Eskimo camps consist of several dwellings housing three or four related families. Eskimo dwellings are divided into two types: winter and summer. One of the oldest types of winter housing, widespread in the past throughout the entire territory of Eskimo settlement, was a stone building with a floor sunk into the ground. Such a house, located on a slope, was approached from below by a long passage made of stones, partly buried in the ground; the last part of the passage is higher than the floor and blocked by a wide stone slab, at the same height as the bunks in the hut. The house had the same plan as modern home(see below): sleeping bunks in the back and bunks for lamps on the sides. The walls above the ground are made of stones and whale ribs, or of whale ribs alone, the arcs of which are placed along the walls so that their ends intersect. Where there is absolutely no flowing timber, the frame of the roof was made of whale ribs, supported by supports. This frame was covered with seal skins, tied tightly; a thick layer of small heather bushes was placed on the skins, and another layer of skins was strengthened on top.
IN central regions In the American Arctic, these stone dwellings were replaced by snow huts - igloos, which are still being built to this day.
In Labrador, in northern regions In Alaska and Greenland, igloos were also known, but they served only as temporary dwellings during travel and hunting expeditions. Igloos are built from snow slabs. They are laid in a spiral, from right to left. To start a spiral, cut two slabs diagonally in the first row to the middle of the third and begin the second row; each next row is tilted slightly more than the bottom one, “to get a spherical shape. When a small hole remains at the top, the builder lifts the block that was given to him in advance from the inside, cuts it wedge-shaped and closes the vault with it. Having walled himself in the hut, he seals the cracks with snow; from the outside through a snowdrift they dig a tunnel leading to the hut and ending with a hatch in its floor; if the underlying layer of snow is shallow, then they lay out a corridor of snow slabs and cut an entrance hole in the wall of the igloo.
The outer entrance to the snow tunnel is about 1.5 m high, so you can walk bent over or with your head bowed, but the entrance from the tunnel to the hut itself is usually so low that you have to crawl into it on all fours, and you can only stand up to your full height finding yourself inside. The hut is usually 3-4 m in diameter and 2 m in height, so that, standing in the middle, you can reach the ceiling with your hand. Large huts are built less often. Large snow house can be up to 9 m in diameter at the floor, with a height from the floor to the center of the arch of about 3-3.5 m; such large houses are used for meetings and celebrations.
To finish the hut, a lamp containing seal oil is lit inside. When the air heats up, the snow begins to melt, but does not drip, since the water formed from the melting is absorbed by the thickness of the snow. When the inner layer of the vault and walls is sufficiently moistened, people are allowed into the hut. cold air and let her freeze; As a result, the walls of the dwelling are covered from the inside with a glassy ice film (polar explorers who borrowed snow construction equipment from the Eskimos call this glazing the hut) - this reduces thermal conductivity, increases the strength of the walls and makes life in the hut more comfortable. If there was no ice crust, then as soon as you touched the wall, the snow would fall off and stick to your clothes. Until the hut has been exposed to the cold, its strength is low. But thanks to warming up, a general precipitation of the snow occurs, the seams are soldered and the hut becomes strong, turning into a monolithic snow dome. Several people can climb on it, and it has happened that polar bears have climbed on it without causing harm to it.
During the day it is quite light in the snow hut, even in cloudy weather (you can read and write); V sunny days the lighting is so bright* that it can cause the disease so-called snow blindness. But during the polar twilight, the Eskimos sometimes insert windows made of thin lake ice into their snow huts; cut out for windows small holes above the entrance. For lighting and heating the hut, lamps - bowls, or fat lamps - are used; their light, reflected from the countless ice crystals of the dome, becomes soft and diffused. Even if the hut doesn’t even have ice-cold windows, it can be seen half a kilometer away at night, thanks to the pink glow of the dome.
