villages house up to 300 people and the larger villages were divided into sections along [[patrilineal]] clans of families each with their own uma.  
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[[Image:MnongLonghouse.jpg|thumb|right|A Mnong longhouse in the [[Tây Nguyên|Central Highlands]] of Vietnam.]]
 
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The [[Mnong people]] of [[Vietnam]] also have a tradition of building long houses (Nhà dài) from [[bamboo]] with a grass roof. In contrast to the jungle versions of Borneo these sport shorter stilts and seem to use a veranda in front of a short (gable) side as main entrance.
 
  
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Built on piles or stilts, the uma traditionally have no windows. The insides are separated into different dwelling spaces by partitions which usually have inter-connecting doors. The front has an open platform serving as main entrance place followed by a covered gallery. The inside is divided into two rooms, one behind the other. On the back there is another platform. The whole building is raised on short stilts about half a meter off the ground. The front platform is used for general activities while the covered gallery is a favorite place for the men to host guests, and the men usually sleep there. The first inside room is entered by a door and contains a central communal hearth and a place for dancing. There are also places for religious and ritual objects and activities. In the adjoining room the women and their small children as well as unmarried daughters sleep, usually in compartments divided into families. The platform on the back is used by the women for their everyday activities. Visiting women usually enter the house from the back.
  
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=== Siberut ===
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;Vietnam
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[[Image:Mentawai Uma.jpg|right|thumb|An Uma, the traditional communal house of the Mentawai]]
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[[Image:MnongLonghouse.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A Mnong longhouse in the [[Tây Nguyên|Central Highlands]] of Vietnam.]]
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A traditional house type of the [[Sakuddei]] people<ref>As described by Schefold, R.,
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The [[Mnong people]] of [[Vietnam]] also have a tradition of building long houses (Nhà dài) from [[bamboo]] with a grass roof. In contrast to the jungle versions of Borneo these have shorter stilts and use a veranda in front of a short (gable) side as main entrance.
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''Speelgoed voor de zielen: Kunst en cultuur van de Mentawai-eilanden.'' Delft/Zürich: Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara/Museum Rietberg.(1979/80) and others.</ref>,<ref>[http://www.leidenuniv.nl/fsw/nas/pub_houseIndonesia.htm The Sakuddei House]</ref> on the island of [[Siberut]], part of the [[Mentawai Islands]] some 130 kilometers (81 mi) to the west off the coast of [[Sumatra]] (''Sumatera''), [[Indonesia]] is also described as a longhouse on stilts. Some five to ten families may live in each, but they are organised differently from those on Borneo inside. From front to back such an "uma" called house regularly consists of an open platform serving as main entrance place followed by a covered gallery. The inside is divided into two rooms, one behind the other. On the back therte is another platform. The whole building is raised on short stilts about half a meter of the ground. The front platform is used for generall activities while the covered gallery is the favorite place for the men where to host guests and the men usually sleep. The following first room is entered by a door and contains a central communal hearth and a place for dancing. There are also places for religious and ritual objects and activities. In the adjoining room the women and their small children as well as unmarried daughters sleep, usually in compartements divided into families. The platform on the back is used by the women for their everyday activities. Visiting women usually enter the house here.
 
  
−
[[Image:Mentawai Uma.jpg|thumb|250px]]
+
;Nepal
 +
The [[Tharu people]] are [[indigenous people]] living in the [[Terai|Terai plains]] on the border of [[Nepal]] and [[India]] in the region known as the [[Tarai]].<ref>[http://www.macalester.edu/~guneratne/Teaching/TharuResources.html The Tharu Page] ''www.macalester.edu''. Retrieved June 15, 2011</ref> These people continue to live in longhouses which may hold up to 150 people. Their longhouses are built of mud with [[Lath|lattice]] walls. The Tharu women cover the outer walls and [[verandah]]s with colorful paintings. Some of the paintings may be purely decorative, while others are dedicated to [[Hindu]] gods and goddesses.<ref>Kurt W. Meyer and Pamela Deuel, [http://www.asianart.com/tharu/ The Tharu of the Tarai] ''www.asianart.com'' (March 1997). Retrieved June 15, 2011.</ref>
  
−
'''Uma''' are traditional vernacular houses found on the western part of the island of [[Siberut]] in Indonesia. The island is part of the [[Mentawai islands]] off the west coast of [[Sumatra]].
+
== Europe ==
−
 
+
[[Image:Moirlanich_Longhouse_-_geograph.org.uk_-_278876.jpg|thumb|left|200 px|Moirlanich Longhouse in Glen Lochay near Killin in [[Scotland]]. An example of a Scottish longhouse - a type of building in which a family and their livestock lived under one roof.]]
−
The structures are influenced by the Acehnese style, they are built on a much larger scale. They were formerly used as ''uma'' [[longhouse]]s by the [[Sakuddei]] tribe before they were forced to abandon their traditional way of life through government intervention in the 1950s and 1960s. Since then, some attempts have been made to re-establish them in their former areas of settlement. ''Uma'' longhouses are rectangular with a verandah at each end. They can be 300 sqm in area. Built on piles, they traditional have no windows. The insides are separated into different dwelling spaces by partition which usually have inter-connecting doors.
+
Longhouses have existed in [[Europe]] since [[prehistory|prehistoric]] times. Some were large, capable of housing multiple families; others were smaller and were used by a single family together with their [[livestock]], or for storage of [[cereal]] grains.
−
 
 
−
Villages are built alongside river banks and are made up of one or more communal ''Uma'' longhouses and single-storey family houses known as ''lalep''. Villages housed up to 300 people and the larger villages were divided into sections along patrilineal clans of families with their own ''uma''. ''Rusuk'' were dwellings for widows and bachelors which are similar to the family longhouse but without an altar. aThe ''uma'' is the centre of social, religious, and political life and it is here where every village member of egalitarian Mentawai society is able to contribute meetings about matters affecting the community. Like many Indonesians, Mentawaians believe in a separable soul that leaves the body upon death becoming a ghost. To protect themselves from these spirits, fetish sticks are placed by the entrances of the log wall that surrounds and fortifies the village and forms a stockade for cattle.  
 
  
−
 
+
===Prehistoric===
−
=== Nepal ===
 
−
The [[Tharu people]] are [[indigenous people]] living in the [[Terai|Terai plains]] on the border of [[Nepal]] and [[India]] in the region known as the [[Tarai]].<ref>[http://www.macalester.edu/~guneratne/Teaching/TharuResources.html The Tharu Page] ''www.macalester.edu''. Retrieved June 15, 2011</ref> The Tharu live in longhouses which may hold up to 150 people. These longhouses are built of mud with [[Lath|lattice]] walls. The Tharu women cover the outer walls and [[verandah]]s with colorful paintings. Some of the paintings may be purely decorative, while others are dedicated to [[Hindu]] gods and goddesses.<ref>Kurt W. Meyer and Pamela Deuel, [http://www.asianart.com/tharu/ The Tharu of the Tarai] ''www.asianart.com'' (March 1997). Retrieved June 15, 2011.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
=== Korea ===
 
−
In [[Daepyeong]], an [[archaelogy|archaeological site]] of the [[Mumun pottery period]] in [[Korea]] longhouses have been found that date to circa 1100-850 B.C.E. Their layout seems to be similar to those of the Iroquois of America. As in these several fireplaces were arranged along the longitudinal axis of the building. Later the ancient Koreans started raising their buildings on stilts, so that the inner partitions and arrangements are somewhat obscure. The size of the buildings though and their placement within the settlements may point to buildings for the nobles of their society or some sort of community or religious buildings. In [[Igeum-dong]], an excavation site in [[South Korea]], the large longhouses, 29 and 26 meters long, are situated between the [[megalithic]] [[cemetery]] and the rest of the settlement.
 
−
 
 
−
== Europe ==
 
−
===Historical===
 
−
[[Image:Fyrkat hus stor.jpg|360px|right|thumb|A reconstructed Viking Age house.]]
 
