A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow,
single-room building built by peoples in various parts of the world including
Asia, Europe and North America. Many were built from timber and often
represent the earliest form of permanent structure in many cultures. Types
include the Neolithic long house of Europe, the stone Medieval Dartmoor
longhouse which also housed livestock, and the various types of longhouses
built by different cultures among the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Europe The Neolithic long house type was
introduced with the first farmers of central and western Europe around 5000
BCE—7000 years ago. The Germanic cattle farmer longhouses
emerged along the southwestern North Sea coast in the third or fourth century BC
and might be the ancestors of several medieval house types such as the
Scandinavian langhus, the English, Welsh and Scottish longhouse variants and the
German and Dutch Fachhallenhaus. The longhouse is a traditional way of
shelter. The medieval longhouse types of Europe
of which some have survived are among others:
The Western British 'Dartmoor longhouse' variants in Devon, Cornwall, and Wales
where it is known as the Ty Hir Located along a slope, a single passage gives
access to both human and animal shelter under a single roof.
The northwest England type in Cumbria The Scottish Longhouse, "blackhouse" or
taighean dubha The Western French longère or maison
longue from Lower Brittany, Normandy, Mayenne, Anjou, is very similar to the
western British type with shared livestock quarters and central drain.
The old Frisian Langhuis that developed into the Frisian farmhouse which
probably influenced the development of the Gulf house, that spread along the
North Sea coast to the east and north. The Scandinavian or Viking
Langhus/Långhus and mead hall. = Medieval development of the Germanic
longhouse= Further developments of the Germanic
longhouse during the Middle Ages were the Low German house in the North and
especially Northwest Germany and its northern neighbor, the Cimbrian
farmhouse in Jutland including Schleswig with its variants: the Geestharden house
and Frisian house. With these house types the wooden posts originally rammed
into the ground were replaced by posts supported on a base. The large and
well-supported attic enabled large quantities of hay or grain to be stored
in dry conditions. This development may have been driven because the weather
became wetter over time. Good examples of these houses have been preserved,
some dating back to the 16th century. The longhouse was 50 to 60 feet long.
The Americas In North America two groups of
longhouses emerged: the Native American/First Nations longhouse of the
tribes usually connected with the Iroquois in the northeast, and a
similarly shaped structure which arose independently among the indigenous
peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The longhouses inhabited by the Iroquois
were wood boards/bark-covered structures providing shelter for several related
families. Each longhouse had a clan symbol placed over the doorway.
In South America, the Tucano people of Colombia and northwest Brazil
traditionally combine a household in a single long house. The Xingu peoples of
central Brazil build a series of Longhouses in circular formations
forming round villages. The ancient Tupi people of Brazilian Coast used to do it
as well. The Yanomami people of Brazil and Venezuela build a round hut with a
thatched roof that has a hole in the middle called Shabono, which could be
considered a sort of Longhouse. Asia
= Ancient Mumun pottery period culture= In Daepyeong, an archaeological site of
the Mumun pottery period in Korea, longhouses have been found that date to
circa 1100-850 B.C. Their layout seems to be similar to those of the Iroquois.
As in these several fireplaces were arranged along the longitudinal axis of
the building. Later the ancient Koreans started raising their buildings on
stilts, so that the inner partitions and arrangements are somewhat obscure. The
size of the buildings and their placement within the settlements may
point to buildings for the nobles of their society or some sort of community
or religious buildings. In Igeum-dong, an excavation site in South Korea, the
large longhouses, 29 and 26 meters long, are situated between the megalithic
cemetery and the rest of the settlement. = Taiwan=
The longhouse may be an old building tradition among the people of
Austronesian origin or intensive contact. The Austronesian language group
seems to have spread to south east Asia and the Pacific islands as well as
Madagascar from the island of Taiwan. Groups like the Siraya of ancient Taiwan
built longhouses and practiced head hunting as did for example the later
Dayaks of Borneo. = Borneo longhouse=
Many of the inhabitants of the Southeast Asian island of Borneo, the Dyak, live
traditionally in buildings known as a longhouse, Rumah panjang / Rumah Betang
in Indonesian, rumah panjang in Iban. Common to most of these is that they are
built raised off the ground on stilts and are divided into a more or less
public area along one side and a row of private living quarters lined along the
other side. This seems to have been the way of building best accustomed to life
in the jungle in the past, as otherwise hardly related people have come to build
their dwellings in similar ways. One may observe similarities to South American
jungle villages also living in large single structures. The design is
elegant: being raised, flooding presents little inconvenience. The entry could
double as a canoe dock. Being raised, cooling air could circulate underneath
the floor of the dwelling, and the elevated living areas were more likely
to catch above ground breezes. Livestock could shelter underneath the longhouses
for greater protection from predators and the elements.
In modern times many of the older longhouses have been replaced with
buildings using more modern materials but of similar design. In areas where
flooding is not a problem, the space beneath the longhouse between the
stilts, which was traditionally used for a work place for tasks such as
threshing, has been converted into living accommodation or has been closed
in to provide more security. Modern longhouses in Asia were made of grass
and tree bark. The layout of a traditional longhouse
could be described thus: A wall runs along the length of the
building approximately down the longitudinal axis of the building. The
space along one side of the wall serves as a corridor running the length of the
building while the other side is blocked from public view by the wall and serves
as private areas. Behind this wall lay the private units,
bilik, each with a single door for each family. These are separated from each
other by walls of their own and contain the living and sleeping spaces for each
family. The kitchens, dapor, may be situated within this private space but
are quite often situated in rooms of their own, added to the back of a bilik
or even in a building standing a little away from the longhouse and accessed by
a small bridge. This separation prevents cooking fires from spreading to the
living spaces, should they spread out of control, as well as reducing smoke and
insects attracted to cooking from gathering in living quarters.
