people would build their ceremonial building the same
as their long house, but in mammoth proportion, sometimes up to 200 feet long
and 30 feet high. The Native American cultures in the Northeast relied
heavily on the use of timber. The use of this timber is evident in their living
shelters. The living shelters of the Northeast Native Americans are called Long
Houses. The long house was favored more in the winter months than in the summer
ones. The long house was a one story apartment house, with many people of the
tribe sharing the warmth and space. In an average long house, there would be
three or four fireplaces, usually lined with small fieldstones. With this many
fireplaces, smoke would fill up the house, so the house would be built with
smoke holes in the roof. The typical long house was estimated to be about 50
feet long. The people would build their ceremonial building the same
as their long house, but in mammoth proportion, sometimes up to 200 feet long
and 30 feet high.
The long house is basically a stretched out wigwam. The construction of a long house usually began with two parallel rows of straight elm-tree trunks. Opposites are bent over and lashed to the other sides opposite, making a long row of arches. Closing the ends of the long house was done in two different fashions. The first was to use semicircles of tree trunks bent over to join the main framework, or arches. The second was to place tree trunks in perpendicular position, in order to obtain flat ends. Finally, bark from trees was used to make the sides and roof of the complete long house.
The villages of the Northeastern prehistoric cultures were based on the
abounding forests and the lakes and streams nearby. The primary housing
structure has become known as
the "longhouse" which were thatched with bark and stretched
sometimes as far as 125 ft. Houses were located near one another and all were
surrounded by a large fence-like parameter known as a palisade. Palisades
consisted of long, sharpened sticks which stood 10-12 ft high. The wall was
then reinforced with timbers for added security.
The function of such a structure was two-fold in that they offered protection for the people from enemies and animals, as well as protection for crops. Villages were quite mobile, and most lasted only as long as the ground was fertile. After the ground lost its fertility the village moved. Locations near wetlands, rivers, and lakes provided much of the meat for the peoples, through fish, birds and watering animals. All villages had some raised structure used for ceremonial purposes usually located near the center of the encampment as well as burial sites near the parameter of the village.