Earth Lodge Design and Construction
Beneath the earthen exterior is an intricate structure of Cottonwood tree trunks and Willow branches. This is a moderate-sized earth lodge—thirty eight feet in diameter and eighteen feet high at the central fire hole.
Responsible for the construction of the lodge and several families shared the home. One multi-family lodge might house thirty to fifty people.
Beds were placed around the walls as were various storage areas. Food storage pits were dug into the floor. The central area was for cooking of meals and also served as the sleeping place for young men.
The large supporting tree trunks or posts halfway between the outside walls and the fireplace were often painted the colors of the semi-cardinal directions.
Upon the altar to the West lay a buffalo skull and above it hung a long-shaped buckskin bundle. The contents of the sacred bundle were known only to the priest. Sometimes pip-stems, slender sticks and ears of corn might protrude from the bundle. Between the fireplace and the buffalo altar was an invisible sacred spot on which no one was to step. This spot was called the Wi-Karu, meaning “Place for the wonderful things.”
The essential layout of the lodge is extremely old and wide spread. It is the pattern of the Eskimo Igloo , of the Kiva of the southwest, and of structures of Siberia. A constant current of air moved through the vestibule to the fire; where, being warmed, it rose through the smoke hole. The outgoing warm air drew in more fresh air.
The Pawnee lodge was the physical form of his beliefs. The house was a microcosm of the universe and as one was a home inside, one was also at home in the outside world. The dome of the sky was the high-arching roof of the universe and the horizon all around was the circular wall of the cosmic house. Through the smoke hole of the house, the Star Gods poured down their strength from their appropriate directions in a constant stream. In the west was the evening star, a beautiful woman, goddess of night and germination in her garden, the corn and buffalo were constantly being renewed so that the people could eat in the western part of the house, the sacred buffalo skull and the bundle with it sacred ears of corn symbolized this power. In the eastern sky was the morning star—God of light, of fire, and of war. As he arose every morning he sent his beam into the long entryway of the house and lit the fire in an act of cosmic procreation.
Marker is at the intersection of Tech Ave. and U.S. 34 on Tech Ave..
Courtesy hmdb.org
