how was the iroquois longhouse built

To build the Iroquois

longhouse, the Indians set poles in the ground. Horizontal poles supported those poles. By bending a series of poles, the Iroquois were able to create an arc shaped roof for the longhouse.

Full Answer

Why is the longhouse so important to the Iroquois?

To the Iroquois people, the longhouse meant much more than the building where they lived. The longhouse was also a symbol for many of the traditions of their society. Five nations formed the original Iroquois Confederacy. These nations shared a territory they thought of as a large longhouse. Did the Iroquois live in longhouses?

What are some interesting facts about the Iroquois?

• Even though longhouses were more permanent structures, the village would move every 10 years or so to find fresh land and hunting grounds.
• Up to 60 people would live in a single longhouse.
• As long as there was food, no one ever went hungry in a village as food was freely shared.

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What were the facts about the Iroquois?

Iroquois Culture Facts

• Some common crafts include bead jewelry, porcupine quillwork, clay pipes, and the making of wampum out of beads both for trade and for art. ...
• As a musical instrument, rattles were made out of deer toes and hide but the most important instruments are the drums and the flute.
• The Iroquois are very well known for their masks. ...

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What are Iroquois long houses?

Longhouses were very long houses built by the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, where many related families lived together. Sometimes, 20 or more families lived in one longhouse. Most longhouses were usually about 180 to 220 feet long, or about the same length as two basketball courts put together.

What were Iroquois longhouses made out of?

The Iroquois lived in longhouses, large houses up to 100 feet in length usually made of elm bark. As many as 20 families shared the longhouse, with dozens of individuals and their dogs occupying the space.

How did Indians built longhouses?

To build the longhouse home, tall poles from trees were used to frame in the sides. At the top the natives used curved poles to build the roof. The roof and sides were then covered with overlapping pieces of bark, like shingles. This helped to keep the rain and wind out of their homes.

What was inside an Iroquois longhouse?

Braids of corn and sacks of other foods were hung in the high ceiling space. Other household goods were hung on the walls and partitions. The forests where the Iroquois lived provided them with plenty of posts, poles and bark that were the basic components of longhouse structure.

What were the key features of an Iroquois longhouse?

The Longhouse: The center of Iroquois life and the symbol of the League of Five Nations was the hodensote or longhouse. This was a large structure – up to 300 feet in length – framed with bent saplings and covered with bark. The average longhouse was 60 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 15 feet high.

How long did it take to build a longhouse?

It depends on what resources and materials were available. A possible estimate is one to two years (the reconstruction took one year to build), but we must also consider that the house seems to have been continually added to and maintained.

How many rooms are in a longhouse?

two roomsFrom front to back, such a house, called an "uma", regularly consists of an open platform serving as the 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.

Did longhouses have windows?

On either side of the central corridor (between the roof support columns and the walls), raised wooden benches topped with wooden planks ran the length of the longhouse. They provided a surface for sitting, eating, working, and sleeping. Typically, no windows were used in the house.

What is a unique fact about the longhouse?

But as long as they were, longhouses were usually only around 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide, which is about the same height as a tall giraffe. Unlike your house, which probably has nails holding it together, a longhouse was built of wooden poles and stakes that were tied together with leather strips.

How many smoke holes are in a longhouse?

Although similar to the Haida house, the longhouse did not need a smoke hole because there were enough small openings between the poles to let the smoke out. What did their front doors look like?

How many families could live in a longhouse?

An average size longhouse was too big for one family to live in. There were usually two families that shared each fire in the longhouse. The longhouse in the pictures has three fires, so six families could have lived here.

Why did the Iroquois build longhouses?

The Iroquois longhouse in particular is the topic here. Longhouses have another thing in common besides their shape: they were built to serve as a home for a large extended family. An extended family includes a number of family units consisting of parents and children, plus grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.

Where did the Iroquois build longhouses?

Iroquois and the other East Coast longhouses The Iroquois (Haudenosaunee or "People of the Longhouses") who resided in the Northeastern United States as well as Eastern Canada (Ontario and Quebec) built and inhabited longhouses.

