Re: Indigenous Housing

Started by glenn kangiser, June 25, 2006, 12:43:09 PM

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glenn-k

#50
I was just thinking of Manzanar earlier when a NPS search brought it up as former home of the Paiute.
QuoteManzanar National Historic Site

Manzanar National Historic Site is one of ten permanent war relocation camps that existed during World War II. It was the temporary home of 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry who had been removed from their homes along the West Coast following the signing of Executive Order 9066. The camp existed from the spring of 1942 until the fall of 1945.

Because of the importance of this camp in the story of World War II, it was designated as a National Historic Site in 1992. It is the only one of the ten permanent camps that has this designation.

Prior to World War II the 813 acres comprising Manzanar National Historic Site had other periods of human habitation. For thousands of years it was the home of the Paiute tribe before they were marched to Fort Tejon in the mid 1800s to make way for European ranchers and farmers. In the early 1900's it was a thriving agricultural community with a population of approximately 200 people. A descendant of one of the early ranching families at Manzanar would later figure prominently in Manzanar War Relocation Camp. His name was Ralph Merritt and he served as the project director in the camp from the fall of 1942 until after the camp closing in 1945.


Note that there is another camp like this near Tulelake area.  Also Paiute home area?



From http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/categrs/etnc5.htm

I hope the NSA has a nice new home for me in one of the new Haliburton Concentration Camps that are currently being built in the USA.

That's all -- I'm not saying anymore --- I was talking about my new home -- this is not an off topic rant. :-/

jonsey/downunder

#51
Glenn,
I would think that the Maori culture in the movie would be accurate. Maori like most folk are sensitive about how they are portrayed and I think that the moviemakers would have made sure of that.
You will see in that image the tukutuku panel's between the carved posts. These where woven by the women and depict the history of the people from that Wharenui. The posts would represent ancestors and would be distinguishable by the moko (tattoo) on the faces. The reason for the moko was to show everyone who they are... Family, Tribe, Status etc
The thing I find interesting is how the house, as well as providing shelter also provides the history of a people.

Yosemite Indian,
Thanks for the links to those sites I have found the carvings of great interest. I would love to see some of the Paiute artwork as well if you have some photos, old or new. It's good to see how the young are dealing with tradition.

I've got nothing on today. This is not to say I'm naked. I'm just sans........ Plans.


glenn kangiser

Interesting to get more background, Jonesy.  It seemed the moviemaker worked pretty closely with them.  It was a very impressive movie.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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glenn kangiser

Here is Petroglyph Point or Cliff in the old Tulelake bed.  Apparently it was Modoc's who made the Petroglyphs from their reed canoes on the sides of the cliff.

"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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jonsey/downunder

Glenn,
Another good movie about M[ch257]ori is the 1983 New Zealand movie Utu. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=52100

Directed by Geoff Murphy and staring Anzac Wallace it is loosely based on events from Te Kooti's War. Te kooti had a base at Puketapu Pa northwest of Lake Waikaremoana. I posted a link some time ago on a building I worked on up there. http://www.johnscott.net.nz/pages/aniwaniwa.html
Aniwaniwa Visitor Centre is also a museum and has some artifacts from that conflict.
I've got nothing on today. This is not to say I'm naked. I'm just sans........ Plans.


glenn kangiser

Utu Looks interesting, Jonesy.  I'd hate to ask for directions to get to the Visitor center - I don't think I could say the words.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Amanda_931

#56
Saw The World's Fastest Indian with Anthony Hopkins.  Set in Invercargill LA and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Not much about indigenous housing there, unless you count Bert Munro's shed. Or a handful of small buildings with low-pitched, mostly hip, roofs, a used car lot in the San Fernando Valley, desert gas stations and a motel.

Instant review--I don't know if everybody involved was way too close to it as they talked about it (in the little features on the DVD), or it was better than I thought, truly could be either, or both.






Yosemite Indian

QuoteThe design of the HANK1 house could be easily and safely made with a few modifications using Mike Oehlers specs.  Windows could be added under gables if desired.  Considerations would have to be made for drainage since you would be deviating from Mikes designs but it could still be done.

