Our Village Homes

People lived in villages of earthlodges called maithi, set beside their gardens and crops. Women built these dwellings, though men sometimes helped cut and carry the heavy wooden posts. Each maithi was built facing east to catch the morning sun, and each earthlodge housed many people. These round buildings had sturdy wooden frameworks covered with brush, prairie grass, and dirt. Earthlodges typically stood for five to seven years; once they fell into disrepair, people left them to erode and return to the earth, then built new semi-permanent villages and maithi where game was good and plants were abundant for gathering.

Nebraska · United States