How do you build a longhouse?

1:074:36HOMESCHOOL WITH ME: DIY LONGHOUSE - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBecause you never know you might end up building a longhouse with it. Okay benjamin can you tell meMoreBecause you never know you might end up building a longhouse with it. Okay benjamin can you tell me why we have holes on top of the longhouse.

How many families could live in a longhouse?

An average size longhouse was too big for one family to live in. There were usually two families that shared each fire in the longhouse. The longhouse in the pictures has three fires, so six families could have lived here.

What Indians live in longhouses?

Longhouses are Native American homes used by the Iroquois tribes and some of their Algonquian neighbors. They are built similarly to wigwams, with pole frames and elm bark covering. The main difference is that longhouses are much, much larger than wigwams.

What were Mohawk longhouses made of?

elm barkThe Mohawk people lived in villages of longhouses, which were large wood-frame buildings covered with sheets of elm bark.

When were longhouses first described?

Although firsthand descriptions of longhouses were published in the later 1500s and in the 1600s shortly after French, Dutch, and English explorers and missionaries returned home, most of these pamphlets and books are now very rare. Some personal and official accounts were not published at all. Fortunately, during the past century, interest in these descriptions led to their re- publication in English translation, with additional notes provided by their translator and editor. As you can see from the list of references above, Dr. Snow relied upon recent editions of these works, since these are more readily available. It does seem strange, however, to be reading a firsthand description dating to the 1600s of an Iroquois longhouse, and then see that it was published in the 1900s.

What is the longhouse architecture?

The design of the longhouse reflected the social organization of Iroquois culture, 300 - 500 years ago. Its architecture and construction are adapted to the raw materials available to the Iroquois in their immediate surroundings, and to the tools and technology in their possession.

Where did the Longhouses live?

Longhouses were the traditional homes for many of the farming tribes of American Indians that lived in southern New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The Iroquois people of upstate New York were among them. To the Iroquois people, the longhouse meant much more than the building where they lived.

What is a long house?

Longhouses are exactly that: long houses that have a long, narrow, rectangular shape. They have been built by many different cultures around the world. Long ago, Vikings lived in longhouses; today, some rice-farming people in Borneo live in them. All longhouses have the same general shape, but were built with different kinds of materials and by different methods. Longhouses were the traditional homes for many of the farming tribes of American Indians that lived in southern New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The Iroquois people of upstate New York were among them.

Why did the Iroquois bend their rafters?

The Iroquois probably bent their rafters from freshly cut trees, because green wood is much more flexible than dry. Fasteners: Holding the parts of a building together is an essential part of construction. Modern wooden houses are held together with steel nails, but the Iroquois had no nails.

How many nations were there in the Iroquois Confederacy?

Five nations formed the original Iroquois Confederacy. These nations shared a territory they thought of as a large longhouse. The Senecas, who lived in the western end of this territory, were the "Keepers of the Western Door" of the Longhouse.

Why did the women of the Iroquois clans work together?

The clan was the basic social and economic unit in Iroquois society and the leadership in the clans was through the women, because the kinship followed the mother's bloodline. The women managed the affairs of their longhouse, the farming, and distribution of food. They also selected the men who would represent their clan in the tribal council.

What is an Iroquois longhouse?

An Iroquois longhouse. Longhouses are exactly that: long houses that have a long, narrow, rectangular shape. They have been built by many different cultures around the world. Long ago, Vikings lived in longhouses; today, some rice-farming people in Borneo live in them.

Who described the Iroquoian longhouse?

Firsthand descriptions of longhouses made by European explorers, missionaries, and travelers provide information that adds to the archeological record and the languages and oral traditions of the Iroquoian peoples. Jacques Cartier described Iroquoian longhouse villages that he visited along the St. Lawrence River in the mid-1530s. His is the first written description of Iroquoian longhouses.

What are longhouses used for?