I could easily see a 24' square, round or octagon design here. 8-)

We flew into Susanville several years ago, Yosemite Indian.  We rented a Jeep Wagoneer and traveled the area.  I think that was when we went to The Lava tubes.

Did your people have any presence in the Lassen Volcanic Park area -We hiked to Bumpass Hell - and what about Shasta- I have heard it is special to some cultures.


Photograph by Daniel Mayer. Taken in October 2003

Glenn,

Paiutes were in the middle of Lassen County. Pitt Rivers, who were even we Paiutes had a lot of respect for because they would skin you alive lived around the norhern part closer to Mount Lassen. Washoes were on the southern tip of Lassen. Maidus were on the far western part, up in the Mountains.

They all fought with each other.  :(

Later the Pitt River and Paiutes joined to fight non-Indians for awhile. Some joined the Modocs to fight around the Lava beds.

Around Bridgeport, Mammoth Lakes and eastern areas of California Paiutes lived around Hot Springs.

"Ten-ie-ya...founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne"

Lafayette H. Bunnell "Discovery of the Yosemites, 1851, an the war that led to that event"

Yosemite Indian

QuoteI was just thinking of Manzanar earlier when a NPS search brought it up as former home of the Paiute.
QuoteManzanar National Historic Site

Manzanar National Historic Site is one of ten permanent war relocation camps that existed during World War II. It was the temporary home of 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry who had been removed from their homes along the West Coast following the signing of Executive Order 9066. The camp existed from the spring of 1942 until the fall of 1945.

Because of the importance of this camp in the story of World War II, it was designated as a National Historic Site in 1992. It is the only one of the ten permanent camps that has this designation.

Prior to World War II the 813 acres comprising Manzanar National Historic Site had other periods of human habitation. For thousands of years it was the home of the Paiute tribe before they were marched to Fort Tejon in the mid 1800s to make way for European ranchers and farmers. In the early 1900's it was a thriving agricultural community with a population of approximately 200 people. A descendant of one of the early ranching families at Manzanar would later figure prominently in Manzanar War Relocation Camp. His name was Ralph Merritt and he served as the project director in the camp from the fall of 1942 until after the camp closing in 1945.


Note that there is another camp like this near Tulelake area.  Also Paiute home area?



From http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/categrs/etnc5.htm

I hope the NSA has a nice new home for me in one of the new Haliburton Concentration Camps that are currently being built in the USA.

That's all -- I'm not saying anymore --- I was talking about my new home -- this is not an off topic rant. :-/

Paiutes lived around Manzanar and remember seeing Japanese people around.

A lot of Paiutes were pushed down to Inyo County.

Mono Paiutes were around Mono Lake, Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite. They were pushed out of Yosemite. They were pushed out of Hetch Hetchy because they wanted the water. Than they were pushed out of Mono Lake because they wanted the water there, they were sent to Owens Lake around Inyo County. Than Los Angeles took that water and then the Paiutes who were placed down there now had a desert for beach front property.  :o  :(

Paiutes were called "Water Utes". That is the name early white explorers named us, because we were always by water. "Pah" is water in Paiute.  "Ute" came from the tribe that Fremont had just left. We are really the Numa.

After the gold went bust...the new gold was WATER and still is.  :-/
"Ten-ie-ya...founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne"

Lafayette H. Bunnell "Discovery of the Yosemites, 1851, an the war that led to that event"


Yosemite Indian

QuoteYosemite Indian, after my burned out modem this morning I am out of time to post today but you can be sure that tonight I will get back to this very interesting discussion.  

There is a great rock or mountain sticking up from a field and hilly area in northern California near the Lava Beds National Monument somewhere--- there was much ancient art on it.  Was that by your people.?

Glenn  :)

Petroglyphs was a speciality of Paiute people. Along the eastern ridge of the Sierras from way up northern California, to eastern Yosemite, Sequioa, and down is lined with petroglyphs.

A lot of them are reddish which we Paiutes used a type of reddish clay for protection.

Concerning ceremonies here is a sequence of Eadward Muybridge photos showing a ceremony at a Paiute camp in Yosemite;

It is a look back at Indian life in Yosemite Valley. It is look back at Paiute life in along the Merced River.
 
