Shelter

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Maasai shelter, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

A shelter is a basic architectural structure or building that provides protection from the local environment. It can provide protection for a person, tools and materials.

Types[edit | edit source]

Caves[edit | edit source]

Throughout history, primitive peoples have made use of caves. In southern Africa, early modern humans regularly used sea caves as shelter starting about after learning to exploit the sea for the first time. Throughout southern Africa, Australia, and Europe, early modern humans used caves and rock shelters as sites for rock art, such as those at Giants Castle. Caves such as the yaodong in China were used for shelter, while other caves were used for burials, such as rock-cut tombs, or as religious sites, such as Buddhist caves.

Huts[edit | edit source]

A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local and readily available materials, such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hides, fabric, or mud. Its construction is generally less complex than that of a house (a durable, well-built dwelling), but more so than that of a tent, and is used as temporary or seasonal shelter or as a permanent dwelling in some indigenous societies. Huts exist in practically all nomadic cultures. Some huts are transportable and can stand most conditions of weather.

Construction[edit | edit source]

Tools needed[edit | edit source]

Materials needed[edit | edit source]

Instructions[edit | edit source]

Wattle and daub hut[edit | edit source]

Broad leaves can be used as thatch for the roof if the shelter is temporary, but paper bark sheets are a better roofing material for a more permanent shelter.[1] However, different palm species last longer than others. For instance, wait-a-while palm fronds can last for at least two years, while alexander palm fronds deteriorate quickly, becoming rotten and bug eaten in a few months.[2] If fire is to be used indoors, an external fireplace and chimney are recommended to reduce smoke inside.[1]

Dome hut[edit | edit source]

Another possible structure for a hut is a dome, similar to a tepee, which sheds rain and funnels smoke effectively while still providing a large inner space. Split palm fronds, from thin saplings, can be used as thatching material. A stone hand axe or a similar tool is used to chop the saplings, a sharp stone flake to cut fronds, and a vine for tying the materials together. Diggging a moat around the hut helps draining water away.[3]

Tiled roof hut[edit | edit source]

A hut with a tiled roof, as well as mud and stone walls, lasts longer since palm thatch decay quickly because of the humidity and insects and is fire proof. A possible design for the frame is placing six (6) woods posts into the ground, four (4) corner posts (partially buried below ground) and two (2) ridge posts (also partially buried below ground), with two (2) mortises from the ends made using a mallet and stone chisel. The top of the posts are carved into tennons for the mortises to fit onto, and rafterswere is lashed together, laid onto the frame and then lashed to it. Fire hardening the wood prevents it from splitting.[4]

A kiln can be built with a removable floor or grate, a clay disc about 0.25m in diameter with 19 holes in it to let flames through it. Similar structures can also have underfloor heating, similar in principal to a Korean 'Ondol', Chinese 'Kang' bed or Roman 'Hypocaust'".[4] Lighting a fire in the hut's entrance will reduce the number of mosquitoes drastically. To prevent smoke inside the building, a stove can be built to burn wood more efficiently or, if there is enough time, a chimney and fireplace.[5]

Precautions should be taken with the weather. Rain can cause unfired tiles left in the open to dissolve, make enough dry firewood impossible to find and cause mold to grow on wood. A shed can be built to store unfired tiles and wood to protect them from the elements.[4]

Uses[edit | edit source]

While a house can provide permanent shelter for a person, smaller buildings such as huts can provide room to store tools and materials.[1]

Dependencies[edit | edit source]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Building a Wattle and Daub Hut - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 7 July 2015
  2. ↑ Palm Thatched Wattle And Daub Hut - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 20 July 2015. Retrieved on 13 May 2022
  3. ↑ Thatched Dome Hut - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 8 July 2015. Retrieved on 13 May 2022
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Building a hut with a kiln-fired tiled roof, underfloor heating and mud pile walls. - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 5 September 2015. Retrieved on 13 May 2022
  5. ↑ A frame hut - primitivetechnology.wordpress.com, 19 January 2018. Retrieved on 7 January 2023

External links[edit | edit source]

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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Shelter_(building), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). Wikipedia logo
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Cave, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). Wikipedia logo
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Hut, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). Wikipedia logo
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