Reconstructing The Longhouse Village Settlement Patterns

Abstract

The Grant Oneota village (13AM201) in northeast Iowa dates from the 11th century A. D., and shows post patterns of huge oval-ended longhouses averaging 25 feet wide and 60 to 90 feet long. A review of ethnohistorical accounts shows comparable long houses were in use among Siouan-speaking tribes on both the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. A series of previously unpublished drawings have been prepared which reconstruct the long house village settlements. The series illustrates the Osage, Kansa, Quapaw, and Santee by interpreting the descriptions of various explorers. A second group of drawings reconstructs the possible appearance of the prehistoric Oneota Grant village long houses by combining ethnohistorical and archaeological interpretations. The drawings are the first major attempt to visually illustrate the longhouse residential villages in the Upper Midwest.