Stilt houses, (also known aspile orlake dwellings) are structures elevated onstilts above the ground orwater body. They are primarily built to protect againstflooding;[1] and to keep outvermin.[2] The shaded area beneath the house is often used for work or storage.[3] Such dwellings are common across Southeast Asia, Oceania, Central America, the Caribbean, northern parts of South America, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
Stiltedgranaries are also a common feature in West Africa, e.g., in theMalinke language regions ofMali andGuinea.
Stilt houses were also built byAmerindians inpre-Columbian times.Palafitos are especially widespread along the banks of the tropical river valleys of South America, notably theAmazon andOrinoco river systems. Stilt houses were such a prevalent feature along the shores ofLake Maracaibo thatAmerigo Vespucci was inspired to name the region "Venezuela" (little Venice). As the costs of hurricane damage increase, more and more houses along theGulf Coast are being built as or converted to stilt houses.[4]
Stilt houses are also still common in parts of theMosquito Coast in northeasternNicaragua, and innorthern Brazil[5] as well as thebayou parts of theSouthern United States and the hurricane proneFlorida Keys and South CarolinaLowcountry.
Houses wherepermafrost is present, in theArctic, are built on stilts to keep permafrost under them from melting. Permafrost can be up to 70% water. While frozen, it provides a stable foundation. However, if heat radiating from the bottom of a home melts the permafrost, the home goes out of level and starts sinking into the ground. Other means of keeping the permafrost from melting are available, but raising the home off the ground on stilts is one of the most effective ways.
Raised rectangular houses are one of the cultural hallmarks of theAustronesian peoples and are found throughout the regions inMaritime Southeast Asia,Island Melanesia,Micronesia, andPolynesia settled by Austronesians. The structures are raised on piles, usually with the space underneath also utilized for storage ordomestic animals. The raised design had multiple advantages, they mitigate damage during flooding and (in very tall examples) can act as defensive structures during conflicts. The house posts are also distinctively capped with larger-diameter discs at the top, to prevent vermin and pests from entering the structures by climbing them. Austronesian houses and other structures are usually built in wetlands and alongside bodies of water, but can also be built in the highlands or even directly on shallow water.[7][6][8][9]
Building structures on pilings is believed to be derived from the design of raised ricegranaries and storehouses, which are highly important status symbols among the ancestrally rice-cultivating Austronesians.[6][9] The rice granary shrine was also the archetypal religious building among Austronesian cultures and was used to store carvings of ancestor spirits and local deities.[9] While rice cultivation wasn't among the technologies carried intoRemote Oceania, raised storehouses still survived. Thepātaka of theMāori people is such an example. The largestpātaka are elaborately adorned with carvings and are often the tallest buildings in the Māoripā. They were used to store implements, weapons, ships, and other valuables; while smallerpātaka were used to store provisions. A special type ofpātaka supported by a single tall post also had ritual importance and were used to isolate high-born children during their training for leadership.[6]
The majority of Austronesian structures are not permanent. They are made from perishable materials like wood, bamboo, plant fiber, and leaves. Because of this, archaeological records of prehistoric Austronesian structures are usually limited to traces of house posts, with no way of determining the original building plans.[10] Indirect evidence of traditional Austronesian architecture, however, can be gleaned from their contemporary representations in art, like infriezes on the walls of laterHindu-Buddhist stone temples (like in reliefs inBorobudur andPrambanan). But these are limited to the recent centuries. They can also be reconstructed linguistically from shared terms for architectural elements, like ridge-poles, thatch, rafters, house posts, hearth, notched log ladders, storage racks, public buildings, and so on. Linguistic evidence also makes it clear that stilt houses were already present among Austronesian groups since at least theLate Neolithic.[8][9]
In the late 20th century, stilt houses in extremely calm ocean water became a popular form of tourist lodging known asoverwater bungalows; the trend began inFrench Polynesia and quickly spread to other tourist locations, especially in tropical locales.
Arbiet al. (2013) have also noted the striking similarities between Austronesian architecture and Japanese traditional raised architecture (shinmei-zukuri). Particularly the buildings of theIse Grand Shrine, which contrast with thepit-houses typical of the NeolithicYayoi period. They propose significant Neolithic contact between the people of southern Japan and Austronesians or pre-Austronesians that occurred prior to the spread ofHan Chinese cultural influence to the islands.[8] Rice cultivation is also believed to have been introduced to Japan from a para-Austronesian group from coastal eastern China.[11] Waterson (2009) has also argued that the architectural tradition of stilt houses in eastern Asia and the Pacific is originally Austronesian, and that similar building traditions in Japan and mainland Asia (notably amongKra-Dai andAustroasiatic-speaking groups) correspond to contacts with a prehistoric Austronesian network.[9][12]
In South Asia, stilt houses are very common inNortheast India, specifically theBrahmaputra Valley regions ofAssam, which is extremely prone to regional flooding from the Brahmaputra. These houses are known aschang ghar inAssamese, and askare okum inMising; chang ghar are traditionally built by theMising people, who live along the Brahmaputra. Unlike many forms of traditional architecture, including stilt architecture, in South and Southeast Asia, the construction of chang ghar is making a resurgence and increasing in popularity, as a result of climate change increasing regular flooding in Assam, and the stilts of the chang ghar is adapted to flooding in the first place.[13] The height of the stilts of the chang ghar is determined by the height of the water during the last major flood.[14]
Stilt houses are also popular inKerala in theKerala backwaters, another regions with high rainfall and regular flooding from monsoons. Although stilt houses in the Kerala Backwaters have been a traditional method of house construction for many years, following the disastrous2018 floods in Kerala, many more stilt houses have been constructed recently and utilize concrete as well as timber for their pillars.[15][16]
In theNeolithic, theCopper Age and theBronze Age, stilt-house settlements were common in theAlpine andPianura Padana (Terramare) regions.[17] Remains have been found at theLjubljana Marsh inSlovenia and at theMondsee andAttersee lakes inUpper Austria, for example.
Earlyarchaeologists likeFerdinand Keller thought they formed artificial islands, much like the Irish and Scottishcrannogs, but today it is clear that the majority of settlements were located on the shores of lakes and were only inundated later on.[18]
Reconstructed stilt houses are shown inopen-air museums inUnteruhldingen andZürich (Pfahlbauland). In June 2011, theprehistoric pile dwellings in six Alpine states were designated asUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites. A singleScandinavian pile dwelling, theAlvastra stilt houses, has been excavated in Sweden.[citation needed]Herodotus has described in hisHistories the dwellings of the "lake-dwellers" inPaeonia and how those were constructed.[19]
In the Alps, similar buildings, known asraccards, are still in use as granaries. In England, granaries are placed onstaddle stones, similar to stilts, to prevent mice and rats getting to the grain.
In Italy there are several stilt-houses settlements, for example the one on theRocca di Manerba del Garda.
InScotland there used to be prehistoric stilt houses calledcrannogs.[20]
Stilt houses as water villas are common in theMaldives andAssam.
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