Environmental Adaptation and Structural Design in Axially-Pitched Longhouses from Neolithic Europe

Item Type Journal Article
Author Alistair Marshall
URL http://www.jstor.org/stable/124216
Volume 13
Issue 1
Pages 101-121
Publication World Archaeology
ISSN 00438243
Date Jun., 1981
Extra ArticleType: primary_article / Issue Title: Miscellany / Full publication date: Jun., 1981 / Copyright © 1981 Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Accessed 2009-12-11 14:43:50
Library Catalog JSTOR
Abstract This paper analyses the structural and functional design of trapezoidal longhouses from the European Neolithic in the light of studies of ethnographic parallels from the highland area of New Guinea, which is comparable to temperate and sub-alpine Europe in many aspects of its environment. It is argued that both longhouse types represent a parallel adaptation to adverse climatic conditions, and that their orientations are determined largely by wind direction in order to minimise structural stress and to increase heat retention. It is therefore suggested that, since the European examples show regionally consistent orientations which differ markedly from present-day wind directions, significant changes have occurred in atmospheric circulation since the Neolithic period, and that studies of changes in orientation of longhouses through time might provide important information on climatic change in Europe since the Atlantic period.
Title Environmental Adaptation and Structural Design in Axially-Pitched Longhouses from Neolithic Europe
Date Added 2009-12-11 09:43
Date Modified 2009-12-11 09:43