earth lodge
Dirt-covered home
An earth lodge is a dome-shaped dwelling built by certain Native American peoples, particularly Plains and Midwest tribes like the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Pawnee.
The structure consists of a wooden frame covered with layers of grass, branches, and packed earth, creating a semi-subterranean home that stays cool in summer and warm in winter.
Earth lodges typically housed extended families and could reach forty feet in diameter.
- timberWood for construction
- wooden postsVertical timber supports
- sodGrass-bound topsoil section
- domeRounded vault forming roof
- pitFruit's hard seed
clay · dirt floor · hearth · Great Plains · Mandan · Pawnee · fire · wall · smoke hole · beams · archaeological sites · winter quarters · thermal insulation · mound · sacred space · riverbanks · river valley · thatch
- dwellingshouse, home, apartment, cabin, cottage
- historic dwellingsmanor house, longhouse, log cabin, farmhouse, cottage
- ancient homesvilla, domus, insula, longhouse, roundhouse
- ancient shelterscave dwelling, cliff dwelling, longhouse, roundhouse, mud hut
- earthen structuresadobe, cob, mudbrick, earthen wall, adobe brick
- frontier dwellingslog cabin, sod house, dugout, frontier cabin, log house
earth lodgeteepee
Conical pole-and-hide shelter
tipi · tent · yurt · canvas tent · temporary shelter