What type of dwellings did the iroquois live in

Descriptions made by these explorers and missionaries record early changes to longhouse and longhouse village architecture introduced by the use of European metal tools, particularly, trade axes, and by Europeans themselves who at times remodeled longhouses for their own and special uses.

The most detailed description available to us is that of another Jesuit missionary, Reverend Father Joseph-Francois Lafitau. It dates to the s and was written at the Mohawk Iroquois mission community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. Later, travelers among the New York Iroquois, like John Bartram and Conrad Weiser, described some of the last of the long-longhouses, built of post, poles, and saplings, and covered in bark. By this date s many Iroquois were living together in smaller extended families, requiring smaller, or at least shorter longhouse quarters.

These were built on the traditional pattern and of traditional materials, while the homes of some neighbors were log cabins of hewn or peeled logs and with bark roofs. A longhouse has a framework built of posts and poles and is covered with sheets of bark. The following description is based on many different sources of information. 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. Figure 2. An archeological excavation. Archeologists have carefully removed the soil a little at a time to reveal evidence of village life.

They set stakes where interesting things are found and make notes describing them. Then they make a map to show how things were arranged. The group of stakes near the young man with the hoe shows where post molds were found. These are the circular stains left when a post rotted away. Notice three that have not yet had stakes driven in them. Iroquois longhouses ranged in length from 30 to several hundred feet.

Archeologists have found the post hole patterns of two longhouses that were feet and feet long: longer than a football field, and even longer than a city block! However, a typical Iroquois longhouse was to feet long. The length of a longhouse was determined by the size of the extended family that would live in it. The larger the family, the longer the longhouse needed to be. As the size of the extended family grew, because of more marriages, the building was enlarged to make room for the expanding population.

Longhouses were almost always about 20 feet wide and 20 feet high despite differences in their length. Seen from one end, the roof line of a typical Iroquois longhouse was rounded rather than peaked. There were two doors for the entire building, one at each end. There were no other doors in the building.

We know of one exception to this rule of two doors; one longhouse had an extra door in the middle. Longhouses were symmetrical about a centerline along their length. Inside, the right and left sides were identical. The ends were usually rounded and were used as storage areas, shared by the families living in the longhouse. Some longhouses had flat ends.

A flat-roofed shed or porch was built over the doorways at both ends of the longhouse. The length and interior space of the longhouse was divided up into compartments or apartments, which were 20 feet long. Two families lived in each compartment, one on each side of an aisle that ran down the center.

The aisle extended from one compartment to the next and ran the full length of the longhouse. The aisle was 10 feet wide and was a common space used by both families in the compartment. Figure 3. Interior of a longhouse. A fire was placed in the middle of the aisle in the center of each compartment for heating, cooking, and light.

Smoke escaped from a hole left in the roof above it. A sheet of bark could be adjusted to cover the smoke hole in bad weather. When the smoke hole was closed, the high ceiling in the building allowed some of the smoke to rise above the living space.

The two families shared the fire and the central aisle. Each family had its own space on one side of the aisle for sleeping and storage of personal items.

In the family space, a platform was built a foot or so above the floor to form a bench where they sat, slept and worked. It extended for most of the compartment's length. The platform bench was closed at the ends by partitions. Storage closets filled the spaces along the wall that were not occupied by the benches. Another platform of the same size was built about five feet above the bench like a bunk bed. This shelf completed a cubicle, which was heated by the fire that was in the aisle.

While longhouses are no longer used to house families, they remain important to Iroquoian history and culture. Many sacred ceremonies and cultural gatherings are still held in longhouses. Reconstructions of these historic structures can also be found in a variety of museums and cultural centres, such as the Museum of Ontario Archaeology and Sainte Marie Among the Hurons also in Ontario , where visitors can learn about the history of Iroquoian village life first-hand.

Munson and Susan M. Jamieson Museum of Ontario Archeology Visit this museum to see a reconstructed longhouse and experience what life in a longhouse might have been like years ago. Visit their site to learn more.

Ste Marie Among the Hurons Located near Midland, Ontario, this world-renowned reconstruction illustrates the interaction of the French and Wendat nations. Visitors get a unique opportunity to see the earliest Canadian pioneer life, through guided or self-guided visits, school group tours, interactive education programs, special events, and corporate functions.

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Many religions have a god who is strongest or most important, and in the Iroquois religion that central god was the Great Spirit also called the Great Chief or Great Mystery, depending on the tribe. The Iroquois fought the Algonquin and the Huron tribe. Young Iroquois boys trained for war, they worked on courage, strength, and skill with tomahawks, arrow, bows, and clubs.

The Iroquois people lived in longhouses. Longhouses were large wood-frame buildings covered with sheets of elm bark. The Iroquois of today live in modern houses and apartment buildings.

There were other tribes who spoke a similar language, but who were not part of the confederacy. For example, the Erie natives were related to the Iroquois. The Neolithic long house type was introduced with the first farmers of central and western Europe around BCE, 7, years ago. These were farming settlements built in groups of about six to twelve and were home to large extended families and kin.

Contemporary Uses While longhouses are no longer used to house families, they remain important to Iroquoian history and culture. Many sacred ceremonies and cultural gatherings are still held in longhouses. Longhouses were symmetrical about a centerline along their length.

Inside, the right and left sides were identical. The ends were usually rounded and were used as storage areas, shared by the families living in the longhouse.