{{Short description|Houses raised on piles over the surface of the soil or a body of water}} {{redirect|Lake dwelling|other types of lakeside dwellings|Wetland settlement}} [[File:Inle-Yawnghwe.jpg|thumb|300px|City of Yawnghwe in the Inle Lake, Myanmar]]
'''Stilt houses''' (also known as '''pile''' or '''lake dwellings''') are structures elevated on stilts above the ground or water body. They are primarily built to protect against flooding;<ref name="Bush2004">{{cite book|author=Bush, David M. |title=Living with Florida's Atlantic beaches: Coastal hazards from Amelia Island to Key West|url=https://archive.org/details/livingwithflorid0000bush|url-access=registration |access-date=27 March 2011|date=June 2004|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3289-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/livingwithflorid0000bush/page/263 263]–264}}</ref> and to keep out vermin.<ref name="Experts">{{cite book|author=Our Experts|title=Our Living World 5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pjK-TG3v-GkC&pg=PA63|access-date=27 March 2011|publisher=Ratna Sagar|isbn=978-81-8332-295-9|page=63}}</ref> The shaded area beneath the house is often used for work or storage.<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.heritagecamps.org/what-we-do/the-camps/cambodian.html | title=Cambodian Heritage Camp yearbook | access-date=2017-06-16 | archive-date=2017-11-11 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111232451/http://www.heritagecamps.org/what-we-do/the-camps/cambodian.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> Such dwellings are common across Southeast Asia, Oceania, Central America, the Caribbean, parts of coastal West Africa, northern parts of South America, the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
==Africa== Stilted granaries are also a common feature in West Africa, e.g., in the Malinke language regions of Mali and Guinea.
==Americas== {{multiple image | align = right | total_width = 333 | image1 = PalafitosCastro2016.jpg | caption1 = Palafitos in Castro, Chiloé Archipelago, Chile | image2 = Elevated houses on river in Iowa.jpg | caption2 = Stilt houses on the banks of the Mississippi in Iowa }}
Stilt houses were also built by Amerindians in pre-Columbian times. ''Palafitos'' are especially widespread along the banks of the tropical river valleys of South America, notably the Amazon and Orinoco river systems. Stilt houses were such a prevalent feature along the shores of Lake Maracaibo that Amerigo Vespucci was inspired to name the region "Venezuela" (little Venice). As the costs of hurricane damage increase, more and more houses along the Gulf Coast are being built as or converted to stilt houses.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.texasgulfcoastonline.com/News/tabid/86/ctl/ArticleView/mid/466/articleId/56/Default.aspx |title=Fortified Home Design Pioneered on the Texas Gulf Coast |publisher=Texasgulfcoastonline.com |access-date=2012-08-01 |archive-date=2008-09-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907210639/http://www.texasgulfcoastonline.com/News/tabid/86/ctl/ArticleView/mid/466/articleId/56/Default.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Stilt houses are still commonplace in parts of the Mosquito Coast in northeastern Nicaragua, and in northern Brazil.<ref name="Robinson1996">{{cite book|author=Dindy Robinson|title=World cultures through art activities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gVMQ_2Fzcm0C&pg=PA64|access-date=27 March 2011|date=15 August 1996|publisher=Libraries Unlimited|isbn=978-1-56308-271-9|pages=64–65}}</ref> They are also common in the bayou parts of the Southern United States, the hurricane prone Florida Keys, and the South Carolina Lowcountry.
== Arctic == [[File:Kamchadals.gif|thumb|right|Summer family dwellings of the natives of the Kamchatka Peninsula (Russia) called Itelmens or Kamchadals. Their winter dwellings were earth-sheltered and communal.]]
Houses where permafrost is present, in the Arctic, 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.