 
There are two European longhouse types that are now extinct.  
 
There are two European longhouse types that are now extinct.  
−
*The [[Neolithic long house]] type was introduced with the first farmers of central and western Europe around 5000 B.C.E.&mdash;7000 years ago.
+
;The Neolithic long house
−
The '''Neolithic long house''' was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in [[Europe]] beginning at least as early as the period 5000 to 6000 [[Anno Domini|BC]].<ref>Rodney Castleden. 1987</ref> This type of architecture represents the largest free-standing structure in the world in its era. [[Longhouse|Long house]]s are present across numerous regions and time periods in the [[archaeological]] record.
+
The [[Neolithic]] longhouse was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in [[Europe]] beginning at least as early as the period 5000 to 6000 B.C.E.<ref>Rodney Castleden, ''The Stonehenge People: An Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 B.C.E.'' (Routledge, 1992, ISBN 978-04150406551987).</ref> This type of architecture represents the largest free-standing structure in the world in its era.  
  
−
It is thought that these [[Neolithic]] houses had no windows and only one doorway. The end farthest from the door appears to have been used for grain storage with working activities being carried out in the better lit door end and the middle used for sleeping and eating.
+
It is thought that these Neolithic houses had no windows and only one doorway. The end farthest from the door appears to have been used for grain storage, with working activities being carried out in the better lit door end and the middle used for sleeping and eating. Structurally, the Neolithic long house was supported by rows of large timbers holding up a pitched roof. The walls would not have supported much weight and would have been quite short beneath the large roof. Sill beams ran in foundation trenches along the sides to support the low walls. The long houses would measure around {{convert|20|m}} in length and {{convert|7|m}} in width and could have housed twenty or thirty people.
  
−
Twenty or thirty people, could have lived in each house with villages of six or seven houses known. They first appeared in central Europe in connection with the early [[Neolithic]] [[archaeological culture|culture]]s such as the [[Linearbandkeramic#Settlement patterns|Linearbandkeramic]] or [[Cucuteni culture]].  
+
The [[Balbridie]] timber house in what is present day [[Aberdeenshire]], [[Scotland]] offers an outstanding example of these early structures. This was a rectangular structure with rounded ends, measuring {{convert|24|m}} x {{convert|12|m}}, it was originally thought to be post-Roman, but radiocarbon dating of charred cereal grains established dates from 3900-3500 B.C.E., falling into the early Neolithic.<ref>Peter Rowley-Conwy, [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba64/feat3.shtml Great Sites: Balbridie] ''British Archaeology'' 64 (April 2002). Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref> Archaeological excavations have revealed extant timber postholes that delineate the support pieces of the original structure. This site is strategically located in a fertile agricultural area along the [[River Dee]] very close to an ancient strategic ford of the river and also near an ancient [[timber trackway]] known as the [[Elsick Mounth]].<ref>C. Michael Hogan, [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18037 Elsick Mounth: Ancient Trackway in Scotland in Aberdeenshire] ''The Megalithic Portal'', 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref>
  
−
Structurally, the Neolithic long house was supported by rows of large timbers holding up a pitched roof. The walls would not have supported much weight and would have been quite short beneath the large roof. Sill beams ran in foundation trenches along the sides to support the low walls. A long house would measure around 20 metres in length and 7 metres in width.
+
;The Germanic cattle farmer longhouse
 +
These longhouses emerged along the southwestern North Sea coast in the third or fourth century B.C.E.. and might be the ancestors of several medieval house types such as the [[Scandinavia]]n ''langhus'' and the German and Dutch ''[[Fachhallenhaus]]'', although there is no evidence of a direct connexion.  
  
−
The [[Balbridie]] timber house in what is present day [[Aberdeenshire]], Scotland offers an outstanding example of these early timber structures. Archaeological excavations have revealed extant timber postholes that delineate the support pieces of the original structure. This site is strategically located in a fertile agricultural area along the [[River Dee]] very close to an ancient strategic ford of the river and also near an ancient [[timber trackway]] known as the [[Elsick Mounth]].<ref>C. Michael Hogan. 2007</ref>
+
This European longhouse first appeared during the period of the [[Linear Pottery culture]] about 7,000 years ago and has been discovered during the course of archaeological excavations in widely differing regions across Europe, including the Ville ridge west of [[Cologne]]. The longhouse differed from later types of house in that it had a central row of posts under the roof ridge. It was therefore not three- but four-aisled. To start with, cattle were kept outside overnight in ''Hürden'' or pens. With the transition of agriculture to permanent fields the cattle were brought into the house, which then became a so-called ''Wohnstallhaus'' or byre-dwelling.
  
−
*The Germanic cattle farmer longhouses emerged along the southwestern North Sea coast in the third or fourth century B.C.E. and might be the ancestors of several medieval house types such as the Scandinavian ''langhus'', the English,<ref>Description of a [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.19883  Medieval Peasant Long-house] at the English Heritage website.</ref> Welsh, and Scottish longhouse variants and the German and Dutch ''[[Fachhallenhaus]]''.
+
===Medieval===
 +
There are several medieval European longhouse types, some have survived, including the following:
  
−
===Medieval===
 
−
The medieval longhouse types of Europe of which some have survived are among others:
 
−
;Scandinavia
 
−
*The Scandinavian or [[Viking]] ''Langhus''
 
 
;British Isles
 
;British Isles
−
*The British ([[Brythonic]]) variants in [[Dartmoor longhouse|Dartmoor]] and [[Wales]] the ''Tyddyn'' <ref>[http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/lab-longpost.pdf The Dartmoor Longhouse Poster (pdf)] See also ''The Welsh House,A Study In Folk Culture'',Y Cymmrodor XLVII, London 1940, Iorwerth C Peate</ref>
+
*The Dartmoor longhouse
−
The '''Dartmoor [[longhouse]]''' is a type of traditional home, found on the high ground of [[Dartmoor]], in the south west of the [[United Kingdom]]. The earliest are thought to have been built in the 13th century, and they continued to be constructed throughout the mediaeval period, using local [[granite]].<ref>{{cite web
+
This is a type of traditional home, found on the high ground of [[Dartmoor]], in the south west of the [[United Kingdom]]. The earliest were small, oblong, one storied buildings that housed both the farmer and his livestock and are thought to have been built in the thirteenth century, and they continued to be constructed throughout the medieval period, using local [[granite]].<ref>[http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/long_house.htm The Longhouses of Dartmoor] ''Legendary Dartmoor''. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref> Many longhouses are still inhabited today (although obviously adapted over the centuries), while others have been converted into farm buildings.  
−
|url=http://www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk/lab-longpost.pdf
 
−
|title=The Dartmoor Longhouse Poster
 
−
|publisher=Dartmoor National Park Authority
 
−
|accessdate=2008-04-01}}</ref> Many longhouses are still inhabited today (although obviously adapted over the centuries), while others have been converted into farm buildings.  
 
  
−
[[Image:Dartmoorlonghouse4.gif|right|thumb|Sketch of a 17th century Dartmoor longhouse.]]
+
[[Image:Dartmoorlonghouse4.gif|right|thumb|Sketch of a seventeenth century Dartmoor longhouse.]]
  
 
The Dartmoor longhouse consists of a long, single-storey granite structure, with a central 'cross-passage' dividing it into two rooms, one to the left of the cross-passage and the other to the right. The one at the higher end of the building was occupied by the human inhabitants; their animals were kept in the other, especially during the cold winter months. The animal quarters were called the 'shippon' or 'shippen'; a word still used by many locals to describe a farm building used for livestock.
 
