porous enough to let rain in, at least as long as the angle of the
roof ’s pitch was great enough to allow water to fl ow off rather
than through the roof.
FARMSTEADS
Many ancient European houses stood on isolated farmsteads,
oft en the home of a single nuclear or extended family. Th e
farmhouses varied greatly in size, ranging from a small
roundhouse to a large longhouse. Surrounding the house,
although in no particular pattern or order, were other struc-
tures that served a variety of purposes. Some were to house
or pen animals. Farmsteads that raised cattle oft en supple-
mented or replaced the farmhouse stalls with a byre, or cattle
stable. Many farms also had pens made of wattle for pigs,
goats, and sheep, which in winter might have been housed
in the human residence or in a barn. In terms of design and
construction, byre and barn would have been like the main
house, though probably smaller, particularly if the human
dwelling was a longhouse.
In addition to animal enclosures, farmsteads had a
number of storage facilities for wheat, barley, oats, and other
grains. Early farmsteads dug pits that were then sealed with
clay and covered with dirt. Beginning around 800 b.c.e. these
pits were replaced by small storehouses, or granaries. Each
wattle-walled granary, many of them rectangular even on
farmsteads where the main structures were roundhouses, sat
on a wooden platform supported by four to nine posts. Th e
posts kept the stored grain out of the reach of animals.
A farmstead might also have had a cookhouse and a
workshop for pottery making, weaving, and tool production
and repair. Small buildings for storing tools and other equip-
ment were sometimes present as well. Th ere might even have
been additional living quarters if the main house proved too
small to accommodate a farmstead’s human population. To
keep domestic animals from wandering off , some farmsteads
were fenced with a stone wall or a wooden palisade, which
is a fence made of upright stakes. Many, however, were un-
fenced, relying on a ditch dug around the perimeter to keep
the animals in. Beyond the fence or ditch were the fi elds for
growing crops.
VILLAGE BUILDINGS
Along with solitary farmsteads, ancient Europe had many
villages, some of which may have started as single farmsteads.
Much the same sort of structures that were found on the
farmsteads also were found in the villages, except in larger
numbers. Th us there were houses, storehouses, byres, barns,
and workshops. Th e houses of individual villages were oft en
very similar to each other in size and design. For example, the
houses in a village in Switzerland in the 18th century b.c.e.
were small, rectangular buildings 13 to 16 feet long. All had
wooden plank walls, and most had stone foundations.
Some communities even standardized their houses, as
did a village in Poland in the eighth and seventh centuries
b.c.e. Th is village had rows of two-room houses; each row
shared a single roof covered with reeds, and all the houses
were the same size. Th e walls and fl oors were split logs, with
clay and moss corking any gaps in the walls. One of the two
rooms was a large common room for working, cooking, and
eating, while the smaller one was a bedroom. Each house had
a loft and a front porch.
Other ancient European communities displayed a range
of houses of varying sizes, the smallest having only one room
and the largest having several. Th e larger homes may have
belonged to more prosperous villagers, or they may simply
have been the residences of large families. Some ancient Eu-
ropean houses were markedly diff erent from the rest found
in their villages. Th is diff erence may have indicated that their
occupants were important members of their communities. In
Britain in the second century b.c.e., for example, a number
of houses, known as courtyard houses, probably belonged to
prosperous or infl uential villagers. Each house had a rectan-
gular, paved courtyard surrounded by a stone wall. Built into
the wall were rooms, some of which were living quarters and
others of which were for animals and storage. Some court-
yard houses also had underground chambers.HOUSE OF THE CHIEF
Some courtyard houses may have been the homes of village
chiefs. Although few ancient European villages had special
houses for their leaders, such dwellings did exist. A chief ’s
house was not a palace, which ancient Europeans did not
have. Instead, it was oft en the largest house in a village, fre-
quently had more auxiliary structures associated with it than
other homes, and sometimes was set apart from the rest of
the village, either by being located a short distance from other
homes or by being surrounded by a palisade.
In the sixth century b.c.e. central European village chiefs
lived in compounds surrounded by double palisades, or a
fence within a fence. In each compound was a smithy for met-
alworking and a large wooden house with a stone wall along
one side. Th e chiefs’ houses sometimes contained as many as
four rooms. Th e doorway gave entry to a large central room
where the chief probably conducted business. Off to one side
was a large bedroom, and off to the other were a kitchen and
a smaller bedroom.
Later, during the fi rst century b.c.e. in Germany, at least
one palisaded chief ’s compound included granaries and
many animal stalls, indicating that much of the food produc-
tion was under the chief ’s control. Th e compounds also en-
closed small workshops in which villagers forged bronze and
iron tools and weapons; made pottery and leather goods; and
manufactured items out of wood, bone, and antler.THE BROCH
In addition to being large and set apart, a chief ’s house was
sometimes physically diff erent from the homes of other vil-
lagers. One house located in France in the latter centuries
b.c.e. had one end that was semicircular and may thus have
belonged to a village leader. Among the most distinctive of72 architecture: Europe