==Asia-Pacific== ===Australia=== {{see|Queenslander (architecture)}} ===Austronesia=== {{See also|Austronesian peoples#Architecture}} [[File:Traditional stilt houses in Bangaan of the Ifugao people.jpg|thumb|left|The raised ''bale'' houses of the Ifugao people with capped house posts are believed to be derived from the designs of traditional granaries<ref name="Sato1991"/>]] Raised rectangular houses are one of the cultural hallmarks of the Austronesian peoples and are found throughout the regions in Maritime Southeast Asia, Island Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia settled by Austronesians. The structures are raised on piles, usually with the space underneath also utilized for storage or domestic 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.<ref name="Rainbird2004">{{cite book|author=Paul Rainbird|title=The archaeology of Micronesia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jtMKeFTO9ZYC&pg=PA92|access-date=27 March 2011|date=14 June 2004|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65630-6|pages=92–98}}</ref><ref name="Sato1991">{{cite journal |last1=Sato |first1=Koji |title=Menghuni Lumbung: Beberapa Pertimbangan Mengenai Asal-Usul Konstruksi Rumah Panggung di Kepulauan Pasifik |journal=Antropologi Indonesia |date=1991 |volume=49 |pages=31–47 |url=http://www.sumai.org/asia/refer/sem9102.htm}}</ref><ref name="Arbi2013">{{cite journal |last1=Arbi |first1=Ezrin |last2=Rao |first2=Sreenivasaiah Purushothama |last3=Omar |first3=Saari |s2cid=145591097 | name-list-style = vanc |title=Austronesian Architectural Heritage and the Grand Shrines at Ise, Japan |journal=Journal of Asian and African Studies |date=21 November 2013 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=7–24 |doi=10.1177/0021909613510245}}</ref><ref name="bin Tajudeen">{{cite book |editor1-last=Acri |editor1-first=Andrea |editor2-last=Blench |editor2-first=Roger |editor3-last=Landmann |editor3-first=Alexandra |last1=bin Tajudeen |first1=Imran | name-list-style = vanc |title=Spirits and Ships: Cultural Transfers in Early Monsoon Asia |date=2017 |publisher=ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute |chapter=Śāstric and Austronesian Comparative Perspectives: Parallel Frameworks on Indic Architectural and Cultural Translations among Western Malayo-Polynesian Societies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aR1qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT340|isbn=9789814762762}}</ref>
[[File:Chamorrohaus Rekonstruktion.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Reconstruction of Latte period Chamorro buildings raised on capped stone pillars called ''haligi'']] Building structures on pilings is believed to be derived from the design of raised rice granaries and storehouses, which are highly important status symbols among the ancestrally rice-cultivating Austronesians.<ref name="Sato1991"/><ref name="bin Tajudeen"/> 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.<ref name="bin Tajudeen"/> While rice cultivation wasn't among the technologies carried into Remote Oceania, raised storehouses still survived. The ''pātaka'' of the Māori people is such an example. The largest ''pātaka'' are elaborately adorned with carvings and are often the tallest buildings in the Māori ''pā''. They were used to store implements, weapons, ships, and other valuables; while smaller ''pātaka'' were used to store provisions. A special type of ''pātaka'' supported by a single tall post also had ritual importance and were used to isolate high-born children during their training for leadership.<ref name="Sato1991"/>
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.<ref name="Lico2008">{{cite book |last1=Lico |first1=Gerard |title=Arkitekturang Filipino: A History of Architecture and Urbanism in the Philippines |date=2008 |publisher=University of the Philippines Press |isbn=9789715425797}}</ref> Indirect evidence of traditional Austronesian architecture, however, can be gleaned from their contemporary representations in art, like in friezes on the walls of later Hindu-Buddhist stone temples (like in reliefs in Borobudur and Prambanan). 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 the Late Neolithic.<ref name="Arbi2013"/><ref name="bin Tajudeen"/>
In the late 20th century, stilt houses in extremely calm ocean water became a popular form of tourist lodging known as overwater bungalows; the trend began in French Polynesia and quickly spread to other tourist locations, especially in tropical locales.
