28 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7 
200 
Map 16.—Plan of Ahuiran, 1946. 
The plan is typical of small Sierra towns. 
000 ft 
) 
———— 
0 
300m 
Cemetery 
Church 
Plaza 
(Li 
Jefetura 
Dwelling 
Lot boundary 
Note the scattered dwellings and lot 
(ekudau) boundaries. 
Functional aspects.—Among the Tarascans the 
agglomeration of buildings in an individual lot 
include the principal house, the kitchen, burro 
stable, hogpen, and frequently certain storage 
structures. The head of a household may build 
two or more sets of houses and kitchens in his lot 
for his married sons. The main house (the wooden 
troje in the Sierra or the adobe structure in the 
surrounding areas) serves principally as a store- 
house. The maize harvest is stored in the loft 
(tapanco), which is floored with heavy planks and 
entered through a trap door by means of a ladder 
or notched log. In the lower room (floored with 
planks in the wooded troje, often dirt-floored in 
the adobe house) are stored small grains, clothes, 
personal valuables; it is also used to house images 
of various saints, to entertain guests, and as 
sleeping quarters for them; some members of the 
family (usually marriageable girls) often sleep in 
the main house. The veranda, too, is used for 
storing boxes, lumber, etc., and is sometimes 
employed as a workplace and for sitting and 
gossiping. 
The kitchen (kosina) is a separate building, 
usually less well constructed than the main house. 
In the Sierra it is often made of thin planks placed 
vertically and carries a two-shed roof. Kosinas 
ot horizontal interlocked planks and four-shed 
roofs are sometimes seen. The chimney is un- 
known; smoke escapes through cracks or especially 
constructed vents in the roof. The kitchens in 
the areas outside the Sierra are usually of adobe 
with two-shed roofs of tile or shakes; some are 
flimsily constructed of upright planks or of brush, 
and carry a one-shed roof.*° Obviously, the 
kitchen is where food is prepared and eaten; 
36 In some towns where the Spanish L- or U-shaped house is present, the 
kitchen forms one of the rooms in the main structure. 
