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IROQUOIS SHELTER
The Iroquois lived in the longhouses. The long house could hold 30 to 60 people. It could be 25 to 150 feet long. The longhouse was built by driving two rows of poles into the ground in zigzag lines 10 or 12 feet apart. The poles were tied together at the top.
Each family had a space about 6 by 9 feet for a personal area.
The interior of the shelter was very important to the Iroquois people protected the from getting there fires blown out. There were no windows, which made it very dark inside except for the fires down the center path. A door was built at the end of the long house. The bed was covered with corn husk mats and then skins and furs. The fires were shared by two families. The fires provided light, warmth and a heat source for cooking food. Bunk beds were placed along the side walls. They doubled as benches during the day. The shelves above the beds held many things like animal skin, clothes, pots, baskets (made of wood splints), food, bowls, corn husks and tools. Sometimes woven screens were used to divide the longhouse into sections for each family, so they have there privacy. Shelter was very important and helped the Iroquois people in many ways.
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