Longhouses have another thing in common besides their shape: they were built to serve as a home for a large extended family. An extended family includes a number of family units consisting of parents and children, plus grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. 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. All these families belonged to the same clan; each clan in a village had its own longhouse; the clans had branches in other villages. Clans were named for animals and birds; Turtle, Bear and Hawk are examples. The symbol for the clan was used in decorations of household objects, in tattoos, and on the front of the longhouse.

How do Iroquois build houses?

Instead, they tied or lashed their buildings together with long strips of bark, or with ropes made by braiding strips of bark. When the bark is fresh and wet, it is flexible and can be wound around poles and posts to tie them together. When it dries, it shrinks a little and becomes stiff, thereby tightening the joint. Useful strips of bark can be pulled off some trees for a brief period in the spring when the sap is flowing freely. Basswood and hickory trees are good. Because the sap did not flow all year, the Iroquois probably harvested the bark when they could, then kept it under water until needed.

What is the longhouse architecture?

The design of the longhouse reflected the social organization of Iroquois culture, 300 - 500 years ago. Its architecture and construction are adapted to the raw materials available to the Iroquois in their immediate surroundings, and to the tools and technology in their possession.

How long is a longhouse?

Archeologists have found the post hole patterns of two longhouses that were 364 feet and 400 feet long: longer than a football field, and even longer than a city block! However, a typical Iroquois longhouse was 180 to 220 feet long.

How did archeologists find long houses?

Archeologists explore sites of old Iroquois villages by digging carefully in the upper layers of the soil. At some of these sites, they found traces of many longhouses in the form of circular stains in the earth where wooden posts had once been set as a frame for a longhouse. When the posts rotted away long ago, they left these stains in the soil which are called post molds. The pattern of these post molds makes the outline of the missing longhouse.

What does the roof of the Iroquois Longhouse represent?

The features of the Iroquois longhouse have great symbolism to the Iroquois nation. The floor represents Mother Earth, while the roof represents the sky. The rafters represent the Great Law of Peace, under which the tribes live. Five smoke holes in the roof represent the five nations that make up the Iroquois Confederacy.

What tools did the Iroquois use to make their longhouse?

To create the longhouse, the Iroquois used stone axes to cut down trees and to cut and shape the logs. A tool known as an adz is similar in shape to a hoe but made like an ax. It was used to pare rough surfaces. They also used small knives made of flint for cutting, chisels made of deer antlers to dig holes, and bone tools as awls for piercing bark.

Who Lived in the Longhouses?

Inhabitants of the Iroquois longhouse were several families within a clan. Each clan consisted of the descendants of one particular person, usually a woman. There could be as many as twenty extended families living in one unit. One longhouse per clan was found in each village, though relatives could have longhouses in neighboring villages. Clans were not allowed to intermarry, so they had to find love in another abode. When a couple decided to marry, the husband would move out of his longhouse and into his wife’s building.

How Were They Built?

The structure of an Iroquois longhouse is made of posts (often from cedar trees) placed in holes dug into the ground. After vertical posts were in place, horizontal poles were attached, making a sort of grid. Other branches were bent to create the traditional curved roof. Strips of bark were braided together like a rope and used to tie all of these parts together. They were then covered with large sheets of elm bark, also tied or lashed together.

Where were the Iroquois Confederacy located?

The Iroquois Confederacy was a group of five Native American tribes that were peaked about 300-500 years ago. They were primarily located in Upstate New York. The Senecas were found in the west, the Mohawks in the east, and Onondagas in the center. The Cayuga and Oneidas were two other groups. When traveling through Upstate New York, you can find regions and cities named for these tribes.

How wide was the corridor in the Longhouse?

Running the entire length of the longhouse was a corridor that measured about ten feet wide. Two families would occupy a sort of apartment about twenty feet in length, with one family on either side of that aisle. These areas were used for family storage and as sleeping quarters. In the common area of the aisle was a fire for cooking and heat. Smoke could escape through a hole in the ceiling. These holes could be adjusted depending on the weather. They also served as skylights to bring in a bit of light as there were no windows.

How long were long houses?

Length was determined by the size of the clan that would inhabit the home. They were almost always 20 feet high and 20 feet wide. Rounded ends often served as storage areas. The only doors to the buildings were found in the two ends and were covered by skins in the winter. Later longhouses became shorter, as smaller extended families lived within them.