If the heat of the lamp begins to melt the vault, then they climb onto the dome from the outside and scrape off a 5-10 cm layer of snow on top with a knife to cool the hut and stop the melting. If, on the contrary, the hut cannot be heated, and frost forms on the inside of the vault, falling down in snow flakes, then the roof is thin, then snow is thrown onto the dome with shovels.
Most of the inside of the hut, opposite the entrance, is occupied by a snow bed. For it, they try to use either the surface of the snowdrift on which the hut stands, or a natural ledge of soil; if this is not the case, then they make it out of snow blocks. The bed is covered with a double layer of skins; The bottom layer is turned with the wool down, the top layer is turned with the wool up. Sometimes old skin from a kayak is placed under the skins. This three-layer insulating bedding keeps body heat out and prevents the snow bed from melting while protecting the sleeper from the cold. Sometimes small recesses for things are cut out in the thickness of the couch on the side. These niches are plugged with small blocks of snow. They sleep, eat, work and relax on the bed.
To the right and left of the entrance, small snow bunks adjoin the large sleeping bed; there are lamps on them closer to the bed, and near the door there is meat and garbage accumulates. In the middle there is a passage about a meter and a half wide.
The hut is usually occupied by two families, one living on the right, the other on the left. Each housewife has her own bowl lamp, near which she sits on a bed, cooks, sews, etc. They cook food on the lamp, melt snow for drinking, dry clothes, etc. Usually, two more small lamps are placed for warmth: one in a passage near the entrance to the hut to warm the cold air coming through the door, another - in the far part of the sleeping bed. The lamp-bowl, or fat pot, is carved from soapstone, and its shape varies among individual groups of Eskimos.
Eskimos sleep with their heads towards the door; When they lie down, they put their clothes, except shoes, in a bed on the edge of the bed, under the skins. In a two-family hut, each family occupies half of the bunk. Women lie down along its edges, small children are laid next to it, men lie next, and large children or guests lie in the middle. Each family is covered with one blanket, made from several reindeer skins. Sometimes fur sleeping bags are used. At night, the entrance to the hut is blocked by a large snow block, which stands in the passage during the day. Until the homeowners themselves move it away, it is considered indecent to visit them.
The Reindeer Eskimos did not use bowl lamps; they illuminated their snow huts with a smoking tallow candle, the wick of which was twisted from moss and dipped in melted reindeer tallow. They cooked it on fires made from bushes. For cooking, they set up a kitchen in front of the living hut with completely vertical walls so that they would not melt from the flame of the fire; It happened that the Eskimos could not get fuel for several days, then they ate only frozen meat. In order to always have water for drinking, the reindeer Eskimos built snow-covered huts on the shore of the lake, in the ice of which they always maintained an open hole, protected by a snow cap. They had nothing to dry their shoes on, so they dried them at night in their bosoms.
Fire was previously produced by carving, striking a piece of sulfur pyrite with a piece of iron; cotton grass fluff, fluffy willow bagels, and dry moss sprinkled with lard were used as tinder. Making fire by rotating a wooden beam was known, but was rarely used.
If several families join together, they build a common snow dwelling in various ways: or individual huts are connected by snow tunnels, so that their inhabitants can communicate with each other without going out into the air; or make two rooms with one entrance; or they build several intersecting domes, then cutting out common segments, and in this way, instead of small isolated huts, they get a complex building of three to five rooms in which several families live, a total of 20-25 or more people.
The snow huts on the east coast of Baffin Island have been especially improved. They have a window cut above the entrance, mostly semicircular in shape, covered with a membrane of carefully sewn seal intestines; Sometimes a peephole is left in the middle of the membrane so that you can look out, and a plate is inserted into it freshwater ice(it is obtained by freezing water in a seal skin). As soon as the hut is built, it is insulated with seal skins; often it's old tire from a summer tent; it is held in place by short ropes or straps passed through the snow arch and secured on the outside with bone sticks.
