The Truth About "Mud Huts"

Oftentimes when we speak of our pre-Christain ancestors and cultures we hear Christians and Christian apologists present various fallacies and misconceptions regarding the societies, infrastructure, religions, social norms, as well as many other traits of our ancestors. However, one of the biggest and most common of these misconceptions is the idea that our ancestors only lived in "mud huts", and that Christianity civilized us and bestowed the secrets of higher architecture onto our folk and enlightened us in the methods of building large, stone, Gothic style cathedrals and stone castles (which the vast majority of people did not live in). But is this true? Let us take a closer look at the history of the architecture of our ancestors.

The Neolithic Huts from the Durrington Walls are most often shown to "prove" to us that we lived in "mud huts" prior to Christianity's introduction, however these were not just simple mud huts. They were constructed with walls made from carefully woven sticks which were frammed in place and then fortified with chalk and straw daubing (not simply "mud"), known as "Wattle and Daub", a method still deployed to this day (more on that later). The dwellings were finished with a thatched wheat straw roof which was affixed to solid framing. A few of these huts had hearths and remnants of furniture in place. These are rather impressive for Neolithic period structures and are far from the typical mud daubed huts found in many parts of modern Africa.

But there are more examples of other European dwellings from similar time periods which are often overlooked.

Perhaps even more impressive is the Skara Brae dwellings, dating between 3,180 BCE and 2,500 BCE. They were discovered in 1850 when a severe storm ripped away a large portion of earth from an irregular knoll. Shortly after, a man named William Watt, the local Laird of Skaill, started amatuer excavation of the site but abandoned his work after four houses were uncovered. The site lay undisturbed from 1868 up until 1913, when a party plundered unknown quantities of artifacts over the course of one weekend. Later in 1924 another storm hit the site and swept away part of one of the houses, at which point it was deemed that the site ought to be properly preserved, investigated and documented.

Some of the most impressive things about the Skara Brae dwellings is that they were constructed with "toilets" in place, complete with plumbing that could flush waste directly into the nearby ocean. The dwellings were also found to have beds, cupboards, dressers, seats, storage boxes, stone hearths for heating and cooking, and each dwelling had a doorway that had a stone slab door that could be closed by a bar that slid in bar-holes cut in the stone door jambs.

The construction of the dwellings themselves were made from carefully placed flagstones which were built into existing mounds of earth for support, as well as insulation. The roofs were likely made from organic material and thus have not survived the millennia. It is likely that whalebone or driftwood beams supported turf, skins, thatched seaweed or straw, making up the roof. Seaweed, weighed down with straw ropes attached to stones, remained a roofing material in Orkney into recent history, hinting at possible materials used in the construction of the roof.

These are far from "mud huts", and utilized the usage of stone and even implemented the usage of early plumbing.

There is a museum in Unteruhldingen, Germany called the "Pfaulbaumuseum Unteruhldingen", or "Stilt-House Museum of Unteruhldingen", which showcases several reconstructed findings of ancient Germanic lake villages from various time periods dating from approximately 4,000 BCE up to 850 BCE, the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, respectively. These villages were likely built on lakes for security purposes, as well as fishing and trade, as Pan-European trade (which predates documented history) was certainly occurring during the time periods in which these various villages were constructed. The idea that these villages were involved in trade is elaborated by the fact that the chert which was discovered at these sites (used as flintstones) came from Southern Italy.

I will only briefly mention the complexity and beauty of ancient Roman houses and villas, which we are already well aware of. I shall simply show several examples as to keep this article shorter, more digestible, and directed more toward the main subject and purpose of the article.

The vast majority of ancient Roman housing was constructed prior to the introduction of Christianity, and some of the more advanced technologies used were lost after Christianization of Rome due to a purging and suppression of various technologies, which would come to be regarded as "sorcery" or "witchcraft", as were various forms of mathematics, as well as masonry technologies and methods.

Now that we have covered several examples of ancient housing construction, let's move forward, closer to modern times and look at how some more common dwellings were constructed.

The oldest home known in France is in Aveyron, and dates back to the 13th Century. It is still inhabited, and is a great example of early half-timbered construction, which we commonly see in Germany and parts of England, as well as other parts of Europe. The wooden beams you see on the outside are actually the beams that make up the supportive structure itself, with the walls being constructed as separate units within each section of framing. Here we see that this material is mainly stone and mortar, however, more modern and common constructions use no other than woven wooden sticks with clay and straw daubing, or "wattle and daub", and finished with lime or other plastering. The same materials used in the Durrington Walls huts dating from approximately 2,500 BC. Not only that but they are even constructed in a distantly similar, albeit more intricate and advanced manner. That being solid wood framing, followed by woven stick mesh for wall construction, fortified and sealed with clay and straw daubing, or Wattle and Daub.

So we can conclude that not only were ancient, pre-Christian structures and dwellings advanced for their time periods, some including actual plumbing and closing doors, but we can also see that in some cases the construction materials are actually the same in some modern structures. Some of the most beautiful and traditional looking homes and buildings are simply advanced "mud huts", which thrived throughout the Christian period of European history. We did not abandon the "mud hut", but rather the mud hut advanced and evolved with us as a people throughout the ages and is still as durable as ever, as well as being sightly, traditional and beautiful. One could rightfully argue that the mud hut is entirely Aryan and part of who we are as a people.

Thank you for your time

-Algiz Vidarsson