The earliest examples of Iroquoian longhouses dating from AD 900 were probably two Woodland houses or wigwams joined along their sides. Wigwams typically had two hearths, each occupied by a family. The resulting combination would have resulted in four families uniting under one roof with each of two families sharing a central hearth. These two families occupied opposite sides of this new longhouse design allowing them some sense of privacy. The Iroquoian people built benches and racks along the walls on both sides for sleeping and storing personal belongings.

The Iroquoian longhouse was modular. Each module consisted of a lodge that contained one hearth occupied by two families. These lodges appear to have been in the order of 4 to 6 meters in length, however the length of the house could accommodate multiple number of lodges. In fact, the occupants could add additional lodges without affecting the structural integrity of the longhouse. The ends consisted of vestibules for storage of common items, and served as the only entrances to the longhouse interior. Some longhouses had porches with removable walls on the ends as well. This meant that except for their ends, the cross-sectional dimensions of the longhouse were somewhat uniform no matter how long it became. The Iroquoian people framed the longhouse with softwood tree trunk posts and beams, bound together with vegetable fibre lashings. Smaller tree trunks provided additional framing to complete the structure thus providing support for the skin covering. The covering was tree bark lashed to this framework. This provided a stable but flexible composite structure well suited to resist the elements while providing a roomy if not dark and smoky interior.

The Iroquoian longhouses increased in length substantially in the late 14th and early 15th century. Their length in the early 15th century ranged from a mean of 48m up to 124m. A number of causes have been cited for this growth, but the major reason was probably population increase aggravated by heightened warfare that caused people to congregate for protection in larger, palisaded, and fortified villages. However, early in the 16th century, longhouses started to become shorter. The length in the 16th century averaged only 29m with a maximum of about 37m. The following century, the average length was only 20m with a maximum of about 51m. The major contributions were sociopolitical change. This included the consolidation of clans and tribes, tribal confederacies that resulted in fewer inter-village raids and blood feuds, major health problems, and the risk of fire that the large longhouses presented.

I should point out that the skills to build structures such as Iroquoian longhouses are empirically learned, just as much of what we know today regarding structural engineering evolved empirically. From the possible first joining of two Woodland houses, the method of longhouse construction probably went through a transition of building methods and techniques. This finally resulted in the most reliable and economic methods to build longhouses that were safe and best suited for their occupants. These methods became the universal standards of the Iroquoian people. Availability of material that was workable with the tools used by the builders was important. Using lithic tools probably meant selecting materials that once cut to length required little or no further work. Material and methods of fastening the various components of the structure together presumably had similar significance. Finally, the structure's design selection also took into account the amount of maintenance that the longhouse required over its useful life.

Iroquoian longhouses had a limited time of use that appeared to vary from 10 to 20 years. Two often mentioned factors that contributed to the abandonment of longhouse villages include depletion of the soil for meaningful agriculture and depletion of surrounding wood lots that provided fuel to heat the longhouses and to cook food. I believe that there is a third major factor, the maintenance effort required to keep the longhouse structurally sound. As houses aged, their maintenance increased. Servicing rotting poles in the ground, the weakening internal framing, wall and roof covering, and fastenings must have been a major task. This meant that at a certain point, the Iroquoian people had to abandon their longhouses, individually or as complete villages. At some point, moving and building a new village at a new location was more economical than maintaining the old one, regardless of the availability of tillable soil and available wood for the hearth.

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Sunday, September 5, 2004