Re: Re: Long houses

From: KYER, JEFFREY <jeff.kyer_at_...>
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 10:01:36 -0500

Wulf Corbett wrote:
>
> On Tue, 27 Feb 2001 09:29:35 -0500, "KYER, JEFFREY" <jeff.kyer_at_...>
> wrote:
>
> >An exceleent source material. I would point out that the snows are deep
> >in Sartar, probably deeper than in, say, England or continental europe.
>
> A sore point, as I sit snowbound in central Scotland, with 5' drifts
> outside, and the main Edinburgh-Glasgow motorway closed...

I, as a Canadian, have little sympathy for you thin-skinned Scots. =)  

> >Smoke holes are probably going to be necessary.
>
> They would in turf roofs, but those cutaways do not look like they
> include smokeholes, which would lose a hell of a lot of heat anyway
> (most of the heat of a fire rises, after all, why let it out?).
>
> >For those who were commenting on the depth of sod -- sod is not normally
> >found in the 2" think jelly roll you might find at your local
>
> True enough, but I'm looking at it in comparison with Viking & similar
> period buildings in the highlands & islands of Scotland. Most of those
> had stone walls, but turf roofs, not as thick as those illustrated.

True. Could be illustration, but as Ian mentions, its from a children's book and is not goin to be as strict as an archeological treaties. But it illustrations like that get the point across far better than a narrator blabbing.

(blah blah blah)
(pulls out picture) Your house looks like this.
(pulls out another picture) Your Stead looks like this.
(pulls out a small map) Your clan tula looks like this.
(pulls out a picture of a Lunar army) All Your Base Are Belong To Us

> But, admittedly, the drawing wasn't that detailed, and I would have
> said 1' was about right, whether turf or thatch. It's more a matter of
> interpreting the drawing. The walls, however, I would say were far,
> far thicker than usual for Scotland, excepting Shetland or Orkney
> possibly.
>

Oh, okay. I am not as familiar with wattle and dab or thatch, I fear. Orkney and Shetland have one thing in common though -- no trees. The norse settlement in Newfoundland is almost entirely sod and timber. Quite fascinating to see.

Jeff

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