Native American Houses

A comprehensive and illustrated guide to Native American Houses and the culture of the Native American and the indigenous people of North America. All of our articles are accompanied by pictures, paintings and many have videos – all bringing the Native American Houses to life and enabling a better understanding of the lifestyle (way of life) and the homes and shelters that the Native Indians lived in. The picture to right illustrates a Kiowa Tepee, one of the most famous of the Native American houses and homes.

Native American Houses – Tepees & Wigwams

Tepees are pointed tent-like American Indian houses, not to be confused with wigwams, which are small rounded cone shaped structures with an arched roof made of wooden frames that are covered with woven mats and sheets of birch bark which are held in place by ropes or strips of wood.

Pictures of Native American Houses

The Pictures of Native Americans in this section provide an opportunity to study the differences between the homes and shelters used by the different tribes of Native Americans. There are pictures, paintings, images and photographs of all the different types of Native American Houses.

Native American Houses

The life styles of Native Americans ranged from nomadic, semi-nomadic to static and their homes reflected their way of life. The massive area of the United States incorporates many different types of climate and land and the Native American houses, homes and shelters were dictated by the natural raw materials available to the Indians in the areas they inhabited. The weather and the changing seasons also affected their way of life at different times of the year. The Native American houses and homes therefore included a huge variety of different styles. The Native American Indians who lived on the borders of the State often reflected two different types of houses, shelters and homes which suited their lifestyles which changed according to area and season.

Native American Houses, Homes and Shelters

The different types of Native American homes and shelters included tepees, wigwams, brush shelters, wickiups, chickees (stilt houses), earthen houses, hogans, earth lodges, pit houses, longhouses, adobe houses, pueblos, asi wattle and daub, grass houses and plankhouses. The most ancient of the Native American civilisations also include the houses of homes of the indigenous people referred to as cliff dwellers and mound builders.

• Tepees – Plains Tribes
• Wigwams aka Birchbark houses – Northeast, Eastern Woodlands tribes
• Chickees aka Stilt Houses or Platform Houses – Southwest tribes
• Wickiups (Brush shelters) – Southwest tribes
• Earthen Houses (Hogans) – South West Coast and Plateau Native Americans
• Longhouses – Northeast Woodland tribes
• Grass Houses – Prairie Indians and California
• Adobe Houses (Pueblos) – Southwest tribes
• Asi Wattle and Daub houses – Southeast tribes
• Plank houses – Pacific Northwest coast, Sub-Arctic tribes
• Lean-to: Sub-Arctic tribes
• Smokehouses – Sub-Arctic tribes
• Igloos and Sod Houses – Arctic tribes

Source: warpaths2peacepipes