Celebrating the Diversity of Indigenous Homes 

African Architecture also gets dismissed by the West. It seems that popular western history only counts civilizations in Eurasia

"gentrified adobe mansions for $3 million" 🤯🤬

I can’t believe how little Chaco is talked about just the mention gave me goosebumps. Simply one of the most amazing places I have ever been . When me and my mom went we were the only ones there to even more haunting when you can experience the serenity and beautiful of the land

Indigenous Minecraft is truly a 21st Century innovation. That’s awesome.

Yet another reminder of what I *should* have been taught in school...

Thank you for this sociological cultural philosophical breakdown of the western discourse on Indigenous architecture.

Power, Ometeotl, Healing and Wisdom to our people. Let us not forget our roots, our power our origins and strength. Mexica Tiahui!

I am totally speechless! What a phenomenal video!

Can you talk about how indigenous knowledge systems integrate innovation over the course of the 7 generations? How do you think about building on and honoring what came before while also adapting to new knowledge?

Metis person here - MORE OF THIS PLEASE!!! This is soooo important. Chey is an awesome host. We need so many more videos like this. Agriculture, Language, Handtalk, Plant Medicine, Animal Relatives, Sustainable Harvesting, all the things!!!!

Throughout this piece, examples from Ancient Egypt were floating through my mind.

Brilliant production and spot on. The development of most western architecture is a response to support for resource extraction, with a history of dead towns and cities when you don't support stripping the nearby environment of resources.

Good video, but I feel like this only covered the surface. I think on this topic alone, you could make 5-10 more videos. History, evolution of some houses, the types of houses, including the Aztec and Maya houses even though you show the temples. Not to mention different materials to build buildings like Igloos, etc...

7 generations taking part in building a structure that probably the only last 3 would be able to see the completion of... that part gave me chills!!!! I cannot begin to imagine what it feels like to be someone participating in that construction. I wonder if it has always been a very serious & solemn work site... and I also wonder if there were very human moments of joy for everyone involved... Did they have fun? Or was it often very hard labour? How did they keep up everyone's spirit and maintain their commitment to the project during all of those years? I have so many questions I wish we have answers to! Thank you so much for this video, this story spark so much joy for me and absolutely made my day ❤

Another excellent video. I'm learning a lot from this series!

europeans used to build generational structures as well. (churches being the most well known) once they came to N America though, the profit motive wiped out that practice. I should point out though, that it is unusual for any culture to build lasting structures for day to day use. the lasting structures are usually built for ulterior, usually spiritual/religious, uses.

Indigenous history and culture is one of the reasons why the period often called prehistory is so fascinating to me. It draws me in. I wish we could know more about life in the ancient Americas. I'm so curious about the Chacoans and Mississippians and others who lived here. I hope your many cultures make a helluva comeback. 😊

Can't wait to see more of these videos.

Thank you so much for this!!! ❤️

Not only have Architects been inspired by Indigenous people. It is my understanding that Indigenous people in the east inspired those who founded our democracy.

Now this is what I'm talking about ❤❤❤

After Noah Caldwell-Gervais pointed it out, I really wish that Cliff Palace had been included in Horizon Zero Dawn, amongst other issues with that game.

Excellent video. Thank you.

Loved this video! Hoping to see more Indigenous representation works.

I’m so happy I subscribed because the videos are bangers 🔥

Commenting here in the hopes this gets spread more :) Edit: If you enjoyed the video too, tell me what you liked about it under the cut vvv

Always wondered why so many turn away from history, just because it's hard to hear. Facing it makes you a better person.

So cool seeing someone with the same name be such a badass!!

Great stuff!

Thank you very much for research and sharing this information to us all! I am sharing too!

Cool buildings, Oh I heard that some people live in literal tree houses which is also cool, Have y'all made a video about all the different houses in all the different ecosystems? Cause there's people who live in the deserts mountains forests islands and plains, And there's houseboats tents igloos and bunkers, Plus lots of other stuff, Ect

Thank you

Now if only decision makers would value, interact with, and bring on Indigenous leadership in designing everything. Maybe there'd be less of a housing crisis if we considered things other than profit. I'm here to shout out Chinese greenhouses. I don’t know which of our traditions influence their construction, but they are highly energy efficient, designed for a family to grow a lot of crops in freezing cold winters.

This is informative!

In my Art history class we talked about indigenous art, we only had a small chapter. I wanted to know more but we barely learned about anything indigenous people or history.

9:02 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🖖🏾

The relationship between Pueblo, Spanish colonizers, and northern European architecture in places like Santa Fe is worth its own exploration. I've not been back for many years but 3M for a mud floored home seems off, given where the old ones were located. These mentioned must be new build?

Nice video!

Man, nothing but spitting straight facts

I grew up aware of ancient ruins in Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, and England but didn't learn of the Native American architecture of Chaco Canyon until my late 20's. Why isn't this basic American education?! Never mind the incredible earthen pyramids of the Mississippi Valley, some of the biggest in the world, which were dismantled by early white invaders/farmers. Anyone that is ready to take a deep dive into everything they never taught you about Native American culture, you could start with Jack Weatherford's books Native Roots, and Indian Givers. To add to your discussion of Native homes, as a Southwest resident, occasional guide, and student of archaeology, I really don't like how many old Native homes are called "pit houses." Plenty of white people today build and live in homes which are partially sunk into the ground but NO ONE calls them "pit houses." It's a sunken, or recessed floor which is very practical in the Southwest climate of hot summers and freezing winters and sudden extreme windstorms. They're "bigger on the inside than the outside." But since archaeologists started calling them pit houses 100 years ago, everyone else in the greater white culture does too, but only in reference to Indigenous architecture specifically. One of the Little House On The Prairie books entails the excavation of a sod home dug into a hillside and they NEVER call it a "pit house." It was a decrepit mud hovel that Pa built for his family, okay? Also indigenous rock art is "pecked" but when white people do it, they engrave, carve, chisel, and stipple. Okay.

