Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines By: Lewis H. Morgan (1818-1881) |
---|
![]()
VOLUME IV
HOUSES AND HOUSE LIFE OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES BY LEWIS H. MORGAN
PREFACE. The following work substantially formed the Fifth Part of the
original manuscript of "Ancient Society," under the title "Growth of
the Idea of House Architecture." As the manuscript exceeded the
limits of a single volume, this portion (Part V) was removed, and
having then no intention to publish it separately, the greater part
of it found its way into print in detached articles. A summary was
given to Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia in the article on the
"Architecture of the American Aborigines." The chapter on the
"Houses of the Aztecs" formed the basis of the article entitled
"Montezuma's Dinner," published in the North American Review, in
April, 1876. Another chapter, that on the "Houses of the Mound
Builders," was published in the same Review in July, 1876. Finally,
the present year, at the request of the executive committee of the
"Archaeological Institute of America," at Cambridge, I prepared from
the same materials an article entitled "A Study of the Houses and
House Life of the Indian Tribes," with a scheme for the exploration
of the ruins in New Mexico, Arizona, the San Juan region, Yucatan,
and Central America. With some additions and reductions the facts are now presented in
their original form, and as they will now have a wider distribution
than the articles named have had, they will be new to most of my
readers. The facts and suggestions made will also have the advantage
of being presented in their proper connection. Thus additional
strength is given to the argument as a whole. All the forms of this
architecture sprang from a common mind, and exhibit, as a consequence,
different stages of development of the same conceptions, operating
upon similar necessities. They also represent these several
conditions of Indian life with reasonable completeness. Their houses
will be seen to form one system of works, from the Long House of the
Iroquois to the Joint Tenement houses of adobe and of stone in New
Mexico, Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala, with such diversities as
the different degrees of advancement of these several tribes would
naturally produce. Studied as one system, springing from a common
experience, and similar wants, and under institutions of the same
general character, they are seen to indicate a plan of life at once
novel, original, and distinctive. The principal fact, which all these structures alike show, from the
smallest to the greatest, is that the family through these stages of
progress was too weak an organization to face alone the struggle of
life, and sought a shelter for itself in large households composed
of several families. The house for a single family was exceptional
throughout aboriginal America, while the house large enough to
accommodate several families was the rule. Moreover, they were
occupied as joint tenement houses. There was also a tendency to form
these households on the principle of gentile kin, the mothers with
their children being of the same gens or clan. If we enter upon the great problem of Indian life with a
determination to make it intelligible, their house life and domestic
institutions must furnish the key to its explanation. These pages
are designed as a commencement of that work. It is a fruitful, and,
at present, but partially explored field. We have been singularly
inattentive to the plan of domestic life revealed by the houses of
the aboriginal period. Time and the influences of civilization have
told heavily upon their mode of life until it has become so far
modified, and in many cases entirely overthrown, that it must be
taken up as a new investigation upon the general facts which remain.
At the epoch of European discovery it was in full vitality in North
and South America; but the opportunities of studying its principles
and its results were neglected. As a scheme of life under
established institutions, it was a remarkable display of the
condition of mankind in two well marked ethnical periods, namely,
the Older Period and the Middle Period of barbarism, the first being
represented by the Iroquois and the second by the Aztecs, or ancient
Mexicans... Continue reading book >>
|
This book is in genre |
---|
History |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Lewis H. Morgan |
Wikipedia – Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|