The Dartmoor longhouse consists of a long, single-storey granite structure, with a central 'cross-passage' dividing it into two rooms, one to the left of the cross-passage and the other to the right. The one at the higher end of the building was occupied by the human inhabitants; their animals were kept in the other, especially during the cold winter months. The animal quarters were called the 'shippon' or 'shippen'; a word still used by many locals to describe a farm building used for livestock.
−
[[image:Welsh Longhouse.jpg|thumb|left|A 1735 Welsh longhouse in the Dartmoor style]]
+
[[image:Welsh Longhouse.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A 1735 Welsh longhouse in the Dartmoor style]]
−
Early longhouses would have had no chimney - the smoke from a central fire simply filtered through the thatched roof. Windows were very small or non-existent, so the interior would have been dark. The cross-passage had a door at either end, and with both of these open a breeze was often created which made it an ideal location for [[winnowing]].
+
Early longhouses would have had no chimney—the smoke from a central fire simply filtered through the thatched roof. Windows were very small or non-existent, so the interior would have been dark. The cross-passage had a door at either end, and with both of these open a breeze was often created which made it an ideal location for [[winnowing]].
 +
 
 +
This simple floor plan is clearly visible at the abandoned medieval village at [[Hound Tor]], which was inhabited from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Excavations during the 1960s revealed four longhouses, many featuring a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns.
  
−
This simple floorplan is clearly visible at the abandoned mediaeval village at [[Hound Tor]], which was inhabited from the 13th to the 15th centuries. Excavations during the 1960s revealed four longhouses, many featuring a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns.
+
In later centuries, the longhouses were adapted and expanded, often with the addition of an upper floor and a granite porch to protect against the elements. Substantial fireplaces and chimneys were also added, and can be seen at many of the surviving Dartmoor longhouses today.
  
−
In later centuries, the longhouses were adapted and expanded, often with the addition of an upper floor and a granite porch to protect against the elements. Substantial fireplaces and chimneys were also added, and can be seen at many of the surviving Dartmoor longhouses today (see [[Ancient Tenements]]).
+
Higher Uppacott, one of the few remaining longhouses to retain its original unaltered shippon, is a Grade I [[listed building]], and is now owned by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.<ref> Interactive Visit to Higher Uppacott ''Virtually Dartmoor''. </ref>
  
−
Higher Uppacott, one of the few remaining longhouses to retain its original unaltered shippon, is a Grade I [[listed building]], and is now owned by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.<ref>{{cite web
+
*Clay Dabbins of the Solway Plain
−
|url=http://www.virtuallydartmoor.org.uk/visit-uppacott1.html
+
Clay houses have been built on the Solway Plain in the northwest of [[Cumbria]], [[England]] since medieval times. These buildings originated as single-storey longhouses, built in the style of the Middle Ages and housing family and stock in a single, undivided building open to the roof, with an open fire in the floor of the domestic end and no chimney. Mud was used for the walls rather than timber or stone due to the shortage of those materials; most of the Solway Plain has been overlain by a thick layer of boulder clay since the last Ice Age.<ref>Nina Jennings, [http://www.vag.org.uk/VAarticles/clay-dabbins.htm The Building of the Clay Dabbins of the Solway Plain: Materials and Man-Hours] ''Vernacular Architecture'' 33 (2002): 19-27. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref>
−
|title=Interactive Visit to Higher Uppacott
 
−
|publisher=Virtually Dartmoor
 
−
|accessdate=2008-04-01}}</ref>
 
  
 +
*The Scottish "Blackhouse"
 +
[[Image:1997 Arnol Blackhouse Lewis.jpg|thumb|200 px|The Blackhouse Museum, [[Arnol]]]]
 +
The "Blackhouse" or ''taighean dubha'' is a traditional type of house which used to be common in Highlands of [[Scotland]] and the [[Hebrides]].<ref>[http://www.dualchas.com/index.php/Heritage/History.html The Blackhouse of the Highlands] Dualchas Building Design, 2001. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref>
  
 +
The buildings were generally built with double wall [[dry-stone wall]]s packed with earth and wooden rafters covered with a [[thatch]] of turf with cereal straw or reed. The floor was generally [[flagstone]]s or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape though. Instead the smoke made its way through the roof. The blackhouse was used to accommodate livestock as well as people. People lived at one end and the animals lived at the other with a partition between them.
  
 +
The [[Isle of Lewis]] examples have clearly been modified to survive in the tough environment of the Outer Hebrides. Low rounded roofs, elaborately roped were developed to resist the strong Atlantic winds and thick walls to provide insulation and to support the sideways forces of the short driftwood roof timbers.<ref>Alexander Fenton, ''The Arnol Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis'' (Historic Scotland, 2005, ISBN 978-1903570852).</ref>
  
−
*The northwest England type in Cumbria<ref>[http://www.vag.org.uk/VAarticles/clay-dabbins.htm Longhouse in Cumbria]</ref>
 
−
*The Scottish Longhouse, "[[Black house]]" or ''taighean dubha''<ref>[http://www.dualchas.com/index.php/Heritage/History.html Blackhouse in Scotland]</ref>
 
 
;France
 
;France
−
*The French ''longère''<ref>[http://www.pierreseche.com/VAFrance.html L'Architecture Vernaculaire de la France] by Christian Lassure, with a translation in english [http://www.pierreseche.com/VAFranceEnglish.html here].</ref> or ''maison longue'' (with different versions from different origins)
+
*The French ''longère''
 +
This was the house of [[peasant]]s (and their animals) throughout Western France, as evidenced particularly in [[Brittany]], [[Normandy]], [[Mayenne]], and [[Anjou]]. A narrow house, it extends lengthwise with its openings placed more often in a long wall than in a gable wall. The livestock were confined to the end opposite the hearth.<ref>Christian Lassure, [http://www.pierreseche.com/VAFranceEnglish.html The Vernacular Architecture of France] 2006. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref>  
 +
 
 
;Germany
 
;Germany
−
*The old [[Old-frisian longhouse|Frisian ''Langhuis'']] that developed into the [[Frisian farmhouse]] which probably influenced the development of the [[Gulf house]] (German: ''Gulfhaus''), that spread along the North Sea coast to the east and north.
+
*The Low German house ''(Fachhallenhaus)''
−
Further developments of the Germanic longhouse during the [[Middle Ages]] were the [[Low German house]] (''[[Fachhallenhaus]]'') in the North and especially Northwest Germany and its northern neighbor, the [[Cimbrian farmhouse]] in [[Jutland]] including [[Duchy of Schleswig|Schleswig]] with its variants: the [[Geestharden house]] and [[Frisian house]].
+
The Low German house appeared during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Until its decline in the nineteenth century, this rural, agricultural farmhouse style was widely distributed through the [[North German Plain]], all the way from the [[Lower Rhine]] to [[Mecklenburg]]. Even today, the ''Fachhallenhaus'' still characterizes the appearance of many north German villages.
−
With these house types the wooden posts originally rammed into the ground were replaced by posts supported on a base. The large and well-supported attic enabled large quantities of hay or grain to be stored in dry conditions. This development may have been driven because the weather became wetter over time. Good examples of these houses have been preserved, some dating back to the 16th century.
+
[[Image:Wilsede_003_2.jpg|thumb|200px|''Dat ole Huus'' in Wilsede dating to about 1540]]
−
[[Image:Wilsede_003_2.jpg|thumb|''Dat ole Huus'' in Wilsede dating to about 1540]]
+
[[Image:Niedersachsenhaus 1779.jpg|thumb|200 px|left|Historic photo (ca. 1895) of a thatched ''Fachhallenhaus'' in Ausbüttel near Gifhorn, built in 1779]]
−
[[Image:Niedersachsenhaus 1779.jpg|thumb|Historic photo (ca. 1895) of a thatched ''Fachhallenhaus'' in Ausbüttel near Gifhorn, built in 1779]]
+
The Low German house or '''Fachhallenhaus''' is a type of German [[Timber framing|timber-framed]] farmhouse, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof.<ref>T.H. Elkins, ''Germany'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1972), 266.</ref>. It is built as a large hall with bays on the sides for livestock and storage and with the living accommodation at one end. Similar in construction to the [[neolithic]] longhouse, its roof structure rested as before on posts set into the ground and was therefore not very durable or weight-bearing. As a result these houses already had [[rafter]]s, but no loft to store the harvest. The outer walls were only made of [[wattle and daub]] ''(Flechtwerk)''.
−
The '''Low German house'''<ref name=Dickinson>{{Dickinson's Germany|pages=151-153}}</ref> or '''Fachhallenhaus''' is a type of German [[Timber framing|timber-framed]] farmhouse, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof.<ref>Elkins, T.H. (1972). ''Germany'' (3rd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus, 1972, p. 266. {{ASIN|B0011Z9KJA}}</ref>. It is built as a large hall with bays on the sides for livestock and storage and with the living accommodation at one end. The Low German house appeared during the 13th to 15th centuries and was referred to as the Lower Saxon house (''Niedersachsenhaus'') in early research works.  Until its decline in the 19th century, this rural, agricultural farmhouse style was widely distributed through the [[North German Plain]], all the way from the [[Lower Rhine]] to [[Mecklenburg]]. Even today, the ''Fachhallenhaus'' still characterises the appearance of many north German villages.
 