Here are the photos in sequence. Remember Eadweard Muybridge also did those great photos in motion of nude people running and animals in motion.
 
photo no. 1571; Here Muybridge can see the Indian encampment along the Merced in the distance as he approaches. I can't tell if he is on a boat or on the other side of the river.


 
photo no. 1572; Here Muybridge is getting closer to the Indian encampment along the banks of the Merced. You can see the granite rocks in the back.


 
photo no. 1573; Muybridge is now on the beach and shoting the village. You can see a camp fire in the close distance.


 
photo no. 1574; Here Muybridge goes to the "Piute Chief's Lodge" and photographs the interior of the Paiute chief's lodge. He probably went up to the headman first to ask if he could take photos or try to converse with him. That last sentence is just a guess, but it is probable since that is the first photo up close.


 
photo no. 1575; Muybridge takes photo of a meeting of ceremonial significance. Someone is talking. In Paiute we had people we called "Talkers" who told of the traditions and history of ceremonies since we had no written language.


 
photo no. 1576; Muybridge walks over and shots a small group or family sitting in their own corner of the camp. In the back you can see another small family grouping. They have their Wonos in front and other baskets. A Wono is Paiute for Burden basket.


 
photo no. 1577; Muybridge takes a photo of men sitting on a log. They are wearing hats and other western style clothing.


 
photo no. 1578; don't have.
 
photo no. 1579; Muybridge takes photos of young teen males swimming in the Merced. Trying to keep cool in the summer. The title indicates that it is summer time and is called "A Summer Day's Sport". The kids are trying to keep cool as the older people meet.


 
photo no. 1580; Muybridge takes photo of an "Octenigarian" and a young boy. The face of the woman is blurred. They have a simple camp.


 
photo no. 1581; This one I don't have, but it is supposed be of a Medicine mad sleeping in his cedar house. http://www.p4a.com/itemsummary/210343.htm
 
photo no. 1582; Muybridge then goes to photograph women leaching acorns and making bread. One is stirring her basket.
 


photo no. 1853; Don't have this one.
 
photo no. 1854; Five marriage age girls. One on the farthest left wears an early style Paiute beaded collar. The others have headbands.


 
photo no. 1855; Muybridge than takes his camera to the outer edge of the camp where there is a Paiute sweatlodge with someone in it. Paiutes would sweat than jump into the river to cleanse themselves.


 
"Ten-ie-ya...founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne"

Lafayette H. Bunnell "Discovery of the Yosemites, 1851, an the war that led to that event"

Yosemite Indian

photo no. 1856; At the same camp is the famous German born painter Albert Bierstadt who is working on one of his paintings or drawings. Paiute children are to his right watching him, like kids do. Meanwhile the ceremony continues in the background. The group in the back looks like they are performing a Paiute round dance off to the side as the marriage age girls sit in the foreground.



photo no. 1857; Muybridge photographs Albert Bierstadt painting a an Indian man in front of the Paiute chief's lodge as other Indian men watch Bierstadt paint from behind. The man in front of the chief's lodge looks like Captain John, the leader of the Yosemite - Mono Lake Paiutes. The man who one of my elders said threw the rock that killed Chief Tenaya.




 
"Ten-ie-ya...founder of the Pai-Ute colony in Ah-wah-ne"

Lafayette H. Bunnell "Discovery of the Yosemites, 1851, an the war that led to that event"

glenn kangiser

#61
Outstanding information, Yosemite Indian.  This is really a great look into the methods of shelter and family life of your people.  I think as far as survival goes this should also show people that there is no excuse for being without shelter.  Earth friendly -- these shelters leave only a small pile of organic  and safe mineral matter.  Not a pile of formaldehyde treated products, sheetrock, plastic, fiberglass  and glass.  I guess it will never be considered practical for mainstream modern society though.  Unless our leaders manage to get us nuked. :-/  Then people will be scrambling for this type of knowledge. :)

Regarding the Petroglyphs, Yosemite Indian wrote:

QuoteA lot of them are reddish which we Paiutes used a type of reddish clay for protection.

This is interesting because the grinding rock I found had a red powder in the bottom of it.  I assumed it was a type of clay- I remember thinking it was war paint-- but wasn't sure.  I wish I still had some but it is long gone - I found it about 28 years ago give or take a couple years.  Now it seems more likely that this was a Paiute grinding rock.