In a snow hut with an inner tire, the temperature can be raised to 20 ° C with the help of a fat pan, whereas without it - only to 2-3 ° above zero. The passage to the hut consists of two, rarely three, small vaults. On the left there is a closet for storing clothes and dog harness and a pantry where supplies of meat and fat are kept. Such storerooms are sometimes built to the right and at the back of the hut.
Snow huts were undoubtedly known in the Thule era, as can be seen from a large number found snow knives that were used in the construction of igloos, but apparently served only as temporary shelter during movements. The development of snow huts is associated with the active life of seal hunters, who are often forced to set up camps on sea ice away from the coast; snow huts were also necessary for the reindeer Eskimos; they have reached a high degree of perfection. Typically, Europeans and Americans who go on long winter trips take Eskimos with them to build snow huts along the way.
In Alaska, the Eskimos lived in quadrangular half-dugouts with a wooden base. To build such a dwelling, they dug a quadrangular hole more than a meter deep, at the corners of which pillars up to 4 m high were placed. Then walls were built from boards. The roof was made of thick logs. A window was left in the middle of the roof - square hole. The floor was made of planks. There was space left in the middle for a fireplace. The smoke hole was a window. In northern Alaska, the kitchen was located on the side of a long underground corridor that led to the dwelling. Among the Kodiak people, the entrance to the dwelling was above ground and was a square hole one meter in size. The outside of the dwelling was covered with turf and covered with earth.
The interior decoration of the Alaskan Eskimo home was simple. The main furniture was 1.5 m wide bunks raised above the floor. Eskimos usually slept across the bunks, with their feet against the wall. Several families lived in one dwelling. Each family had its own place on the bunk, separated from the other by a mat woven from grass.
Household items, fat reserves in bladders and other supplies were stored under the bunks of each family. Special storerooms have also existed for a long time. In the North, in permafrost conditions, meat reserves were usually stored in special pits; Often these holes were dug on the side of the corridor leading to the dwelling. Sometimes the storeroom was located at the entrance to the corridor. Storerooms were also built in the form of platforms on wooden piles driven into the ground to protect supplies from both wolves and their dogs. A kayak, sled, skis, etc. were also placed on the platform.
In Greenland, apparently under the influence of the Norwegians and Icelanders, quadrangular buildings with more advanced laying were erected stone walls, rising to a height of 2 m. They became less deepened into the ground. On winter period V big house 2-11 families united. Depending on this, the sizes of significant dwellings of the Greenlandic Eskimos ranged from 4 X 8 to 6 X 18 m. Often in Greenland the entire village consisted of one house 1. Not far from the house, each family had its own stone barn, in which supplies of meat and fish were stored. Between the houses of the village there were pyramids and pillars made of stone; they replaced wooden poles and served to maintain known height above the ground in an inverted form of leather kayaks.
In the summer, the Eskimos lived and partly still live in tents; poles for them, when there is a shortage of forests, are often made up of several parts, and in those areas where there is no wood, the Eskimos steam out the poles and harpoon shafts in hot water deer antlers and place one knee on another until you get the desired length; or they make tent frames from walrus and whale bones, tying them with straps. When pitching a tent, two pairs of converging poles are placed: one at the entrance, the second at the front edge of the bed; a horizontal longitudinal pole is tied to them, serving as a ridge; the remaining poles are leaned against the second pair in an oblique semicircle and this frame is covered with a tightly fitted cover made of seal or deer skins. The floors of the tires at the entrance overlap one another to prevent the wind. The bottom of the tire is secured with heavy stones.
In the Bering Strait region, the Eskimos do not live in tents in the summer, but in light wooden houses.
Eskimos, inhabitants of the most northern regions our planet, have the skills to survive in difficult climatic conditions, which will be the envy of any resident middle zone. One of the most important time-tested inventions of the Eskimos is the igloo - traditional houses made of ice and snow. About the features of this amazing structure we'll tell you in our review.