−
The Low German house is similar in construction to the [[neolithic]] longhouse, although there is no evidence of a direct connexion. The [[longhouse]] first appeared during the period of the [[Linear Pottery culture]] about 7,000 years ago and has been discovered during the course of archaeological excavations in widely differing regions across Europe, including the Ville ridge west of [[Cologne]]. The longhouse differed from later types of house in that it had a central row of posts  under the roof ridge. It was therefore not three- but four-aisled. To start with, cattle were kept outside overnight in ''Hürden'' or pens. With the transition of agriculture to permanent fields the cattle were brought into the house, which then became a so-called ''Wohnstallhaus'' or byre-dwelling.
 
  
−
Later the centre posts were omitted to form a triple-aisled longhouse (''dreischiffigen Langhaus'', often a ''dreischiffigen Wohnstallhaus'') that could be found in almost all of northwest Europe in the [[Early Middle Ages]]. Its roof structure rested as before on posts set into the ground and was therefore not very durable or weight-bearing. As a result these houses already had [[rafter]]s, but no loft to store the harvest. The outer walls were only made of [[wattle and daub]] (''Flechtwerk'').
+
By the [[Carolingian era]], houses built for the [[nobility]] had their wooden, load-bearing posts set on foundations of wood or stone. Such uprights, called ''Ständer'', were very strong and lasted several hundred years. These posts were first used for farmhouses in northern Germany from the thirteenth century, and enable them to be furnished with a load-bearing loft. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the design of the timber-framing was further perfected.  
  
−
By the Carolingian era, houses built for the nobility had their wooden, load-bearing posts set on foundations of wood or stone. Such uprights, called ''Ständer'', were very strong and lasted several hundred years. These posts were first used for farmhouses in northern Germany from the 13th century, and enable them to be furnished with a load-bearing loft. In the 15th and 16th centuries the design of the timber-framing was further perfected.  
+
From the outset, and for a long time thereafter, people and animals were accommodated in different areas within a large room. Gradually the living quarters were separated from the working area and animals. The first improvements were separate sleeping quarters for the farmer and his family at the rear of the farmhouse. Sleeping accommodation for farmhands and maids was created above (in [[Westphalia]]) or next to (in [[Lower Saxony]] and [[Holstein]]) the livestock stalls at the sides. As the demand for comfort and status increased, one or more rooms would be heated. Finally the stove was moved into an enclosed kitchen rather than being in a ''Flett'' or open hearth at the end of the hall.
  
−
The Low German house first emerged towards the end of the [[Middle Ages]]. Only a few years ago a ''Hallenhaus'' was discovered in the Dutch province of [[Drenthe]], the frame of which can be dated to 1386. The oldest surviving houses of this type in Germany date to the late 15th century (e.g. in Schwinde, Winsen Elbe Marsh 1494/95). Regional differences arose due to the need to adapt to local farming and climatic conditions.  The design also changed over time and was appropriate to its owner's social class. From the outset, and for a long time thereafter, people and animals were accommodated in different areas within a large room. Gradually the living quarters were separated from the working area and animals. The first improvements were separate sleeping quarters for the farmer and his family at the rear of the farmhouse. Sleeping accommodation for farmhands and maids was created above (in Westphalia) or next to (in Lower Saxony and Holstein) the livestock stalls at the sides. Finished linen, destined for sale, was also stored in a special room. As the demand for comfort and status increased, one or more rooms would be heated. Finally the stove was moved into an enclosed kitchen rather than being in a ''Flett'' or open hearth at the end of the hall.
+
By the end of the nineteenth century this type of farmhouse was outmoded. What was once its greatest advantage—having everything under a single roof—now led to its decline. Rising standards of living meant that the smells, breath, and manure from the animals was increasingly viewed as unhygienic. In addition the living quarters became too small for the needs of the occupants. Higher harvest returns and the use of farm machinery in the ''Gründerzeit'' led to the construction of modern buildings. The old stalls under the eaves were considered too small for cattle. Since the middle of the nineteenth century fewer and fewer of these farmhouses were built and some of the existing ones were converted to adapt to new circumstances.  
  
−
The German name ''Fachhallenhaus'' is a regional variation of the term ''Hallenhaus'' ("hall house", sometimes qualified as the "Lower Saxon hall house"). In the academic definition of this type of house the word ''Fach'' does <u>not</u> refer to the ''Fachwerk'' or "timber-framing" of the walls, but to the large ''Gefach'' or "bay" between two pairs of the wooden posts (''Ständer'') supporting the ceiling of the hall and the roof which are spaced about {{convert|2.5|m|ft}} apart. This was also used as a measure of house size: the smallest only had 2 bays, the largest, with 10 bays, were about {{convert|25|m|ft}} long. The term ''Halle'' ("[[hall]]") refers to the large open threshing area or ''Diele'' (also ''Deele'' or ''Deel'') formed by two rows of posts. The prefix ''Niederdeutsch'' ("[[Low German]]") refers to the region in which they were found mainly found<ref name="Dickinson"/>. Because almost all timber-framed and hall-type farmhouses were divided into so-called ''Fache'' (bays), the prefix ''Fach'' appears superfluous.
+
The Low German house is still found in great numbers in the countryside. Most of the existing buildings have however changed over the course of the centuries as modifications have been carried out. Those farmhouses that have survived in their original form are mainly to be found in open air museums like the Westphalian Open Air Museum at Detmold (Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold) and the Cloppenburg Museum Village (Museumsdorf Cloppenburg). At the end of the twentieth century old timber-framed houses, including the Low German house, were seen as increasingly valuable. As part of a renewed interest in the past, many buildings were restored and returned to residential use. In various towns and villages, such as Wolfsburg-Kästorf, Isernhagen, and Dinklage, new timber-framed homes were built during the 1990s, whose architecture is reminiscent of the historic Hallenhäuser.
  
