Environmental adaptation and structural design in axially‐pitched longhouses from Neolithic Europe

Abstract

Abstract This paper analyses the structural and functional design of trapezoidal longhouses from the European Neolithic in the light of studies of ethnographic parallels from the highland area of New Guinea, which is comparable to temperate and sub‐alpine Europe in many aspects of its environment. It is argued that both longhouse types represent a parallel adaptation to adverse climatic conditions, and that their orientations are determined largely by wind direction in order to minimise structural stress and to increase heat retention. It is therefore suggested that, since the European examples show regionally consistent orientations which differ markedly from present‐day wind directions, significant changes have occurred in atmospheric circulation since the Neolithic period, and that studies of changes in orientation of longhouses through time might provide important information on climatic change in Europe since the Atlantic period.