{"id":216,"date":"2020-06-23T15:23:29","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T19:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.ryerson.ca\/longhouse\/?post_type=chapter&p=216"},"modified":"2020-11-11T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:15:10","slug":"yeienhwis-i-am-learning","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca\/longhouse\/chapter\/yeienhwis-i-am-learning\/","title":{"raw":"Yeienhwi\u2019s (I am Learning)","rendered":"Yeienhwi\u2019s (I am Learning)"},"content":{"raw":"

Engaging with the Past in the Present<\/h1>\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nAs you don your virtual reality (VR) lenses or watch the immersive experience on a screen, you'll be able to virtually wander through the longhouse, home to members of the Wendat community. You'll see the bunks where they slept lined with soft furs, you'll see the roaring fires where families warmed themselves and cooked their meals. As you walk through the longhouse, you get an immersive, intimate sense of the lives of the people who lived in these homes.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_107\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"720\"]\"A A sleeping bunk in an Iroquoian longhouse. Laslovarga - Own work CC BY-SA 3.0 File: Iroquoian Village, Ontario, Canada41.JPG, 3 March 2013, Location: 43\u00b0 28\u2032 9.82\u2033 N, 79\u00b0 56\u2032 55.4\u2033 W[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFirst, we'd like you to consider how the simulation was made. How did Dr. William Carter recreate this longhouse? The simulation is the culmination of a significant amount of primary and secondary research. Dr. Carter conducted archeological fieldwork and consumed the research of specialized archeologists to create this prototypical 16th century Late Woodland ancestral Northern Iroquoian longhouse.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"7\"]<\/span>\r\n
Food for thought:<\/strong> How do you build something you've never seen?<\/div>\r\nDr. Carter acknowledges in his research that his own implicit biases and lived experiences was an impediment to envisioning the longhouse. He describes himself as a \"virtual artisan wayfarer\" (Carter, 2017, p. 2), and as such, his approach was one of open-mindedness and a relentless drive to find the truth<\/em> of these residences. This involved field research at archeological dig sites many discussions with First Nations community members and significant amounts of research into varying first-person accounts of life in the longhouses.\r\n\r\nWhat you've experienced (or as you are about to experience) is the culmination of years of work and research.\r\n\r\nThe longhouse for the Wendat was one of the prevalent structures within their communities these longhouses were communal, multigenerational dwellings (Carter, 2017, p. 59). This was a residential dwelling that was in used and perfected over 1,000 years. Longhouses were not only used by the Wendat but are prevalent in many cultures around the world.\r\n\r\nBased on the research, the historical and archeological consensus was that the average mean width of the longhouse during the 1500-1650 A.D. timeframe was 6.5-7.5 metres. That's about 21 to 25 feet wide. These measurements are estimates based on plotting potholes found in soil samples. Researchers could plot rough 2-D drawings based on the discolouration in the soil from the postholes and base their findings on that data.\r\n\r\nSome longhouses had about 3-5 hearths or fires where meals were prepared and residents warmed themselves; with two family units sharing each hearth (Bartram, 1751; Carter, 2017). Each family had a distinct bunk that was, more often than not enclosed in some way with woven bark or other covering (Carter, 2017, p. 79).\r\n\r\nThe bunks were raised off the floor by about 1.2-1.5 metres or roughly 4 or 5 feet (Carter, 2017, p. 80; Champlain, 1907). Each families' firewood and possessions were stored under the bunks (Hedenreich, 1972).\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"6\"]<\/span>\r\n\r\nLonghouses were more than just a place to sleep. They were key to the agricultural, social, material and cultural life of their communities. According to the research, to be excluded from the longhouse because it was an \"annonchi\" or an \"insult beyond repair\" (Carter, 2017, p. 59).\r\n\r\nMultigenerational families lived within these bunks. Indeed, many extended families lived in longhouses (p. 70). It was local networks of longhouse memberships that helped to create political, economic and social cohesion in the Iroquoian community. The longhouses were housing technology refined over the course of 1,000 years. Each dwelling could last decades or more with generations living in the same dwelling from infancy to adulthood (William-Shulle and Allen, 1998).\r\n
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Exercises<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

Imagine what it might be like to live with your extended family and your closest neighbours' extended families in a shared home. What would that be like?<\/div>\r\n
You can analyze longhouses using the Medicine Wheel methodology. Think about the ways in which longhouses supported the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of the community.<\/div>\r\n
Try an exercise where you contemplate the role of technology - the design and construction of a longhouse - fills the needs of the people who live in them.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe placement of a longhouse settlement was based on a few key criteria. The builders wanted to ensure that longhouses built in a place which had:\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. A good defensive position, occupying higher ground than the surrounding area<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. A clean water source<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Proximity to arable land for planting crops<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nWho were the Wendat?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nYou can learn more about the Wendat with this outstanding overview created by the Whitchurch-Stouffville Museum & Community Centre. You can view the virtual exhibits and learn more about this great nation.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_268\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"742\"]\"This<\/a> See the virtual exhibit and learn more about the Huron-Wendat by clicking on the picture above.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_39\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"300\"]\"\" Wyandot moccasins, ca. 1880, Bata Shoe Museum[\/caption]\r\n\r\nPhoto:\u00a0 Daderot, <\/span>4 July 2013, 11:34:17, Retrieved by https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Huron_moccasins,_c._1880_-_Bata_Shoe_Museum_-_DSC00641.JPG <\/span>Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.","rendered":"

    Engaging with the Past in the Present<\/h1>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    As you don your virtual reality (VR) lenses or watch the immersive experience on a screen, you’ll be able to virtually wander through the longhouse, home to members of the Wendat community. You’ll see the bunks where they slept lined with soft furs, you’ll see the roaring fires where families warmed themselves and cooked their meals. As you walk through the longhouse, you get an immersive, intimate sense of the lives of the people who lived in these homes.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"A
    A sleeping bunk in an Iroquoian longhouse. Laslovarga – Own work CC BY-SA 3.0 File: Iroquoian Village, Ontario, Canada41.JPG, 3 March 2013, Location: 43\u00b0 28\u2032 9.82\u2033 N, 79\u00b0 56\u2032 55.4\u2033 W<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    First, we’d like you to consider how the simulation was made. How did Dr. William Carter recreate this longhouse? The simulation is the culmination of a significant amount of primary and secondary research. Dr. Carter conducted archeological fieldwork and consumed the research of specialized archeologists to create this prototypical 16th century Late Woodland ancestral Northern Iroquoian longhouse.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

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