−
The academic name for this type of house comes from the [[German language|German]] words ''"Fach"'' (bay), describing the space (up to {{convert|2.5|m|ft}}) between trusses made of two rafters fixed to a tie beam and connected to two posts with braces and ''"Halle"'', meaning something like hall as in a [[hall church]]. The walls were usually timber-framed made of posts and rails; the panels (''Gefache'') in between are filled with wattle and daub or bricks. One bay may be two or rarely three ''Gefache'' wide.
+
;Scandinavia
−
 
+
[[Image:Stöng Viking Longhouse.jpg|thumb|200 px|A photograph of Þjóðveldisbærinn in Iceland, a reconstruction of the Viking Longhouse Stöng.]]
−
By the end of the 19th century this type of farmhouse was outmoded. What was once its greatest advantage - having everything under a single roof - now led to its decline. Rising standards of living meant that the smells, breath and manure from the animals was increasingly viewed as unhygienic. In addition the living quarters became too small for the needs of the occupants. Higher harvest returns and the use of farm machinery in the Gründerzeit led to the construction of modern buildings. The old stalls under the eaves were considered too small for today's cattle. Since the middle of the 19th century fewer and fewer of these farmhouses were built and some of the existing ones were converted to adapt to new circumstances. Often the old buildings were torn down in order to create space for new ones. In the original region where once the Low German house was common, it was increasingly replaced by the Ernhaus whose main characteristic was a separation of living quarters from the livestock sheds.
+
*The Scandinavian or Viking ''Langhus''
−
[edit] Present-day situation
+
Throughout the [[Norsemen|Norse]] lands (medieval [[Scandinavia]] including [[Iceland]]) people lived in longhouses (langhús). These were built with a stone base and wooden frame, and turf covering the roof and walls. In regions that had a limited supply of wood, such as Iceland, the walls were made from turf.<ref>William R. Short, [http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/longhouse.htm Longhouses] Hurstwic. Retrieved July 27, 2011.</ref>
−
 
 
−
The Low German house is still found in great numbers in the countryside. Most of the existing buildings have however changed over the course of the centuries as modifications have been carried out. Those farmhouses that have survived in their original form are mainly to be found in open air museums like the Westphalian Open Air Museum at Detmold (Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold) and the Cloppenburg Museum Village (Museumsdorf Cloppenburg). The latter has set itself the task of uncovering rural historic buildings in Lower Saxony and documenting the most important examples accurately. For the state of Schleswig-Holstein the Schleswig-Holstein Open Air Museum (Schleswig-Holsteinisches Freilichtmuseum) in Kiel-Molfsee is the most important one with its large collection of Fachhallenhäuser and the like. Several of these buildings may also be found at the Kiekeberg Open Air Museum (Freilichtmuseum am Kiekeberg) and the Volksdorf Museum Village (Museumsdorf Volksdorf) in Hamburg; Examples from the eastern part of the Hallenhaus region are displayed in the Schwerin-Kueß Open Air Museum (Freilichtmuseum Schwerin-Mueß).
 
−
 
 
−
At the end of the 20th century old timber-framed houses, including the Low German house, were seen as increasingly valuable. As part of a renewed interest in the past, many buildings were restored and returned to residential use. In various towns and villages, such as Wolfsburg-Kästorf, Isernhagen and Dinklage, new timber-framed homes were built during the 1990s, whose architecture is reminiscent of the historic Hallenhäuser.
 
  
 +
These longhouses were typically 5 to 7 meters wide (16 to 23 feet) and anywhere from 15 to 75 meters long (50 to 250 feet), depending on the wealth and social position of the owner. A [[Viking]] chief would have a longhouse in the center of his farm.
  
 
== Notes ==
 
== Notes ==
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==References==
 
==References==
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* Bale, Martin T., and Min-jung Ko. "Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Pottery Period Korea." ''Asian Perspectives'' 45(2) (2006):159-187.
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* Castleden, Rodney. ''The Stonehenge People: An Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 BC''. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 978-0415040655
+
* Castleden, Rodney. ''The Stonehenge People: An Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 B.C.E.''. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 978-0415040655
 
* Dawson, Barry, and John Gillow. ''The Traditional Architecture of Indonesia''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994. ISBN 978-0500341322
 
* Dawson, Barry, and John Gillow. ''The Traditional Architecture of Indonesia''. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994. ISBN 978-0500341322
 
* Dickson, M.G. ''Sarawak and its People''. Borneo Literature Bureau, 1964.
 
* Dickson, M.G. ''Sarawak and its People''. Borneo Literature Bureau, 1964.
 +
* Elkins, T.H. ''Germany''. London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. {{ASIN|B0011Z9KJA}}
 +
* Fenton, Alexander. ''The Arnol Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis''. Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 978-1903570852
 +
* Fox, James J. (ed.). ''Inside Austronesian Houses''. Canberra: The Australian National University, 1993. ISBN 978-0731515950
 
* Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. ''The Fish People: Linguistic Exogamy and Tukanoan Identity in Northwest Amazonia''. Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0521278225  
 
* Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. ''The Fish People: Linguistic Exogamy and Tukanoan Identity in Northwest Amazonia''. Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0521278225  
 
* Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. "Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians" in Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds.) ''Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking''. Cambridge University Press, 1989, 50–64. ISBN 978-0521379335
 
* Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. "Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians" in Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds.) ''Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking''. Cambridge University Press, 1989, 50–64. ISBN 978-0521379335
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== External links ==
 
== External links ==
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All links retrieved June 13, 2011.
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All links retrieved November 3, 2022.
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* [http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/constructiontwo.html Longhouses] A Mohawk Iroquois Village, New York State Museum
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* [http://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/iroquoisvillage/ A Mohawk Iroquois Village], New York State Museum
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* [http://www.peace4turtleisland.org/pages/longhouse.htm The Longhouse] Article by Kanatiyosh
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* [http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lewis/blackhousemuseum/ Blackhouse Museum]
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* [http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312452/Longhouses.htm Iroquoian Longhouse] Royal Ontario Museum
 
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* [http://www.iroquoismuseum.org/housing.htm Housing] Iroquois Indian Museum
 
  
 
{{Native American Housing}}
 
{{Native American Housing}}
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{{Credits|Long_house|258014454|Native_American_long_house|260018015|Uma_longhous|431810658|Neolithic_long_house|429914722|Low_German_house|433149802|Dartmoor_longhouse|426015221}}
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{{Prehistoric technology}}
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{{Credits|Long_house|258014454|Native_American_long_house|260018015|Uma_longhous|431810658|Neolithic_long_house|429914722|Low_German_house|433149802|Dartmoor_longhouse|426015221|Blackhouse_(building)|439433079}}

Latest revision as of 07:52, 9 March 2023

An Iroquois longhouse

A longhouse or long house is a type of long, narrow, single-room building built by peoples in various parts of the world. Many were built from timber and represent the earliest form of permanent structure in many cultures. Ruins of prehistoric longhouses have been found in Asia and Europe. Numerous cultures in medieval times built longhouses. Indigenous peoples of the Americas, particularly the Iroquois on the East coast and the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, have significant longhouse traditions which continue to this day.

Longhouses are large structures, built with the materials available in the local environment, that can house multiple families (usually related as an extended family), or a single family with their livestock. Large longhouses can also be used for community gatherings or ceremonies. While the traditional structures were often dark, smoky, and smelly, the design is practical both in physical and social aspects.

The Americas

Did you know?
Native American longhouses serve a symbolic as well as practical purpose

In North America two types of longhouse were developed: The Native American longhouse of the tribes usually connected with the Iroquois in the northeast, and the type used by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The South American Tucano people also live in multifamily longhouses.

Interior of a longhouse with Chief Powhatan (detail of John Smith map, 1612)
Later day Iroquois longhouse housing several hundred people

Iroquois and other East Coast longhouses

Tribes or ethnic groups in the northeast of North America, south and east of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie that had traditions of building longhouses include the Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee which means "people of the longhouse") originally of the Five Nations Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Mohawk and later including the Tuscarora. Archaeological evidence shows that Iroquois longhouse construction dates to at least 1100 C.E.[1] Other East Coast tribes that lived in longhouses include the Wyandot and Erie tribes, as well as the Pamunkey in Virginia. Some Algonquian tribes, such as the Lenni Lenape and the Mahican, built longhouses in addition to wigwams, using the longhouses for council meetings.[2]

Longer than they were wide (hence their English name), the Iroquois longhouses had openings at both ends that served as doors and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. A typical longhouse was about 80 feet (24 m) long by 20 feet (6.1 m) wide by 20 feet (6.1 m) high and served as a multi-family dwelling. They might be added to as the extended family grew.