Nicely said, sister! -Ben Nez

great video

Awesome =] 🌊🏄‍♂️🪷

1:35 That’s just The History Channel (lol jk)

Generally quite true! But there are a few indigenous counterexamples of power in architecture and land misuse - the highly stratified Aztec Empire showed off the power of its elites through its temples and palaces, and the Mayan Collapse was from deforestation. Rich Yurok people usually had better houses with better views of the rest of their village. In some cultures, all the homes opened with the door to the main building (dance house/sweat lodge/etc.), which was sometimes, again depending on the culture, the home of the village's leader. It's a little unfortunate that the necessity of treating all of Turtle Island's peoples at once in a video like this means the diversity, complexity, and even the contradictions get glossed over to present an oversimplified view of Indigenous planning and architecture.

Damn - Orban saw this video and suddenly he agreed to Sweden's accession to NATO. Simon has become a true international force.

As a second generation immigrant who worked in a gentrifiercore restaurant of my culture's cuisine being repeatedly told that the American chefs there knew more about my culture than me because they went on vacation in my motherland once genuinely passed me off. Anglo-americans and people who successfully integrated into anglo-american culture really do just see other cultures with histories going back thousands of years as decoration devoid of any human partication that they can buy and replace to suit their fancy, huh?

As a proud Juggera man (an Australian indigenous group) I wonder if having an American centric view here, ignores that this is an experience of global colonisation.

👍34 Algorithm!

My Nation is not nor was never hunters, we were always livestock farmers way before our first contact with any Europeans; we didn't hunt wild game, we trapped pet animals from our own animal pens to be used as an added soup or salad ingredient, sewing tools, weaving tools, and crocheting tools. My nation's territory encompassed such a myriad of completely different biomes that how we lived and what we planted depended on what region of the continent a member of my nation lived. Every family of my nation owned llamas, alpacas, Guinea pigs, vultures, turkeys, and fish for food or textiles in the home terrains given and separated for us by our chiefs. We developed a writing system into which men would crochet 3D knot patterns onto a piece of woolen textile that resembled a sun necklace. My nation of course is the bilingual Spanish Speaking, biracial Spanish-mixed, polyester, wool, and velvet regalia wearing, vulture-worshipping, Inca Nation of South America. We were never culturally influenced by any other European culture that wasn't the Spanish. We are united through the Spanish expanding our nations into one huge one. We didn't swim in rivers and lakes, we controlled water and created our own fish farms, canals, sewers, pipelines, swimming pools and fountains. My nation is of course the Inca Nation of South America. Adios!

Even in the eastern woodlands, I've only just found out what "Spirit Stones" are within the last couple of months & some of those weren't just random rocks stacked up together, but made small buildings, or were sacred monuments stacked on top of older sacred moments from older people's harmoniously until it formed little religious complexes. Definitely made a lot of the stories of people wandering off into the woods or up mountains to "talk to the stones" come across as somewhat less bizarre.

Indigenous architecture has always outclassed Western/European architecture.

The interesting things about Teepee architecture to me were it was a brilliant way for the plains people to follow their resources, in their herd migration patterns, or change from summer locations to winter ones. They learned to tread lightly in their land to let it recover. Secondly, the actual design was genius for environmental control, allowing for indie cooking, pepper ventilation, and communal living. Those who built permanent structures were as advanced or more so than their global contemporaries. Were their books not burnt by the church, our math knowledge and other wisdom may have taken a different turn.

I think it's maybe important to understand that there's a good deal of diversity to be found in European cultures and architecture. It's a little reductive to refer to "Europeans" in one sentence. I'm a redhead. People who look like me were really wildly mistreated in some very similar ways for a very long time.

Native Architecture is amazing and practical. Now Western Architecture is often impractical and just plain ugly. The public library I worked in is extremely impractical as is the main branch of that system and both are ugly.

The opposite of "Indigenous" would be "settler".

Mezo america had alot of sacrificing" killing people" in their culture and had slaves build their buildings.

turns out i have relatives from indigieous backgrounds im asian 🤗

I'm afraid that my traditional culture is the basis of mainstream society. All people should reject the bad aspects of this culture.

Being a Nordic country citizen I am sadly lacking in knowledge about actual American Native culture and history. What I KNOW, however, is that the invaders of the American continents tried their damnedest to eradicate the indigenous people everywhere, were partly successful but not entirely - fortunately! What the invaders have been trying to do, in recent centuries, is to eradicate, obfuscate, denigrate and distort the entire history of the native and indigenous people of the Americas that they failed to eradicated. Since they (the invaders) are not capable of feeling shame, it is up to us, citizens of other first-world countries, to keep them from succeeding in their attempted genocide.

H. sapiens sapiens is not, "Indigenous", to the Western Hemisphere.

THE MOST racist word I know is ASSIMILATION . full stop . WHY is anyone "expected" to become something that they are not? WHY should anyone give up their culture, language, ideals, faith and so much more, ONLY to STILL NEVER measure up to an invisible criteria? What right does any person have to EXPECT anyone to ASSIMILATE? I was raised white. My skin is "white". And yet, I NEVER fit in, no matter how much I wanted to. As it turns out, my paternal grandmother kept a secret. She was Native American. She was ashamed of this. She had 3 sisters that I never knew because SHE didn't want us to know her secret. HER SHAME denied me my heritage. I cannot forget that … I have family out there that I'll never know.