"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Freeholdfarm

I just found this thread and read the whole thing at one sitting!  It's quite interesting to me because we live a little north of some of the area talked about, near Klamath Falls.  I moved here with my grandmother only a couple of years ago, so we don't know the area very well yet.  It's been interesting to read about, and see pictures of, the shelters people used here a long time ago.  Thanks for all the posted pictures!

Kathleen

glenn-k

#63
Glad you are enjoying it, Kathleen.  This has long been one of my favorite topics and Yosemite Indian has really enhanced this thread with quality research, pictures, history, and information on the Paiute culture.  

It seems to me that in the old indigenous lifestyle, the earth was really your friend.  It is different than just living on it in a modern home built from manufactured materials.  You had to learn to know what it could do for you.   You had to learn how to get shelter from it , care for it,  and they to a much larger degree than I, learned to totally rely and survive on it.  It is great to even know what little I have learned about the old ways.


Yosemite_Indian

Kathleen and Glenn and others  :)

I am glad you enjoyed seeing Paiute culture. Here is a map of Oregon Natives which includes Paiutes;



Paiutes had a large area in the Southern Eastern Oregon part.

Here are Oregon Paiute petroglpyhs, similar to those found all through out the Sierra Nevadas, eastern Yosemite, Lassen county and through out the Great Basin.



Petrogyphs in the middle of vast Great Basin, which was once a giant lake called Lake Lahotan.

Here is Chief Louie of the Burns Wada Tikutta or Indian Rice grass seed eaters.



Chief Louie 1845? - 1935



Indian Rice Grass or called Wai or Wada. Which this Paiute band is named after.

Here is a different type of Indigenous Housing. This time it is a cropped photo of Chief Louie's Camp. You can see a canvas Teepee style house which has a Plains Indian influence. Chief Louie is wearing the typical Plains style headdress. The rest of his band of Paiutes are now wearing western style clothing. You can also see an old buck board in the back.



Chief Louie's camp in 1915 in Oregon.

:)






glenn-k

Yosemite Indian, it seems that I recall reading possibly in links while researching more of this  somewhere that the Government supplied teepee's to Paiutes they put on reservations? maybe because they stereotypically assumed that all Indians lived in teepees.  My understanding was that it was not native to them.  Is  there anything to this?  Chief Louies does look original though.

My brother-in-law (deceased) was  from the Siletz tribe - I dont know if it is part of the Alsea Yaquina or lower Tillamook or independant.  There was another Oregon Native Indian in the family also- married one of my grandmothers sisters I think.

glenn kangiser

#66
From a site John in Xaimen sent me from China'-http://www.amoymagic.com/main.htm  Check out their site to learn more.

Hakka Earthen Castles are inexpensive to build and maintain, last forever (some are over 1,000 years old), and are so aesthetic they appear to have sprung from the very earth itself.
Earthen homes are rammed into shape, layer by layer, using a mix of raw earth, sand, lime, glutinous rice, and brown sugar, and reinforced with 'bones' of bamboo and wood. Only upper floors have outer windows, and the massive wooden gates are sheathed in iron.

The first floor is for cooking, eating, socializing, and working. Grains and grandparents are stored on the second floor. The spryer young folk live on the third and fourth floors. Central courtyards usually have a well, mill, threshing floor, ancestral hall—everything but a basketball court.





"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Leo

my hobby has been indigenous boats ,unlike todays clorox bottles they were designed for there particular use and available materials,this is the most interesting thread i have seen in a long time.  :)

glenn kangiser

That's neat, Leo.  I really enjoy history - now that I'm not in school and no one is making me do it. ::)

This is one of my favorites also.  What can you  tell us about indigenous boats and how they fit in with the indigieous people?
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

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Leo

#69
Lots ,one of the most interesting is the red paint people who predate the native americans it seems the only body ever found was in newfoundland possibly the ancient ancestors of todays Eskimo.the abbey musem bar harbor main has a large collection of artifacts there in unknown tools.i knew what they were they were gouges for smoothing the frames of skin boats a double radius.there fire pits contained sword fish bills  obviously sea farer's they ringed the north Atlantic to Europe..A man dowsing for water  in maine a neighbor dug straight down to a red paint cache there spear points were finely done and extremely long..i will dig up a link or two .no Columbus didn't discover america ,Infact he was a late comer http://www.seacoastnh.com/history/prehistoric/redpaint.html and another better link http://www.usm.maine.edu/gany/webaa/newpage1.htm


