Earth Lodge - Use By Plains Native Americans

Use By Plains Native Americans

Earth lodges were a common dwelling for Native American tribes of the upper Midwest (specifically the Mandan, the Hidatsa and the Arikara). The origin of the upper-Midwest earth lodge is generally attributed to the Mandan tribe, who were sedentary farmers and traders. When the Hidatsa later arrived in the area, they adopted the earthen structures. The Arikara (a Caddoan-speaking Pawnee tribe) built earth lodges long before they arrived in North Dakota. These structures were a familiar sight to traders and explorers along the banks of the Little Missouri, and were found in city clusters of up to a thousand such homes.

These structures consisted of a clay outer shell over an inner shell of long grasses and a woven willow ceiling. The middle of the earth lodge was used as a fire pit, and a hole was built into the center. This smoke hole was often covered by a bullboat during inclement weather. Logs were gathered each spring as the ice receded and sheared them off; fresh logs were also cut. The most common wood used was cottonwood. Cottonwood was a wet, soft wood; this meant that lodges often required rebuilding every six to eight years.

Men only raised the large logs; the rest of the work was done by women. Therefore, a lodge was considered to be owned by the woman who built it. A vestibule of exposed logs marked the entrance and provided an entryway; these vestibules were often a minimum of 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 m) in length (determined by the size of the lodge and resulting outer-clay thickness). A windbreak was built on the interior of the lodge, blocking the wind and giving privacy to the occupants. Earth lodges often also contained cache pits (root cellar-type holes) lined with willow and grasses, within which dried vegetables were stored.

Earth lodges were often found alongside tribal farm fields, alternating with tipis (which were used during the nomadic hunting season). A reconstructed earth lodge can be seen at the Glenwood, Iowa Lake Park; an earth-lodge village may be seen at New Town, North Dakota. The village consists of six family-sized earth lodges and one large ceremonial lodge. In addition, a garden area and corrals have been built for authenticity. The park is open to the public and located west of New Town at the Earthlodge Village Site. The family earth lodges are roughly 40 feet (12 m) in diameter. The ceremonial earth lodge is more than 90 feet (27 m) in diameter, the largest such structure in the world. The park is the central point in a rebuilding and cultural renewal effort by the three affiliated tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. This is the only village of its kind to be constructed by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nations in over 100 years.