===East Asia and Mainland Southeast Asia=== Arbi ''et al.'' (2013) have also noted the striking similarities between Austronesian architecture and Japanese traditional raised architecture (''shinmei-zukuri''). Particularly the buildings of the Ise Grand Shrine, which contrast with the pit-houses typical of the Neolithic Yayoi period. They propose significant Neolithic contact between the people of southern Japan and Austronesians or pre-Austronesians that occurred prior to the spread of Han Chinese cultural influence to the islands.<ref name="Arbi2013"/> Rice cultivation is also believed to have been introduced to Japan from a para-Austronesian group from coastal eastern China.<ref name="Robbeets2017">{{Cite journal |last=Robbeets |first=Martine | author-link=Martine Robbeets | name-list-style = vanc |date=2017 |title=Austronesian influence and Transeurasian ancestry in Japanese |journal=Language Dynamics and Change |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=210–251 |doi=10.1163/22105832-00702005|doi-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-002E-8635-7 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> 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 among Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic-speaking groups) correspond to contacts with a prehistoric Austronesian network.<ref name="bin Tajudeen"/><ref name="Waterson2009">{{cite book |last1=Waterson |first1=Roxana |title=Paths and Rivers: Sa'dan Toraja Society in Transformation |date=2009 |publisher=KITLV Press |isbn=9789004253858|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=na1gAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8}}</ref>
===South Asia=== In South Asia, stilt houses are very common in Northeast India, specifically the Brahmaputra Valley regions of Assam, which is extremely prone to regional flooding from the Brahmaputra. These houses are known as ''chang ghar'' in Assamese, and as ''kare okum'' in Mising; chang ghar are traditionally built by the Mising 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=India's Mising community seeks to expand its indigenous adaptation practices in response to climate change |url=https://www.preventionweb.net/news/indias-mising-community-seeks-expand-its-indigenous-adaptation-practices-response-climate |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=www.preventionweb.net |date=21 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref> The height of the stilts of the chang ghar is determined by the height of the water during the last major flood.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-02-09 |title=India's Mising tribe lives in traditional flood-resilient homes to adapt to climate change |url=https://globalvoices.org/2022/02/09/indias-mising-tribe-lives-in-traditional-flood-resilient-homes-to-adapt-to-climate-change/ |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=Global Voices |language=en}}</ref>
Stilt houses are also popular in Kerala in the Kerala 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 disastrous 2018 floods in Kerala, many more stilt houses have been constructed recently and utilize concrete as well as timber for their pillars.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kuttoor |first=Radhakrishnan |date=2019-08-26 |title=Homes that survived the floods |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/homes-that-survived-the-floods/article29262995.ece |access-date=2022-05-11 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |agency=TNN|date=Aug 14, 2019 |title=Stilt houses can defy floodwaters |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/stilt-houses-can-defy-floodwaters/articleshow/70666254.cms |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref>
== Europe == [[File:Italien, Molina di Ledro by Niederkasseler - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Palafittes of Ledro, Italy]] [[File:Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen-08.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of Bronze Age stilt houses on Lake Constance, Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen, Germany]] [[File:Eisenzeitliche Seeufersiedlung in Traunkirchen am Traunsee.ogg|thumb|In Traunkirchen at Lake Traun in Upper Austria, archaeologists from the University of Innsbruck are researching the only Iron Age lakeside settlement currently known in Austria.]] In the Neolithic, the Copper Age and the Bronze Age, stilt-house settlements were common in the Alpine and Pianura Padana (Terramare) regions.<ref name="Ertl2008">{{cite book|author=Alan W. Ertl|title=Toward an Understanding of Europe: A Political Economic Précis of Continental Integration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9PGRaZt-zcC&pg=PA308|access-date=28 March 2011|date=15 August 2008|publisher=Universal-Publishers|isbn=978-1-59942-983-0|page=308}}</ref> Remains have been found at the Ljubljana Marsh in Slovenia and at the Mondsee and Attersee lakes in Upper Austria, for example.
Early archaeologists like Ferdinand Keller thought they formed artificial islands, much like the Irish and Scottish crannogs, but today it is clear that the majority of settlements were located on the shores of lakes and were only inundated later on.<ref name="Menotti2004">{{cite book|author=Francesco Menotti|title=Living on the lake in prehistoric Europe: 150 years of lake-dwelling research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8p6CHjBC1kMC&pg=PA22|access-date=29 March 2011|year=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-31720-7|pages=22–25}}</ref>
Reconstructed stilt houses are shown in open-air museums in Unteruhldingen and Zürich (Pfahlbauland). In June 2011, the prehistoric pile dwellings in six Alpine states were designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A single Scandinavian pile dwelling, the Alvastra stilt houses, has been excavated in Sweden.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} Herodotus has described in his ''Histories'' the dwellings of the "lake-dwellers" in Paeonia and how those were constructed.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D16#note-link1 5.16]</ref>
In the Alps, similar buildings, known as raccards, are still in use as granaries. In England, granaries are placed on staddle 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 the Rocca di Manerba del Garda.
