Earth lodge
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An earth lodge is a semi-subterranean building covered partially or completely with earth, best known from the Native American cultures of the Great Plains and Eastern Woodlands. Most earth lodges are circular in construction with a dome-like roof, often with a central or slightly offset smoke hole at the apex of the dome. Earth lodges are well-known from the more sedentary tribes of the Plains, such as the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara, but they have also been identified archaeologically among sites of the Mississippian culture in the Eastern United States.
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[edit] Structure
Earth lodges were typically constructed using a wattle and daub technique with a particularly thick coating of earth. The dome-like shape of the earth lodge was achieved by the use of angled or carefully bent tree trunks, although hipped roofs were also sometimes used. During construction, an area of land was first dug a few feet beneath the surface, allowing the entire building to have a floor somewhat beneath the surrounding ground level. Posts were set into holes in the ground around the edges of the earth lodge, and their tops met in or near the middle. The construction technique is sturdy, and can produce quite large buildings (some as much as 60 feet across) although size is limited somewhat by the length of available tree trunks. Internal vertical support posts were sometimes used to give additional structural support to the roof rafters.
After a strong layer of sticks or reeds was wrapped through and over the radiating roof timbers, a layer of thatch was often applied as part of the roof, although the structure was then entirely covered in earth. This earth layer provides insulation against extreme temperatures, as does the partially subterranean foundation.
[edit] Use by Plains Native Americans
Earth lodges were a common dwelling for Native American groups on the Great Plains. They were most often used as winter and spring dwellings near their farm fields, alternating with tipis during the nomadic hunting season of the year. A reconstructed earth lodge can be seen at the Glenwood, Iowa Lake Park.
[edit] Use by the Mississippian culture
A number of major Mississippian mound centers have identified earth lodges either beneath (i.e. preceding) the mound construction or as a mound-top building. Sequential constructions, collapses, and rebuilding of earth lodges seems to be part of the mechanism of construction for certain mounds, including the mound at Town Creek Indian Mound and some of the mounds at Ocmulgee National Monument.
In Kanabec County, Minnesota, there is a Groundhouse River. According to Newton H. Winchell in The Aborigines of Minnesota, the river was thus named due to the earth lodges of the Hidatsa, who lived in the area before being driven westward to the Missouri River by the Sioux. The Hidatsa lived in wooden huts covered with earth.