The corridor itself is divided into three parts. The space in front of the
door, the tempuan, belongs to each bilik unit and is used privately. This is
where rice can be pounded or other domestic work can be done. A public
corridor, a ruai, runs the length of the building in this open space. Along the
outer wall is the space where guests can sleep, the pantai. On this side a large
veranda, a tanju, is built in front of the building where the rice is dried and
other outdoor activities can take place. The sadau, a sort of attic, runs along
under the peak of the roof and serves as storage. Sometimes the sadau has a sort
of gallery from which the life in the ruai can be observed. The pigs and
chicken live underneath the house between the stilts.
The houses built by the different tribes and ethnic groups can differ from each
other. Houses described as above may be used by the Iban Sea Dayak and Melanau
Sea Dayak. Similar houses are built by the Bidayuh, Land Dayak, however with
wider verandas and extra buildings for the unmarried adults and visitors. The
buildings of the Kayan, Kenyah, Murut, and Kelabit used to have fewer walls
between individual bilik units. The Punan seem to be the last ethnic group
that adopted this type of house building. The Rungus of Sabah in north
Borneo build a type of longhouse with rather short stilts, the house raised
three to five feet of the ground, and walls sloped outwards.
Many place names in Sarawak have "Long" in their name and most of these are or
once were longhouses. Some villages like Long Semado in Sarawak have airfields.
Regions with longhouses are for example Ulu Anyut and Ulu Paku in Sarawak.
Another longhouse is the Punan sama. = Siberut=
A traditional house type of the Sakuddei people, on the island of Siberut, part
of the Mentawai Islands some 130 kilometers to the west off the coast of
Sumatra, Indonesia is also described as a longhouse on stilts. Some five to ten
families may live in each, but they are organized differently from those on
Borneo inside. From front to back such an "uma" called house regularly consists
of an open platform serving as main entrance place followed by a covered
gallery. The inside is divided into two rooms, one behind the other. On the back
there is another platform. The whole building is raised on short stilts about
half a meter off the ground. The front platform is used for general activities
while the covered gallery is the favorite place for the men where to host
guests and the men usually sleep. The following first room is entered by a
door and contains a central communal hearth and a place for dancing. There
are also places for religious and ritual objects and activities. In the adjoining
room the women and their small children as well as unmarried daughters sleep,
usually in compartments divided into families. The platform on the back is
used by the women for their everyday activities. Visiting women usually enter
the house here. = Vietnam=
The M'nong and E De of Vietnam also have a tradition of building longhouses that
may be 30 to 40 m long. In contrast to the jungle versions of Borneo these
sport shorter stilts and seem to use a veranada in front of a short side as
main entrance. = Nepal=
The Rana Tharu is an ethnic group indigenous to the western Terai of
Nepal. Most of them prefer living in Badaghar called longhouses with big
families of many generations, sometimes 40-50 people. All household members pool
their labor force, contribute their income, share the expenditure and use
one kitchen. Traditionally, their houses are built entirely using natural
materials such as reed poles for walls and thatch for roofing.
See also Housebarn, a related structure
Indonesian architecture Igloo
Tipi wigwam
Wharenui, a similar structure built by the Māori people of New Zealand
Dorset culture, a Paleo-Eskimo culture that also built longhouses
Kampong Notes and references
Bibliography For the Longhouses in Sarawak on Borneo
these books were used as sources among others:
Morrison, Hedda. [1962]. Life in a Longhouse - Borneo Literature Bureau
Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Printed in Hong Kong by Dai Nippon Printing
Co.(Int.) Ltd. - with translations to Malay, Iban and Chinese.
Short introduction text followed by the photo section with quite detailed
descriptions to each photo in the four languages.
Dickson, M.G. [1962] 1968). Sarawak and its People - Borneo Literature Bureau.
Printed in Hong Kong by Dai Nippon Printing Co.(Int.) Ltd.
Basic school book keeping the language simple and explaining things so children
unaware of the world outside of their village can easily understand. Yet, as
school books often are, very rich in information. On page 100 is a drawing of
a longhouse with a detailed description. Some of the photos are from Hedda
Morrison - see her book "Life in a Longhouse"
Further reading Inside Austronesian Houses: Perspectives
on domestic designs for living with long sections on Borneo longhouses.
Population listing of some of the ethnic groups of Sarawak, Malaysia.
Borneo Kenyah-Kayan traditional art. Robert J. Barrett, "Space, repetition
and collective interlocution: Psychiatric interviews in a Borneo
longhouse". Communication & Medicine 1(1), pp. 25–34.
Dense study of schizophrenia, but includes two pages of "2. Longhouse
architecture: Ruai, bilik and sadau", with a plan view and elevation view; and
detailed references. The Pagan Tribes of Borneo by Charles
Hose and William McDougall from 1912. Somewhat pov as can be expected for the
time and quite wrong on some ethnic points, still a good source for the
architecture of the time and other things like clothing. Seems to center on
the Kayan within Sarawak with regards to the difference to other groups.
Royal Ontario Museum longhouse village View a North American longhouse village,
Ontario, Canada. Exhibitions & Galleries: World Culture
Galleries: Gallery of Canada: First Peoples
Collections & Research Online image collection.
The Potlatch Longhouse