![]() Interior photo of turf house © Bryan & Cherry Alexander Photography / ArcticPhoto IGLOO Turf huts were also located close to the sea so that Inuits could travel easily by kayak and canoe and so seal hunting was more accessible. They could, in fact, be more or less, permanent structures. The turf hut – a low, square, stone structure supported by wooden beams of driftwood – was robust, sturdy, and well insulated. While turf huts are still visible on the landscape the design and actual structures have almost completely been resigned to local museum faire. However, the structures were adequate and rather advanced in regards to passive temperature control. Up until the mid-1950s there were still areas in Greenland where the Inuits lived in what Westerners would label as primitive. They also had mobile tents made from animal hide to protect them from the direct cold and then, of course, the igloo, which is absolutely a temporary shelter (as I first believed) made of snow and ice. While we think of only Igloos the Inuit also had a more stable and permanent structure called a turf hut that they lived in for long stretches of time. What I found more fascinating as I continued to research is that the Inuits lived in and from their natural surroundings and in order to do so had to become versatile in their dwellings which – by necessity – had to be easy to construct and located close to good hunting and fishing. The Wikipedia entry is quite robust and can offer a lot more information on this people group. ![]() First and foremost, what is an Inuit? Often confused with Eskimos or some small cartoon figure with a furry hood covering his/her face, a person of direct Inuit descent is of a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and the United States. The Greenlandic Inuit specifically are the descendants of migrations from Canada and are citizens of Denmark, although not of the European Union. It’s important to first get some definitions out of the way. I was surprised and then captivated by the entire Intuit culture and Greenland in general. ![]() However, after thinking about it in my own intellectual spectrum I reasoned that because they are little more than one open room comprised of seasonal snow and ice they wouldn’t really constitute a house or any sort of even semi-permanent structure. I laughingly suggested to myself that I should delve into the world of igloos and think about their contributions to the tiny house world. When thinking about my ongoing Tiny House History series (of which we are really making up based on a bit of criteria including lessons gained, sustainability of dwelling, actual realistic occupancy, etc) and then thinking about the month of December and the winter season in general I was almost miffed at where to take this post. ![]()
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