THE DWELLING HOUSE 



and erecting sloping side walls to join them. The 

 latter method gave a ground plan in the shape of an 

 elongated rectangle with two semi-circular ends. It 

 is clear that this rectangle could be lengthened indefi- 

 nitely by adding to the sides sections or "bays." From 

 these bays, ells, wings, towers, and other additions 

 have been developed, but they are, after all, only excres- 

 cences on the rectangular ground-plan. 



A village unearthed near Glastonbury, England, 

 revealed a collection of conical houses built of wattle- 

 and-clay, dating all the way from 300 B.C. to the time 

 of the Roman occupation. These houses are almost 

 precisely like those of prehistoric times found in North- 

 ern Italy, and they have their counterparts in Ireland 

 and Scotland, where several of them are often united. 

 They are like the primitive hut in form, and differ from 

 it only as their structural materials may require a more 

 ingenious manipulation. They represent the first step 

 in house-building; and it is interesting to find that the 

 conical shape persisted even after stone was used, and 

 after the floor was divided into apartments. This 

 was, of course, due to the fact that the imitative faculty 

 was stronger than the imaginative. 



The inadequacy of the primitive dwelling to meet the 

 rigors of winter led to the development along other 

 lines, the construction of pit dwellings, or caves, some- 

 times two stories in height, sunk from three to ten feet 

 below the surface of the ground, and entered by hori- 

 zontal tunnels. Their roofs were made of interlaced 

 boughs and clay. A series of these caves was often 

 united by subterranean passageways, as may be seen 



