Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Internal Structure of a Mat Tepee

This is an image of a tepee from the Northwest Pacific region. It shows a mat tepee being put together, so we are able to glance at the internal structure of the dwelling.

1

Note that it is not formed like we most often see depicted, with poles just coming together at a central point at the top of the tepee. There appears to be a frame with internal supports and a ridge beam on which the poles forming the sides are then placed. This allows for the structure to be expanded from what we customarily see as a tepee, into a long house like this one belonging to the Nez Perce Chief Joseph from the same region.

2

The second image was taken by Edward Latham ca. 1901.

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