Homes made of four posts and a thatched
roof. The floor would be raised off the ground to keep swamp critters, like snakes, outside.
A house shaped like a beehive
covered with long prairie grass.
A cone-shaped wooden frame
with a covering, usually made
of buffalo hide.
Some longhouses were nearly the length of a football field! They were built by tribes that lived in the colder climates of the northeast.
Where do you live? What do you call home? Do you live in a house? An apartment? A townhome? A condominium? Like you and me, Indigenous Americans lived in all sorts of dwellings that they called home. Today, many of these structures are still used for ceremonial events. Let’s visit some of them.
Also called pueblos, these houses were made of adobe and straw. Sometimes, these
houses would be carved into the face of a cliff.
Similar to a longhouse, this large building was home to several families. Plank houses were used in the northwest coastal areas.
Often small dome-shaped buildings using arched poles and covered with woven mats, sheets of birchbark, grass, hides, or cloth.