The components for constructing a longhouse were readily available in the forests. Small trees (saplings) with straight trunks were cut and their bark stripped to make the framework for the walls. Strong but flexible trees were used while still green to make the curved rafters. The straight poles were set in the ground and supported by horizontal poles along the walls. Strips of bark lashed the poles together. The roof was made by bending a series of poles, resulting in an arc-shaped roof.[3] The frame was covered by large pieces of bark about 4 feet (1.2 m) wide by 8 feet (2.4 m) long, sewn in place and layered as shingles, and reinforced by light poles. There were centrally located firepits and the smoke escaped through ventilation openings, later singly dubbed as a smoke hole, positioned at intervals along the roofing of the longhouse.[2]

The longhouses were divided into sections for different families, who slept on raised platforms, several of whom shared a fire in the central aisle. In an Iroquois longhouse there may have been twenty or more families which were all related through the mothers' side, along with the other relatives. Each longhouse had their clan symbol, a turtle, bear, or hawk, for example, placed over the doorway. Several longhouses constituted a village, which was usually located near water and surrounded by a palisade of tall walls made from sharpened logs for protection.

Longhouses were temporary structures that were typically used for a decade or two. A variety of factors, both environmental and social, would lead to a relocation of the settlement and construction of new longhouses.[4]

The Haudenosaunee view the longhouse as a symbol of the Iroquois Confederacy, which extended like one large longhouse across their territory. The Mohawk who lived in the eastern end of the territory are the "Keepers of the Eastern Door" and the Seneca who live in the west, the "Keepers of the Western Door." Representing the Five Nations, five (later six to include the Tuscarora) ventilation holes were created in the roof of each longhouse.

Today, with the adoption of the single family home, longhouses are no longer used as dwellings but they continue to be used as meeting halls, theaters, and places of worship.

The Longhouse Religion, known as The Code of Handsome Lake or Gaihwi:io (Good Message in Seneca and Onondaga), was founded in 1799 by the Seneca Chief Handsome Lake (Ganioda'yo) who designated the longhouse structure as their place of worship.

Northwest Coast longhouses

A longhouse with totem pole at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast built their houses facing the ocean, using cedar wood. Tribes along the North American Pacific coast with a tradition of building longhouses include the Haida, Tsimshian, Tlingit, Makah, Clatsop, Coast Salish, and Multnomah people.

Longhouses were made from cedar logs or split log frame and covered with split log planks. Planks were also used for flooring. The roofs were plank-covered, sometimes with an additional bark cover. Roof types included gable and gambrel, depending on location. The gambrel roof was unique to Puget Sound Coast Salish.[5]

Each longhouse contained a number of booths along both sides of the central hallway, separated by wooden containers (akin to modern drawers). Each booth also had its own individual fire. There was one doorway, usually facing the shore. The front was often very elaborately decorated with an integrated mural of numerous drawings of faces and heraldic crest icons of raven, bear, whale, etc. A totem pole was often situated outside the longhouse, though the style varied greatly, and sometimes was even used as part of the entrance way.

The size of a home depended on the wealth of the owner, with the larger houses furnishing living quarters for up to 100 people. Within each house, a particular family had a separate cubicle. Each family had its own fire, with the families also sharing a communal central fire in the household. Usually an extended family occupied one longhouse, and cooperated in obtaining food, building canoes, and other daily tasks.

The wealthy built extraordinarily large longhouses, also known as "bighouses." The Suquamish Old Man House, built around 1850 at what became the Port Madison Reservation, and home of Chief Seattle, was 500 feet (150 m) x 40 feet (12 m)–60 feet (18 m).[5]

South America

In South America the Tucano people of Colombia and northwest Brazil traditionally combine a household in a single longhouse. The Tucano are a group of indigenous South Americans living in the northwestern Amazon, along the Vaupés River and the surrounding area. They are present in both Colombia and Brazil, although most live on the Colombian side of the border. They are usually described as being made up of many separate tribes, although the appellation is somewhat problematic due to the complex social and linguistic structure of the region.

Like most other groups of the Vaupés system, they are an exogamous patrilineal and patrilocal descent group, with a segmentary social structure. The constitutive groups live in isolated settlements in units of four to eight families dwelling in multifamily longhouses.[6] Their practice of linguistic exogamy means that members of a linguistic descent group marry outside their own linguistic descent group. As a result, it is normal for Tucano people to speak two, three, or more Tucanoan languages, and any Tucano household (longhouse) is likely to be host to numerous languages. The descent groups (sometimes referred to as tribes) all have their accompanying language.

Asia

Longhouses of various sorts have been used by numerous ethnic groups throughout Asia, from prehistoric times until today. The following are a few examples of cultures that have used longhouses and some that continue to do so.

Prehistoric

Korea

In Daepyeong, an archaeological site of the Mumun pottery period in Korea longhouses have been found that date to circa 1100-850 B.C.E. Their layout seems to be similar to those of the Iroquois with several fireplaces arranged along the longitudinal axis of the building, indicating that the occupants were likely members of an extended household.[7]

Later the ancient Koreans started raising their buildings on stilts, so that the inner partitions and arrangements are somewhat obscure. However, the size of the buildings and their placement within the settlements suggests they were buildings for the nobles of their society or some sort of community or religious buildings. In Igeum-dong, an excavation site in South Korea, the large longhouses, 29 and 26 meters long, are situated between the megalithic cemetery and the rest of the settlement.

Traditional to Contemporary

Borneo
A Modern Iban Longhouse in Kapit Division

Many of the inhabitants of the Southeast Asian island of Borneo (now Kalimantan, Indonesia, and States of Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia), the Dayak, live in traditional longhouses, Rumah panjang in Malay, rumah panjai in Iban. They are built raised off the ground on stilts and are divided by a wall running along the length of the building into a more or less public area along one side and a row of private living quarters lined along the other side.

The private units, bilik, each have a single door for each family. They are usually divided from each other by walls of their own and contain the living and sleeping spaces. The kitchens, dapor, sometimes reside within this space but are quite often situated in rooms of their own, added to the back of a bilik or even in a building standing a little away from the longhouse and accessed by a small bridge due to the fear of fire, as well as reducing smoke and insects attracted to cooking from gathering in living quarters.

The corridor itself is divided into three parts. The space in front of the door, the tempuan, belongs to each bilik unit and is used privately. This is where rice can be pounded or other domestic work can be done. A public corridor, a ruai, basically used like a village road, runs the whole length in the middle of the open hall. Along the outer wall is the space where guests can sleep, the pantai. On this side a large veranda, a tanju, is built in front of the building where the rice (padi) is dried and other outdoor activities can take place. Under the roof is a sort of attic, the sadau, that runs along the middle of the house under the peak of the roof. Here the padi, other food, and other things can be stored. Sometimes the sadau has a sort of gallery from which the life in the ruai can be observed. The livestock, usually pigs and chickens, live underneath the house between the stilts.

The design of these longhouses is elegant: being raised, flooding presents little inconvenience. Being raised, cooling air circulates and having the living area above ground locates it where any breeze is more likely. Livestock shelter underneath the longhouse for greater protection from predators and the elements. The raised structure also provides security and defense against attack as well as facilitating social interaction while still allowing for privacy in domestic life. These advantages may account for the persistence of this type of design in contemporary Borneo societies.[8]

The houses built by the different tribes and ethnic groups differ somewhat from each other. Houses described as above may be used by the Iban Sea Dayak and Melanau Sea Dayak. Similar houses are built by the Bidayuh, Land Dayak, however with wider verandas and extra buildings for the unmarried adults and visitors. The buildings of the Kayan, Kenyah, Murut, and Kelabit used to have fewer walls between individual bilik units. The Punan seem to be the last ethnic group that adopted this type of house building. The Rungus of Sabah in north Borneo build a type of longhouse with rather short stilts, the house raised three to five feet of the ground, and walls sloped outwards.

In modern times many of the older longhouses have been replaced with buildings using more modern materials but of similar design. In areas where flooding is not a problem, beneath the longhouse between the stilts, which was traditionally used for a work place for tasks such as threshing, has been converted into living accommodation or has been closed in to provide more security.

Siberut
An Uma, the traditional communal house of the Mentawai

Uma are traditional houses of the Sakuddei found on the western part of the island of Siberut in Indonesia. The island is part of the Mentawai islands off the west coast of Sumatra.

