AMAZING SHELTERS OF THE SOUTHWEST
Introduction
This paper is about the southwest people’s shelter. The climate zone is mostly deserts and some shrub and scrublands. The information I will cover is the shelters the southwest nations have, how they made their houses, and what did they use their house for if they did. The time period is before European contact. Some of the tribes that lived in the southwest are the Pueblo, Pima, Navajo, and the Hopi.
Types of houses that the southwest had
This paragraph is about what types of houses the southwest nations had. The southwest people had a lot of houses that looked amazing. Their architecture was amazing even. Their architecture was amazing because they have these really tall buildings and ceilings. The types of houses the southwest nations had were hogans. Hogans kept hot in the winter and cold in the summer. Hogans are the Navajo tribe’s traditional house. Hogans are cone shaped on the body but they were flat on the top. Hogans are made out of earth bark and wood poles. Hogans are a medium size house. They could fit about 12 people maximum. Another two houses that the Navajo tribe had were log houses and cinder block houses.
The Pueblo people had houses called pueblos. Pueblos are square shaped and there are a lot of squares stacked on top of each other. They have small windows and some pieces of wood. The doors are made out of wood. Each square is a room. Pueblos are made of mostly adobe. Adobe is a mixture of clay, straw and water. They even made pueblos with some wood but it is hot in the southwest so they can’t use a lot of wood. They can’t because the wood would burn. The pueblo people made these houses because they were mostly farmers and they lived in a hot place. So they had to wait for a long time to get their crops, and in that much time they would plant more crops. The pueblos could also be bigger or smaller, but are usually 5 floors. The Pueblo people used these houses because it is hot and they need shade. They also need to get to their balcony because they grow some crops there. The Pimas have a house called a ki. Ki is pronounced Kee. A ki is a medium size house. A ki is has a round bottom and a flat top. A ki is made out of bark and sticks. Later on in the 1800s Pueblos inspired the Pima tribe to make pueblos. So they made them.
How the Pueblo people made their houses from scratch
In this part of the paper you will learn how the Pueblo people made their houses.
The men do all the heavy work of making the house, such as making the roof and gathering the materials. Then the people that are going to live in the house have to choose where to make the walls. The women made the walls with stone or adobe. They shaped the adobe into bricks together. After the walls were in place, the men helped put the beams for the roofs. The women filled in the gaps by pounding stone into openings. Then they plastered adobe in both the inside and outside of the walls. See how hard it is to make a pueblo without any electronic machines, but still they did it.
What did Pueblo people use their house for?
Here is a paragraph about what Pueblo people used their houses for. The questions I’ll be answering are: What did they use their house for? Did they hold meetings in their house? And did they hold festivals in their house? The pueblo people didn’t use their house for anything in the community. For that they used kivas. Kivas are built underground. Their floors are at least 5 feet below the surface of the ground. Kivas are about 25 feet across. They used a ladder to get down and up. Only men could go in kivas because they owned them and it held ceremonies that only men could attend. Other times men used them like clubhouses. Pueblo people did not use their house for many things. They used kivas for all the things for the community like festivals.
Conclusion
I found it interesting that the Pueblo people made houses that were really hard to make and still it was a masterpiece. It was even interesting how they made kivas. It was amazing how the people made pueblos. I really loved researching more than anything. Remember Native Americans of North America do not all have the same houses. Some don’t live in tipis like the southwest nations, the northwest nations, and the northeast nations. And the tribes that do have tipis are the plains and prairie nations and the northeast nations but the northeast tribe’s tipis were wooden tipis.