Leo

when the spanish arrived they found chickens in Mexico .chickens are indigenous to China. supposed stone disk with a hole in the middle have been found on the west coast look like chineses anchors the lug or junk sail can not be improved upon for short handed sailing. they are reputed to have had vessels 500 feet long,the water tight bulkhead idea is said to have come from a piece of bamboo .those ancient ships had them.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/explorers2.html

fourx

Leo,  the website mentions ""porcelain shards washed up on the beaches of east Africa "" but there are extensive relics of the same type in Northern Australia, and evidence of well established trading linkls with the Aboriginal people, with trocus schell, pearls, and seafood suitable for preservation by drying being exchanged for pottery items. There was also considerable iter-breeding between the oriental and black aboriginal races, and many Aboriginal people in Northern Australia have very visable oriental features- although some secondary interbreeding would have happened during the Gold Rush period here, when there was a large influx of Chinese into the country.
While working in Papua New Guinea during the late 1970's I noticed that the children of a union between a  black person native to Papua New Guines and a Chinese ( not uncommon, because many of the stores in PNG are owned by Chinese) was identical to modern-day Indonesians and Malays- not hard to see how that happened if you remember the lower sea levels earlier in human history. It's also not hard to see the very striking facial and stature and perhaps personality connection between Native Americans and Malays- and between those from Southern India with our own Aboriginal people.

glenn-k

Very interesting links, Leo and interesting information, Pete.  I read nearly all in the sites listed.  I haven't found what types of shelter they had yet but hope to expand on this thread with more info if possible. :)


glenn-k

#73
Straying off from the above links led me to the mound builders of the Midwest.  It is mentioned that they were also used for residences.



Miamisburg Mound, the largest conical mound in Ohio, is attributed to the Adena archaeological culture.



Occupied between 1250 and 1600 C.E., Mississippi's Emerald Mound is the second-largest ceremonial earthwork in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders

Other interesting links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_American_Ethnology

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/exhibits.htm

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/fletcher/fletcher.htm


Omaha earth lodge. Photo Lot 24, BAE 4558 Inv. 01598600.

glenn-k

#74
Obviously a lot of the information on indigenous housing is necessarily lost through the advance of time, but some of the indigenous peoples structures still remain, such as this fish weir in NJ.  


A bit hard to find this article so I am linking it here with reference to the author.  Please check it out if you have time.

(Shared with permission of the author.  Thanks, Allen)

The Fair Lawn/Paterson Fish Weir
Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of New Jersey, Vol. 54, 1999

by allen lutins
and
Anthony P. DeCondo

http://www.lutins.org/basnj.html







QuoteUtilization
Although contact-era accounts often mention Native American use of weirs, they are seldom comprehensive regarding the methodology employed. Most modern references to weir use (e.g., Cross 1965:25; Kraft 1986:76) have their basis in a description by James Adair, who lived among the Choctaw and Cherokee in the early- to mid-eighteenth century. In 1775 he described the use of a temporary brush weir thus:

   I have known [Indians] to fasten a wreath of long grape vines together, to reach across the river, with stones fastened at proper distances to rake the bottom; they will swim a mile with it whooping, and plunging all the way, driving the fish before them into their large cane pots.

These "large cane pots" were not analogous to stone structures such as the Fair Lawn/Paterson weir, so it is erroneous to presume that similar methodologies were employed. Given the extent of the spawning runs which took place in rivers (including the Passaic) where stone weirs are found, it is more likely that the primary method employed in their use was not to chase fish into the upstream-facing side of the structure, but rather to wait for spawning runs to conduct large quantities of fish against the downstream side. The use of such a passive method, requiring far less labor than that described in Adair's description, makes more sense, especially considering the numerous contact-era accounts attesting to Native American procurement of fish during spawning runs.

If you really get into this here is more. :)  http://www.lutins.org/thesis.html#4.3