Native American Shelters

Great Basin and West Coast

Many types of shelters were used by the native cultures of the Great Basin. One of the most common shelters made by these cultures were Conical dwellings. These shelters were used in a wide variety of environments. The Conical dwellings were made from a framework of tree poles bound together with vine stalks and covered with either brush, grass, or tule. This type of shelter is also known as a type of tipi. These shelters were fairly warm and safe. They held up under many of the weather conditions in which they were placed.

The Mogollon pit house was built partly underground. These shelters were widely used on the western coast of present day California all the way up to the edge of the northwest area. Mogollon shelters had mud plastered roofs supported by a frame work of tree saplings. The partly underground shelter constructions were great for all kinds of climate. These shelters provided excellent insulation against the harshest elements of nature. Mogollon shelters could protect people from a range of 100 degrees F to about the freezing point at night. The cultures who lived in these Mogollon shelters rarely had more than 30 in a village. This was because the Mogollon shelters were not specifically created to support large settlements.

The village patterns of the Great Basin and West were as varied as the environments which enveloped them. In the areas of the Far West including California and its northern neighbors, the popular form of housing was that of the pit house or similar forms of earth houses. The villages which were comprised of these houses were relatively small in size and were made up of family bands. Only during special occasions did groups of independent families come together. Such activities as large rabbit hunts would bring together different families for several purposes other than subsistence. It was a social event for the sharing of news and information and for finding mates. Since the culture was generally a wandering one, consisting of hunting and gathering, most of the sites were abandoned with the change of seasons.

Another form of housing is that of Conical or Tipi. Villages consisting of these forms of housing were also generally small and spread out. Mobility was of utmost importance in following game which was the staple form of subsistence. Fish was probably the most important form of food for these hunting and gathering peoples. Thus, the cultures of this area utilized the spawning season for salmon and dried these fish for use during nonproductive hunting periods. With the possible exception of the oak tree, these people did not cultivate plants. Acorns were used for food while the large trees offered a protective barrier from enemies. Villages within this region were not a structuralized permanent settlement, rather they were small band-sized settlements which offered protection from the elements and mobility for the members of the group.