What is the Iroquois Longhouse?

Longhouses were homes that the Native Americans called Iroquois built and lived in. This lesson teaches you about these houses, how they were built, ...

Who built long houses?

Longhouses were very long houses built by the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, where many related families lived together. Sometimes, 20 or more families lived in one longhouse.

What did the Iroquois call their tribe?

The Iroquois is a name given to a league of six Native American nations that joined together, though they called themselves Haudenosaunee , which means people who live in longhouses. Longhouses were long, wooden houses where up to 20 or more related families lived together under one roof. These families shared a middle hallway where the fire pits were located, but each one had their own small room where they slept and stored their things, using furry animal skins and mats to keep the rooms warm and comfortable.

What did the Iroquois use to keep the cold out?

And though your walls are probably insulated to keep the cold out, the Iroquois had to use furry animal skins and mats on their walls as insulation. They also used those skins and mats on the wooden benches where they slept to make them softer. Lesson Summary.

What were the long houses called?

Longhouses were homes that the Native Americans called Iroquois built and lived in. This lesson teaches you about these houses, how they were built, and what it was like to live in one. Create an account.

What tribes were in the 1500s?

The Iroquois were a league of six Native American tribes in Canada and New York that joined together in the 1500s. While other Native Americans and settlers called members of the league the Iroquois, the name they used for themselves was Haudenosaunee, which loosely means ''people who live in longhouses.''.

How long is a longhouse?

Most longhouses were usually about 180 to 220 feet long, or about the same length as two basketball courts put together. But as long as they were, longhouses were usually only around 20 feet tall and 20 feet wide, which is about the same height as a tall giraffe.

What were the Iroquois longhouses made of?

Iroquois longhouses were found in the area that is now the state of New York. A longhouse had a framework built of posts and poles and was covered with sheets of bark. Different types of trees were used in various parts of the building. A strong stiff tree would be used for the outer posts. The rafters were made from young sapling trees that were flexible. The parts of the building were held together with long strips of bark or with ropes made by braiding strips of bark. Basswood and hickory trees were used for making the strips. The framework of the longhouse was covered with sheets of bark also. Trees whose bark could be peeled into large sheets were preferred. Elm bark was used if it was available. Another framework of small poles on the outside of the bark was used to hold the bark down, keep it flat, and to keep the wind from lifting it.

Who provided the diagramsand plan of a traditional Iroquois Longhouse?

The diagramsand plan of a traditional Iroquois Longhouse were provided by New York State Museum (<www.nysm.nysed.gov/IroquoisVillage/ >)

What trees were used to make longhouses?

Basswood and hickory trees were used for making the strips. The framework of the longhouse was covered with sheets of bark also. Trees whose bark could be peeled into large sheets were preferred. Elm bark was used if it was available.

How to calculate the area of a 6 family longhouse?

8. Calculate the area of a 6 family longhouse by multiplying the length and the width of your longhouse. Show your work.

How many doors were there in the Longhouse?

There were two doors for the entire building, one at each end. Longhouses were symmetrical around a centerline along their length. Inside, the right and left sides were identical. The length and interior space of the longhouse was divided into compartments, which were 20 feet long.

What was the interior of the Adobe house made of?

The interior of the adobe house was covered with whitewash, which consisted of ground gypsum rock, water, and clay. It was either brushed on the wall or applied with large pieces of course fabric such as burlap. The homes included a corner fireplace with a flue to direct smoke out of a room, a pantry where food was stored, and dome-shaped beehive ovens where harvests were baked before drying. Carved spaces for placing revered objects and built in clay benches were also common. Floors were made of packed earth with flooring materials placed directly on the earth. Some flooring materials used included earth brick, adobe brick, fired brick, tile, flagstone, and wood. Floor coverings included woven rugs.

How long is a typical longhouse?

A longhouse ranged in length from 30 feet to several hundred feet. A typical longhouse was 180 to 220 feet long. The length of a longhouse was determined by the size of the extended family that would live in it.

