A reconstructed Viking longhouse in Lofoten, Norway The outside of the longhouse was covered by sheets of elm tree bark. The longhouses are made 6 to 9 length and weight. They were made up of wooden support posts which lined the walls, a residential area centered around a hearth, a byre in which animals lived during the winter, benches flanking the longhouses longer sides, and various supporting rooms. A longhouse might be referred to as 10 fires long, or perhaps as 12 fires long. The house was occupied by the extended families. Holes were made above the hearth to let out smoke, but such smoke holes also let in rain and snow. a longhouse was one such dwelling. The frame of the Iroquois longhouse was made by sewing bark and using that as shingles. But longhouses were really long - they could be over … In some depiction of longhouses, some windows provided both light and ventilation, but it’s unclear if these are merely modern depictions. By bending a series of poles, the Iroquois were able to create an arc shaped roof for the longhouse. Longhouses were usually made of wood, stone or earth and turf, which kept out the cold better. Especially long longhouses had doors in the sidewalls as well. Vikings lived in a long, narrow building called a longhouse. Read more: A Viking Timeline. Longhouses featured fireplaces in the center for warmth. Facts about Longhouses. Two rows of high posts supported the roof and ran down the entire length of the building, which could be up to 250 feet long. The walls were made of either clay, wooden planks or wattle and daub. They were measured by camp fires. Viking longhouses were between five and seven meters wide. Lamps made from cotton grass and cod liver oil got used to bring better lighting with little smoke or odor. The walls were usually built bowed giving the overall shape of a boat. Longhouses were usually made of wood, stone or earth and turf, which kept out the cold better. Doors were constructed at both ends and were covered with an animal hide to preserve interior warmth. Each longhouse can live up to 6 families including the parents, the children, the aunts, the uncles and the grandparents. The average longhouse was about 60 feet long by about 18 feet wide. The inside of a longhouse was divided into compartments for different families. Beds and benches lined the walls, and other features included lamps for light, … To build the Iroquois longhouse, the Indians set poles in the ground. It doesn't sound like much when you count by fires. Sometimes, 20 or more families lived in one longhouse… They had no chimney or windows, so smoke from the open fire drifted out through the roof. Candles during this time were unheard of. The frame of the longhouse was either post and beam or made from bent saplings. Horizontal poles supported those poles. Most had timber frames, with walls of wattle and daub and thatched roofs. Most longhouses had an elliptical or cigar-shaped outline, with straight sides and rounded or … Where wood was scarce, as in Iceland, longhouses were made of turf and sod. Longhouses were not measured by feet. Facts about Longhouses 2: Germanic cattle farmer longhouses. The first farmers who lived in western and central Europe introduced this longhouse type. They had no chimney or windows, so smoke from the open fire drifted out through the roof. Longhouses were very long houses built by the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, where many related families lived together. Longhouses are typical of villages that archaeologists tend to assume are ancestral to Iroquoian-speakers, although other peoples used longhouses too. Smoke was inevitable, mostly because there were no windows. Where timber was scarce, such as in Iceland, the walls would be made from turf and sod, giving rise to the Turf House. The Neolithic long house type was traced back in 5000 BCE to 7000 years ago.