Researchers believe that Eskimo tribes settled the Arctic in the 11th-12th centuries. Today, the Eskimos number about 170,000 people, and they live mainly in three regions: the Danish island of Greenland, northern Canada and the US state of Alaska. By the way, Eskimo is an Indian word that literally translates as “raw food eater,” and the Eskimos themselves call themselves Inuit.
The traditional dwellings of the Eskimos are the summer yaranga - a dome-shaped structure made of animal skins and snow igloos, which build during the cold season. Building a real igloo isn't that big of a deal. simple work, requiring certain skills and knowledge.
The igloo can be built in a large drift of dense snow or made from individual ice blocks. The igloos are small in size: about 3-4 meters in diameter and no more than 2 meters in height. If there are no suitable snowdrifts, then the igloo is built from blocks that are cut out of ice or snow. The blocks are laid in a circle, which gradually tapers towards the ceiling. In order for the structure to gain greater strength, it is watered during construction. The windows are made from ice blocks, but the igloo can also have no windows. In this case sunlight penetrates through snow walls.
The most important thing, from the point of view of the functionality of the entire building, is proper arrangement the entrance to the needle. If the igloo is built in a large snowdrift, then the entrance is made directly in the floor, and a tunnel is dug to exit to the surface. If the igloo is built from blocks, then the entrance is always made below, at floor level. In this case, any door in traditional home not provided, entrance is always open.
Such a low entrance is done in order to warm air, located under the ceiling, did not go outside. But the igloo is open so that there is always an influx of fresh air saturated with oxygen into the small room. If there are several people in the igloo and it is on fire oil lamp or a cooking fireplace that is also used as a heater, a lot of carbon dioxide is formed in the air, and the oxygen content decreases. Heavier carbon dioxide goes down and comes out through a low entrance, and instead penetrates fresh air.
Despite the fact that most Eskimos no longer live in their traditional houses made of ice and snow, there are still Eskimo communities that build igloos and hunt sea animals. In addition, polar explorers and some tourists who go on winter hikes know the technique of building igloos, because a shelter made of snow is very convenient.
Indian tribes live not only in warm places. Read about igloos - ice dwelling Eskimos!
An igloo is a typical Eskimo residence. This type of building is a building that has dome-shaped. The diameter of the dwelling is 3-4 meters, and its height is approximately 2 meters. Igloos are usually built from ice blocks or wind-compacted snow blocks. Also, the needle is cut from snowdrifts, which are suitable in density and also in size.
If the snow is deep enough, then an entrance is made in the floor, and a corridor to the entrance is also dug. If the snow is still not deep, the front door is cut into the wall, and a separate corridor built of snow bricks is attached to the front door. It is very important that front door in such a dwelling was located below floor level, since this ensures good and proper ventilation of the room, and also retains heat inside the igloo.
Lighting comes into the home thanks to snow walls, but sometimes windows are also made. As a rule, they are also constructed from ice or seal intestines. In some Eskimo tribes, entire villages of igloos are common, which are connected to each other by passages.
The inside of the igloo is covered with skins, and sometimes the walls of the igloo are also covered with them. To provide even more illumination, as well as more heat, special devices. Due to heating, part of the walls inside the igloo may melt, but the walls themselves do not melt, due to the fact that the snow helps remove excess heat outside. Thanks to this, the temperature in the home is maintained at a comfortable temperature for people to live in. As for moisture, the walls also absorb it, and because of this, the inside of the igloo is dry.
The first non-Eskimo to build an igloo was Villamur Stefanson. This happened in 1914, and he talks about this event in many articles and his own book. The unique strength of this type of housing lies in the use of uniquely shaped slabs. They allow you to fold the hut in the form of a kind of snail, which gradually narrows towards the top. It is also very important to consider the method of installing these improvised bricks, which involves supporting the next slab on the previous brick at three points simultaneously. To make the structure more stable, the finished hut is also watered from the outside.