Uma longhouses are rectangular with a verandah at each end. They can be as much as 300 square meters (3,200 sq ft) in area. Villages are located along the river banks and made up of one or more communal Uma longhouses, as well as single-storey family houses known as lalep. Villages house up to 300 people and the larger villages were divided into sections along patrilineal clans of families each with their own uma.

Built on piles or stilts, the uma traditionally have no windows. The insides are separated into different dwelling spaces by partitions which usually have inter-connecting doors. The front has an open platform serving as main entrance place followed by a covered gallery. The inside is divided into two rooms, one behind the other. On the back there is another platform. The whole building is raised on short stilts about half a meter off the ground. The front platform is used for general activities while the covered gallery is a favorite place for the men to host guests, and the men usually sleep there. The first inside room is entered by a door and contains a central communal hearth and a place for dancing. There are also places for religious and ritual objects and activities. In the adjoining room the women and their small children as well as unmarried daughters sleep, usually in compartments divided into families. The platform on the back is used by the women for their everyday activities. Visiting women usually enter the house from the back.

Vietnam
A Mnong longhouse in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.

The Mnong people of Vietnam also have a tradition of building long houses (Nhà dài) from bamboo with a grass roof. In contrast to the jungle versions of Borneo these have shorter stilts and use a veranda in front of a short (gable) side as main entrance.

Nepal

The Tharu people are indigenous people living in the Terai plains on the border of Nepal and India in the region known as the Tarai.[9] These people continue to live in longhouses which may hold up to 150 people. Their longhouses are built of mud with lattice walls. The Tharu women cover the outer walls and verandahs with colorful paintings. Some of the paintings may be purely decorative, while others are dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses.[10]

Europe

Moirlanich Longhouse in Glen Lochay near Killin in Scotland. An example of a Scottish longhouse - a type of building in which a family and their livestock lived under one roof.

Longhouses have existed in Europe since prehistoric times. Some were large, capable of housing multiple families; others were smaller and were used by a single family together with their livestock, or for storage of cereal grains.

Prehistoric

There are two European longhouse types that are now extinct.

The Neolithic long house

The Neolithic longhouse was a long, narrow timber dwelling built by the first farmers in Europe beginning at least as early as the period 5000 to 6000 B.C.E.[11] This type of architecture represents the largest free-standing structure in the world in its era.

It is thought that these Neolithic houses had no windows and only one doorway. The end farthest from the door appears to have been used for grain storage, with working activities being carried out in the better lit door end and the middle used for sleeping and eating. Structurally, the Neolithic long house was supported by rows of large timbers holding up a pitched roof. The walls would not have supported much weight and would have been quite short beneath the large roof. Sill beams ran in foundation trenches along the sides to support the low walls. The long houses would measure around 20 meters (66 ft) in length and 7 meters (23 ft) in width and could have housed twenty or thirty people.

The Balbridie timber house in what is present day Aberdeenshire, Scotland offers an outstanding example of these early structures. This was a rectangular structure with rounded ends, measuring 24 meters (79 ft) x 12 meters (39 ft), it was originally thought to be post-Roman, but radiocarbon dating of charred cereal grains established dates from 3900-3500 B.C.E., falling into the early Neolithic.[12] Archaeological excavations have revealed extant timber postholes that delineate the support pieces of the original structure. This site is strategically located in a fertile agricultural area along the River Dee very close to an ancient strategic ford of the river and also near an ancient timber trackway known as the Elsick Mounth.[13]

The Germanic cattle farmer longhouse

These longhouses emerged along the southwestern North Sea coast in the third or fourth century B.C.E. and might be the ancestors of several medieval house types such as the Scandinavian langhus and the German and Dutch Fachhallenhaus, although there is no evidence of a direct connexion.

This European longhouse first appeared during the period of the Linear Pottery culture about 7,000 years ago and has been discovered during the course of archaeological excavations in widely differing regions across Europe, including the Ville ridge west of Cologne. The longhouse differed from later types of house in that it had a central row of posts under the roof ridge. It was therefore not three- but four-aisled. To start with, cattle were kept outside overnight in Hürden or pens. With the transition of agriculture to permanent fields the cattle were brought into the house, which then became a so-called Wohnstallhaus or byre-dwelling.

Medieval

There are several medieval European longhouse types, some have survived, including the following:

British Isles
  • The Dartmoor longhouse

This is a type of traditional home, found on the high ground of Dartmoor, in the south west of the United Kingdom. The earliest were small, oblong, one storied buildings that housed both the farmer and his livestock and are thought to have been built in the thirteenth century, and they continued to be constructed throughout the medieval period, using local granite.[14] Many longhouses are still inhabited today (although obviously adapted over the centuries), while others have been converted into farm buildings.

Sketch of a seventeenth century Dartmoor longhouse.

The Dartmoor longhouse consists of a long, single-storey granite structure, with a central 'cross-passage' dividing it into two rooms, one to the left of the cross-passage and the other to the right. The one at the higher end of the building was occupied by the human inhabitants; their animals were kept in the other, especially during the cold winter months. The animal quarters were called the 'shippon' or 'shippen'; a word still used by many locals to describe a farm building used for livestock.

A 1735 Welsh longhouse in the Dartmoor style

Early longhouses would have had no chimney—the smoke from a central fire simply filtered through the thatched roof. Windows were very small or non-existent, so the interior would have been dark. The cross-passage had a door at either end, and with both of these open a breeze was often created which made it an ideal location for winnowing.

This simple floor plan is clearly visible at the abandoned medieval village at Hound Tor, which was inhabited from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Excavations during the 1960s revealed four longhouses, many featuring a central drainage channel, and several smaller houses and barns.

In later centuries, the longhouses were adapted and expanded, often with the addition of an upper floor and a granite porch to protect against the elements. Substantial fireplaces and chimneys were also added, and can be seen at many of the surviving Dartmoor longhouses today.

Higher Uppacott, one of the few remaining longhouses to retain its original unaltered shippon, is a Grade I listed building, and is now owned by the Dartmoor National Park Authority.[15]

  • Clay Dabbins of the Solway Plain

Clay houses have been built on the Solway Plain in the northwest of Cumbria, England since medieval times. These buildings originated as single-storey longhouses, built in the style of the Middle Ages and housing family and stock in a single, undivided building open to the roof, with an open fire in the floor of the domestic end and no chimney. Mud was used for the walls rather than timber or stone due to the shortage of those materials; most of the Solway Plain has been overlain by a thick layer of boulder clay since the last Ice Age.[16]

  • The Scottish "Blackhouse"
The Blackhouse Museum, Arnol

The "Blackhouse" or taighean dubha is a traditional type of house which used to be common in Highlands of Scotland and the Hebrides.[17]

The buildings were generally built with double wall dry-stone walls packed with earth and wooden rafters covered with a thatch of turf with cereal straw or reed. The floor was generally flagstones or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape though. Instead the smoke made its way through the roof. The blackhouse was used to accommodate livestock as well as people. People lived at one end and the animals lived at the other with a partition between them.

The Isle of Lewis examples have clearly been modified to survive in the tough environment of the Outer Hebrides. Low rounded roofs, elaborately roped were developed to resist the strong Atlantic winds and thick walls to provide insulation and to support the sideways forces of the short driftwood roof timbers.[18]

France
  • The French longère

This was the house of peasants (and their animals) throughout Western France, as evidenced particularly in Brittany, Normandy, Mayenne, and Anjou. A narrow house, it extends lengthwise with its openings placed more often in a long wall than in a gable wall. The livestock were confined to the end opposite the hearth.[19]

Germany
  • The Low German house (Fachhallenhaus)

The Low German house appeared during the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries. Until its decline in the nineteenth century, this rural, agricultural farmhouse style was widely distributed through the North German Plain, all the way from the Lower Rhine to Mecklenburg. Even today, the Fachhallenhaus still characterizes the appearance of many north German villages.

