Definition: A pit house (also spelled pithouse) is an ancient type of dwelling that was excavated partly into the earth, from a few inches to more than three feet. A superstructure was then added to the excavation, such as a roof built of poles chinked with mud and covered with an earthen mound. The roof was generally flat, and entry to the house was gained via a ladder through a hole in the roof. A central hearth would have provided light and warmth; in some pit houses, a ground surface air hole would have brought in ventilation.
Pit houses were warm in winter and cool in summer; experimental archaeology has proven that they are quite comfortable. However, they are only good for a few seasonsâ€"after at most ten years, a pithouse would have to be abandoned.
Many different prehistoric groups used pit houses. Although generally associated with the American southwest cultures, such as Fremont, Pueblo, Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollon, pit houses were used by a wide variety of people in a wide variety of places over the past 12,000 years.
Pit House Sources
This glossary entry is a part of the Guide to Ancient Houses and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
Diehl, Michael W. 1998 The interpretation of archaeological floor assemblages: A case study from the American southwest. American Antiquity 63(4):617-634.
Scarborough, Vernon L. 1989 Site structure of a village of the Late Pithouse-Early Pueblo Period in New Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology 16(3):405-425.
Wills, W. H. 2001 Pithouse architecture and the economics of household formation in the prehistoric American southwest. Human Ecology 29(4):477-500.
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