How many villages did the Iroquois have?

Each nation had between one and four villages at any one time, and villages were moved approximately every five to twenty years as soil and firewood were depleted. These settlements were surrounded by a palisade and usually located in a defensible area such as a hill, with access to water. Because of their appearance with the palisade, Europeans termed them castles. Villages were usually built on level or raised ground, surrounded by log palisades and sometimes ditches.

How did the Iroquois adopt?

The Iroquois have absorbed many other individuals from various peoples into individual families of their tribes as a result of warfare and adoption of captives, and offering shelter to displaced peoples. Culturally, when such adoptees become fully assimilated, they are considered full members of the families, clans and tribes into which they are adopted. Historically such adoptees have married into the tribes, and some have become chiefs or respected elders.

How did the Iroquois League tradition allow for the dead to be symbolically replaced?

The Iroquois League traditions allowed for the dead to be symbolically replaced through captives taken in "mourning wars", the blood feuds and vendettas that were an essential aspect of Iroquois culture. As a way of expediting the mourning process, raids were conducted to take vengeance and seize captives. Captives were generally adopted directly by the grieving family to replace the member (s) who had been lost.

When was the Iroquois Confederacy founded?

The Iroquois Confederacy or Haudenosaunee is believed to have been founded by the Great Peacemaker at an unknown date, estimated to have been sometime between 1450 and 1660 , bringing together five distinct nations in the southern Great Lakes area into "The Great League of Peace".

Where are the Iroquois?

The Iroquois ( / ˈɪrəkwɔɪ / or / ˈɪrəkwɑː /) or Haudenosaunee ( / ˈhoʊdənoʊˈʃoʊni /; "People of the Longhouse") are an indigenous confederacy in northeast North America. They were known during the colonial years to the French as the Iroquois League, and later as the Iroquois Confederacy. The English called them the Five Nations, ...

Where did the Iroquois League live?

The original Iroquois League (as the French knew them) or Five Nations (as the British knew them), occupied large areas of present-day New York State up to the St. Lawrence River, west of the Hudson River, and south into northwestern Pennsylvania.

Is "Iroquois" a Basque name?

More recently, Peter Bakker has proposed a Basque origin for "Iroquois".

Where did the longhouses originate?

In North America two groups of longhouses emerged: the Native American/First Nations longhouse of the tribes usually connected with the Iroquois in the northeast, and a similarly shaped structure which arose independently among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast.

Where did the Iroquois live?

Longhouses were the traditional homes for many of the farming tribes of American Indians that lived in southern New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The Iroquois people of upstate New York were among them. To the Iroquois people, the longhouse meant much more than the building where they lived.The longhouses inhabited by the Iroquois were wood boards/bark-covered structures of standardized design “in the shape of an arbor” about 6 to 7 metres wide providing shelter for several related families.

What was the name of the building that the Vikings lived in?

Vikings lived in a long, narrow building called a longhouse. Most had timber frames, with walls of wattle and daub and thatched roofs. Rooms were partially set off; one end of the longhouse might be used as a barn to keep cattle and horses in the winter as well as storage for crops and tools.

What were the first permanent structures built?

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 stone Medieval Dartmoor longhouse which also housed livestock, and the various types of longhouses built by different cultures among the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Where do the Tucano people live?

In South America, the Tucano people of Colombia and northwest Brazil traditionally combine a household in a single long house. The Xingu peoples of central Brazil build a series of longhouses in circular formations forming round villages. The ancient Tupi people of the Brazilian coast used to do this as well. The Yanomami people of Brazil and Venezuela build a round hut with a thatched roof that has a hole in the middle, called shabono, which could be considered a sort of longhouse.

Who Are The Iroquois?

The Longhouse

Who Lived in The longhouses?

How Were They built?

• The structure of an Iroquois longhouse is made of posts (often from cedar trees) placed in holes dug into the ground. After vertical posts were in place, horizontal poles were attached, making a sort of grid. Other branches were bent to create the traditional curved roof. Strips of bark were braided together like a rope and used to tie all of these...

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Symbolism

References