Dat ole Huus in Wilsede dating to about 1540
Historic photo (ca. 1895) of a thatched Fachhallenhaus in Ausbüttel near Gifhorn, built in 1779

The Low German house or Fachhallenhaus is a type of German timber-framed farmhouse, which combines living quarters, byre and barn under one roof.[20]. It is built as a large hall with bays on the sides for livestock and storage and with the living accommodation at one end. Similar in construction to the neolithic longhouse, its roof structure rested as before on posts set into the ground and was therefore not very durable or weight-bearing. As a result these houses already had rafters, but no loft to store the harvest. The outer walls were only made of wattle and daub (Flechtwerk).

By the Carolingian era, houses built for the nobility had their wooden, load-bearing posts set on foundations of wood or stone. Such uprights, called Ständer, were very strong and lasted several hundred years. These posts were first used for farmhouses in northern Germany from the thirteenth century, and enable them to be furnished with a load-bearing loft. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the design of the timber-framing was further perfected.

From the outset, and for a long time thereafter, people and animals were accommodated in different areas within a large room. Gradually the living quarters were separated from the working area and animals. The first improvements were separate sleeping quarters for the farmer and his family at the rear of the farmhouse. Sleeping accommodation for farmhands and maids was created above (in Westphalia) or next to (in Lower Saxony and Holstein) the livestock stalls at the sides. As the demand for comfort and status increased, one or more rooms would be heated. Finally the stove was moved into an enclosed kitchen rather than being in a Flett or open hearth at the end of the hall.

By the end of the nineteenth century this type of farmhouse was outmoded. What was once its greatest advantage—having everything under a single roof—now led to its decline. Rising standards of living meant that the smells, breath, and manure from the animals was increasingly viewed as unhygienic. In addition the living quarters became too small for the needs of the occupants. Higher harvest returns and the use of farm machinery in the Gründerzeit led to the construction of modern buildings. The old stalls under the eaves were considered too small for cattle. Since the middle of the nineteenth century fewer and fewer of these farmhouses were built and some of the existing ones were converted to adapt to new circumstances.

The Low German house is still found in great numbers in the countryside. Most of the existing buildings have however changed over the course of the centuries as modifications have been carried out. Those farmhouses that have survived in their original form are mainly to be found in open air museums like the Westphalian Open Air Museum at Detmold (Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold) and the Cloppenburg Museum Village (Museumsdorf Cloppenburg). At the end of the twentieth century old timber-framed houses, including the Low German house, were seen as increasingly valuable. As part of a renewed interest in the past, many buildings were restored and returned to residential use. In various towns and villages, such as Wolfsburg-Kästorf, Isernhagen, and Dinklage, new timber-framed homes were built during the 1990s, whose architecture is reminiscent of the historic Hallenhäuser.

Scandinavia
A photograph of Þjóðveldisbærinn in Iceland, a reconstruction of the Viking Longhouse Stöng.
  • The Scandinavian or Viking Langhus

Throughout the Norse lands (medieval Scandinavia including Iceland) people lived in longhouses (langhús). These were built with a stone base and wooden frame, and turf covering the roof and walls. In regions that had a limited supply of wood, such as Iceland, the walls were made from turf.[21]

These longhouses were typically 5 to 7 meters wide (16 to 23 feet) and anywhere from 15 to 75 meters long (50 to 250 feet), depending on the wealth and social position of the owner. A Viking chief would have a longhouse in the center of his farm.

Notes

  1. ↑ Lee Sultzman, Iroquois History. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Carl Waldman, Atlas of the North American Indian (New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2009, ISBN 978-0816068593), 59.
  3. ↑ New York State Museum, Longhouses. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  4. ↑ John Ferguson, Longhouses and Archaeology, presentation by Dean Snow, April 27, 1995. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Wayne P. Suttles and William C. Sturtevant (eds.), Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast (Smithsonian Institution, 1990, ISBN 978-0160203909), 491.
  6. ↑ Jean Elizabeth Jackson, "Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians," 53.
  7. ↑ Martin T. Bale and Min-jung Ko, "Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Pottery Period Korea," Asian Perspectives 45(2) (2006):159-187.
  8. ↑ James J. Fox (ed.), Inside Austronesian Houses (Canberra: The Australian National University, 1993, ISBN 978-0731515950).
  9. ↑ The Tharu Page www.macalester.edu. Retrieved June 15, 2011
  10. ↑ Kurt W. Meyer and Pamela Deuel, The Tharu of the Tarai www.asianart.com (March 1997). Retrieved June 15, 2011.
  11. ↑ Rodney Castleden, The Stonehenge People: An Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 B.C.E. (Routledge, 1992, ISBN 978-04150406551987).
  12. ↑ Peter Rowley-Conwy, Great Sites: Balbridie British Archaeology 64 (April 2002). Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  13. ↑ C. Michael Hogan, Elsick Mounth: Ancient Trackway in Scotland in Aberdeenshire The Megalithic Portal, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  14. ↑ The Longhouses of Dartmoor Legendary Dartmoor. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  15. ↑ Interactive Visit to Higher Uppacott Virtually Dartmoor.
  16. ↑ Nina Jennings, The Building of the Clay Dabbins of the Solway Plain: Materials and Man-Hours Vernacular Architecture 33 (2002): 19-27. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  17. ↑ The Blackhouse of the Highlands Dualchas Building Design, 2001. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  18. ↑ Alexander Fenton, The Arnol Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis (Historic Scotland, 2005, ISBN 978-1903570852).
  19. ↑ Christian Lassure, The Vernacular Architecture of France 2006. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  20. ↑ T.H. Elkins, Germany (London: Chatto & Windus, 1972), 266.
  21. ↑ William R. Short, Longhouses Hurstwic. Retrieved July 27, 2011.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Bale, Martin T., and Min-jung Ko. "Craft Production and Social Change in Mumun Pottery Period Korea." Asian Perspectives 45(2) (2006):159-187.
  • Castleden, Rodney. The Stonehenge People: An Exploration of Life in Neolithic Britain 4700-2000 B.C.E.. Routledge, 1992. ISBN 978-0415040655
  • Dawson, Barry, and John Gillow. The Traditional Architecture of Indonesia. London: Thames and Hudson, 1994. ISBN 978-0500341322
  • Dickson, M.G. Sarawak and its People. Borneo Literature Bureau, 1964.
  • Elkins, T.H. Germany. London: Chatto & Windus, 1972. ASIN B0011Z9KJA
  • Fenton, Alexander. The Arnol Blackhouse, Isle of Lewis. Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 978-1903570852
  • Fox, James J. (ed.). Inside Austronesian Houses. Canberra: The Australian National University, 1993. ISBN 978-0731515950
  • Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. The Fish People: Linguistic Exogamy and Tukanoan Identity in Northwest Amazonia. Cambridge University Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0521278225
  • Jackson, Jean Elizabeth. "Language Identity of the Vaupés Indians" in Richard Bauman and Joel Sherzer (eds.) Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking. Cambridge University Press, 1989, 50–64. ISBN 978-0521379335
  • Metcalf, Peter. The Life of the Longhouse: An Archaeology of Ethnicity. Cambridge University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0521110983
  • Morrison, Hedda. Life in a Longhouse. Singapore: Summer Times, 1988. ISBN 978-9971976026
  • Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0195138771
  • Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo. Rainforest Shamans. Green Books Ltd., 1997. ISBN 978-0952730248
  • Suttles, Wayne P., and William C. Sturtevant (eds.). Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast. Smithsonian Institution, 1990. ISBN 978-0160203909
  • Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0816062744
  • Waldman, Carl. Atlas of the North American Indian. New York, NY: Checkmark Books, 2009. ISBN 978-0816068593
  • Whittle, A.W.R. Europe in the Neolithic: The Creation of New Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 978-0521449205

External links

All links retrieved November 3, 2022.

Native American Housing
Prehistoric technology
Architectural
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