pithouse

English

This reconstruction of a pithouse at the Step House ruins in Mesa Verde National Park, United States, shows the pit dug below grade, four supporting posts, a roof structure as layers of wood and mud, and the entry through the roof.

Alternative forms

• pit-house

Etymology

From pit +‎ house.

Noun

pithouse (plural pithouses)

1. (archaeology) A primitive building partially dug into the ground and roofed over.

Synonyms

• grubhouse
• sunken featured building
• SFB

Translations

primitive building

• Catalan: casa en rasa f, casa excavada f
• Czech: polozemnice (cs) n
• Dutch: kuilhuis n
• Finnish: kuoppatalo
• German: Grubenhaus n
• Korean: 수혈주거 (suhyeoljugeo)
• Polish: ziemianka (pl) f
• Spanish: casa en zanja f, casa excavada f
• Swedish: grophus n

Further reading

• Pit-house on Wikipedia.Wikipedia