Today, igloos are also used in ski tourism, in case emergency housing is needed, if problems arise with tents, or if it is impossible to continue further in the near future. In order for the skier to be able to build an igloo, special instructions are given before the trip.
I first came across the video by accident. And then I dug around on the Internet and found instructions in Russian. This is also not superfluous, because the video is from Canada and it is in English.
The Arctic Training Center, located in the village of Puvirnituk, a few kilometers from Nunavik (Northern Quebec), teaches survival skills and the art of igloo building. Teachers from the Inuit tribe teach disciplines necessary for life in this inhospitable region.
Paulusi Novalinga, 56, was born and raised in an igloo. For many years he hunted and fished with his father, as their ancestors had done, and traveled across the frozen desert on dog sleds. Times have changed now, but 12 years ago Novalinga helped found a “school of survival” in an attempt to save ancient skills from oblivion. The school accepts young village boys and trains outsiders - military personnel, polar pilots, tourists.
The ideal material for building an igloo is deep, dense snow that falls during one good snowfall. Such a snow mass does not have layers that could later cause the destruction of the building. In addition, it is better to take snow from the windward side of the hill, since under the influence of the wind it is packed into a denser mass.
When trying a crust with a “panak” (homemade machete), they choose the most suitable place and cut out rectangular building blocks. One such brick weighs approximately 10 kg, and its texture resembles foamed polystyrene.
A circle three meters in diameter is drawn on the snow crust. The first block is laid upright directly on this line, cutting the left edge so that it coincides with an imaginary vertical plane passing through the center of the circle. Then they take the next block, trim its right edge so that it fits closely to the left edge of the previous block, and move the blocks together. You need to carefully monitor which side of the block should be facing up and which side should be facing inside the needle. The Inuit believe that improperly laid blocks can cause storms.
After inserting the next block, you need to cut out the excess snow from the middle of the bottom edge. To do this, the “panak” is inserted into the bottom seam and scraped there with a blade. Here it is - the secret trick to building an igloo! Each block should rest on the underlying row only with its lower ribs, working like a small arch. The blocks climb up in a spiral. With each turn they are placed with an increasing slope into the building. Upper blocks are laid almost horizontally.
Their own binding bonds operate here, since snow at the microscopic level is constantly in the process of melting and freezing. But here it is inserted last block having irregular shape, and the igloo is ready. Novalinga won one of the competitions by building such a dwelling in 20 minutes.
For the Inuit, an igloo is a home and hearth, the center of their universe. But as an attribute everyday life it is already erased from their memory. Someday Novalinga will stop teaching others the secrets of building igloos, and this art will fall out of the hands of the people for whom it has been the basis of life for many centuries.
How to build an igloo
Material
Dig a trench in the snow, well compacted by the winds. This will help you cut the first snow blocks. Using a snow cutter or saw, cut out blocks measuring 30 x 60 x 45 cm.
Foundation
Select the center of the future igloo and draw a circle around it with a diameter of 2-3 m. Lay out the blocks along this contour, adjusting their edges so that they fit tightly together.
Construction
Cut the top to a slope that should start between the two blocks and extend halfway around the perimeter of the bottom row. Align the top surfaces of the blocks so that they coincide with an imaginary line from the top outer edge of the blocks to the center of the floor of the future igloo. Each freshly laid block should rest on the base only with its lower ribs.
Output Formation
Dig an entrance tunnel. It is better if it faces down the slope to better retain heat.
Last steps
They didn't seem to have great importance for the development of the whole world in many senses of the word, since they can not only clearly show us the full depth and essence of the evolutionary process, but also come to the rescue in some unforeseen situations. It is these people who, over the course of many centuries, are able to preserve their language, traditions and customs at all costs. And this applies not only to traditional dishes and clothing, but also. That's why today we decided to tell you about national houses peoples of the North - chumahs, yarangas and igloos
, which are still used by local residents during hunting, migration and even in everyday life.
