Pit House

(semi-subterranean dwellings), a round or rectangular dwelling dug into the ground with a roof of poles or logs filled in with earth. The pit house, one of the most ancient and widespread types of weatherproof dwelling, has been known since the Upper Paleolithic. The interior usually had a hearth and plank beds along the walls. In Slavic lands, semipit houses (pit houses with a timber frame, most of which was above the ground) were used until the late Middle Ages (13th and 14th centuries). Among certain peoples of the USSR—the Komi and Udmurt—they were retained until the 17th or 18th centuries. Many workers in a number of indus-trial regions of prerevolutionary Russia (for example, the Donbas) lived in such dwellings. Subterranean dwellings existed in Transcaucasia. Semipit houses with campfire-hearths continued to exist among the Itel’men and Nivkhi until the 19th century, and the Koriaks, Kets, and Sel’kups retained them until the 20th century. The pit house still exists among North American Indians, for example, the Navaho, and among the Eskimo. Round pit houses with an entrance through the opening for the smoke were known in northern China as well.