In Scotland there used to be prehistoric stilt houses called crannogs.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://crannog.co.uk/what-is-a-crannog/ | title=What is a Crannog? – the Scottish Crannog Centre }}</ref>
== Types == * Diaojiaolou – Stilt houses in southern China. * Heliotrope – A concept house designed by Rolf Disch with a single stilt, optimized for harnessing solar power. * Kelong – Built primarily for fishing, but often doubling up as offshore dwellings in the following countries: Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. * Bahay Kubo – The traditional house type prevalent in the Philippines. * Palafito – Found throughout South America since Pre-Columbian times. In the late 19th century, numerous palafitos were built in Chilean cities such as Castro, Chonchi, and other towns in the Chiloé Archipelago, and are now considered a typical element of Chilotan architecture. * Pang uk – A special kind of house found in Tai O, Lantau, Hong Kong, mainly built by Tankas. * Papua New Guinea stilt house – A kind of stilt house constructed by Motuans, commonly found in the southern coastal area of PNG. * Queenslander – Stilt house common in Queensland and northern New South Wales, Australia. * Chaang Ghar – A type of stilt house built in Assam state of India. It is mainly found in flood-prone areas of the Brahmaputra River valley. * Thai stilt house – A kind of house often built on freshwater, e.g., a lotus pond. * Vietnamese stilt house – Similar to the Thai ones, except having a front door with a smaller height for religious reasons.
==Tourism== Stilt houses as water villas are common in the Maldives and Assam.
== Gallery == <gallery class="center"> Emmanuel Benner, Habitation lacustre.jpg|''Lakeside Dwelling'' (1878 painting by Emmanuel Benner) Maori pataka.jpg|Māori ''pātaka'' (storehouses) Lacustrine Village.jpg|Lacustrine Village found in Lake Zurich, Switzerland Rumoh Acèh di Piyeung Datu.jpg|Rumoh Aceh, Acehnese traditional house Maranao Torogan (c. 1908 - 1924), Philippines.jpg|A torogan of the Maranao people of the Philippines (c. 1908-1924) Cempa stilthouses.jpg|Stilt houses in Cempa, located in the Lingga Islands, Riau Islands, Indonesia Fragaria washington.JPG|Stilt houses along Puget Sound in Fragaria, Washington, United States Philippinen basilan seezigeuner ph04p69.jpg|Bajau stilt houses over the sea in the Philippines Haus afrika zoo gelsenkirchen.jpg|An African home reconstructed in Germany Puente en zona de palafitos en Nueva Venecia-Sitionuevo-Magdalena-Colombia.jpg|A bridge between stilt houses (''palafito'') in Colombia, in Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta Palafitos Lago de Maracaibo.jpg|Stilt house on Lake Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela Curiapolandschaft.jpg|Stilt house on Curiapo, Delta Amacuro, Venezuela Traditional Messolongi stilt house.jpg|Traditional stilt house in the Missolonghi Lagoon, Western Greece, Greece Tonle Sap stilt houses.JPG|Stilt houses on Tonlé Sap Lake, Cambodia Diamonds Thudufushi Beach and Water Villas, May 2017 -03.jpg|Vacation resort in the Maldives Arcachon1Copier.JPG|"Cabins on stilts", Arcachon Lagoon, France Blethrow Inle3.JPG|Stilt houses in Inle Lake, Myanmar Ocad.jpg|The Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Наколно живеалиште во Дојранско Езеро.jpg|Stilt house in Doiran Lake </gallery>
== See also == [[File:Pfahlbauer Jauslin.JPG|thumb|"Stiltshouse Dwellers" by Karl Jauslin, {{ill|Stilthouse romanticism|de|Pfahlbauromantik}} style]] * Pfahlbaumuseum Unteruhldingen – an English-language article about the stilt house museum in Unteruhldingen, Germany * Pit-house * Post in ground * Prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps * Rumah Melayu * Stiltsville * Treehouse * Venice * Wood pilings *{{ill|Stilthouse romanticism|de|Pfahlbauromantik}}, idealized view of stiltshouse dwellers in Almine lake ares
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Stilt houses}} * {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Lake Dwellings|author=Ernest Ingersoll|author-link=Ernest Ingersoll|short=x}} * [https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:building%3Dstilt_house View on OSM wiki] {{Prehistoric technology}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Coastal construction Category:House types Category:Stilts