ian_hammond_cooper_at_... wrote:
>
> Best pictures I can find so far on the web.
>
> http://myrkur.tripod.com/longhouses.htm
> (you too can build you orn longhouse)
>
> http://www.bownet.org/cyberbus/Vikings/viking.htm
> (I think this one may be ripped off from a children's educational
> book).
>
> These show doors both in the short and long axes. I suspect that the
> placement varied, with the long axis placement being more common when
> the byre was not a seperate building.
>
> I always recommend:
>
> How Would You Survive as a Viking?
> by Jacqueline Morley 0531153029 becuase it ahs great cutaway pics of
> Viking life. Children's books are always great for visual resources,
> and end to concentrate on life as a member of the culture would have
> seen it (daily life, the farming calendar) and not scholarly
> arguments.
>
> Ian
>
An exceleent source material. I would point out that the snows are deep in Sartar, probably deeper than in, say, England or continental europe. Smoke holes are probably going to be necessary.
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 landscaper. Sod & turf huts which were built on the praries in the 1800's by the pioneers usually had 1' thick layers of turf and wood -- the frozen sod provided some structural strength and if the roof was not thick enough, the snow would melt and drip into the sod, making it kinda liquid and the roof would leak ALL WINTER LONG. Having a roof that was not thick enough figured prominently in some diary accounts from the time.
For similar reasons the walls were equally thick -- to keep out the cold.
I'd wonder if the typical sartarite house was thatch or sod -- I'm not sure where one levaves off and the other begins, though the Icelandic types never really seemed to use thatch. What was done in the steads of Norway? Does anyone know?
Jeff
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