Homes

Homes. Double Ditch State Historic Site. The Mandans, as well as the Hidatsa and the Arikaras, built dome-shaped houses of logs and earth, known as earthlodges. All that remains of the earthlodges on the surface are circular depressions. The men usually decided how large an earthlodge would be, and the women did most of the building. To build an earthlodge, wooden framework was erected, then covered with layers of willow branches, grass, and finally, earth. It took about 150 trees to build one earthlodge. Earthlodges typically were 35 to 45 feet in diameter, although they varied from 20 to 65 feet, and housed a family of eight to twenty people. They were built close together.

Photo captions: , Lower left: Artist's conception of how an earthlodge village may have looked , Upper right: Circular earthlodge , Lower right: Floor plan of a typical earthlodge home. A large communal fire pit marked the center of the house. Four large vertical posts formed a square around the fire pit. These central posts supported most of the weight of the roof of the house. The roof was also supported by cross beams between the posts and rafters spanning from the center of the house to its outer margin, like spokes in a wheel. The perimeter of the roof was supported by a series of a dozen or so shorter vertical posts. . This historical marker was erected by State Historical Society of North Dakota. It is Near Bismarck in Burleigh County North Dakota