Chum – the dwelling of northern reindeer herders
Chum represents a universal nomadic peoples North, engaged in reindeer husbandry - Nenets, Khanty, Komi and Enets. It’s curious, but contrary to the popular opinion and the words of the well-known song “The Chukchi in a tent are waiting for the dawn,” the Chukchi never lived and do not live in tents - in fact, their dwellings are called yarangas. Perhaps the confusion arose due to the consonance of the words “chum” and “Chukchi”. Or it is possible that these two somewhat similar buildings are simply confused and not called by their proper names.
As for the plague, it is essentially one that has a cone-shaped shape and is perfectly adapted to the conditions of the tundra. Snow easily rolls off the steep surface of the chum, so when moving to a new place, the chum can be disassembled without any effort. extra effort to clear the building of snow. In addition, the cone shape makes the chum resistant to strong winds and snowstorms.
In summer, the tent is covered with bark, birch bark or burlap, and the entrance is curtained rough cloth(for example, the same burlap). In winter, the skins of elk, deer, and wapiti, sewn into one cloth, are used to decorate the tent, and the entrance is covered with a separate skin. In the center of the chum is located, serving as a source of heat and adapted for cooking. The heat from the stove rises and does not allow precipitation to get inside the chum - they simply evaporate under the influence of high temperature. And in order to prevent the wind from penetrating into the tent, to its base with outside shoveling snow.
As a rule, the reindeer herders' tent consists of several coverings and 20-40 poles, which are placed on special sledges when moving. The size of the chum directly depends on the length of the poles and their number: the more poles there are and the longer they are, the more spacious it will be.
Since ancient times, installing a chum was considered a task for the whole family, in which even children took part. After the tent is completely installed, the women cover it inside with mats and soft deer skins. At the very base of the poles it is customary to place malitsa ( outerwear peoples of the North from deer skins with fur inside) and other soft things. Reindeer herders also carry with them featherbeds and warm sheepskin sleeping bags. At night the hostess makes the bed, and during the day she hides the bedding away from prying eyes.
Yaranga - the national dwelling of the peoples of Chukotka
As we have already said, yaranga has some similarities with a plague and is a portable nomadic Koryaks, Chukchi, Yukaghirs and Evenks. Yaranga has a round plan and a vertical wooden frame, which is built from poles and topped with a conical dome. The outside of the poles is covered with walrus, deer or whale skins.
Yaranga consists of 2 halves: canopy and chottagina. The canopy looks like a warm tent made of skins, heated and illuminated using a fat lamp (for example, a strip of fur dipped in fat and soaked in it). The canopy is a sleeping area. Chottagin – separate room, appearance which somewhat resembles a canopy. This is the coldest part. Usually boxes with clothes, tanned skins, barrels of fermentation and other things are stored in the chottagin.
Nowadays, yaranga is a centuries-old symbol of the peoples of Chukotka, which is used during many winter and summer holidays. Moreover, yarangas are installed not only in squares, but also in club foyers. In such yarangas women cook traditional dishes peoples of the North - tea, venison and treat guests with them. Moreover, some other structures are being built in the form of yaranga today in Chukotka. For example, in the center of Anadyr you can see a yaranga - a vegetable tent made of transparent plastic. Yaranga is also present in many Chukchi paintings, engravings, badges, emblems and even coats of arms.
Igloo - an Eskimo dwelling made of snow and ice
Light enters the igloo directly through ice windows, although in some cases ice windows are made in snowy houses. Interior, as a rule, they are covered with skins, and sometimes they also cover the walls with them - completely or partially. For heating and additional lighting The needle is used in fat bowls. An interesting fact is that when air is heated internal surfaces The walls of the igloo melt, but do not melt due to the fact that the snow quickly removes excess heat outside the house, and due to this, a comfortable temperature for humans is maintained in the room. Moreover, snow walls can absorb excess moisture, so the igloo is always dry.
