pit. One explanation for this configuration was as a defense against intruders. Alternately, because the lack of doors and the cedar mat room dividers did little to keep the wind and rain out, the mats may have served as windbreaks. Anthropologist Ronald Leroy Olson, whose subjects were the Quinault, Tlingit and Kwakiutl tribes, defines the coasts of the Pacific Northwest as the place for rectangular plank houses, from the coastal region of British Columbia to the mouth of the Copper River in Alaska, with one exception: the Athabascan Tseutsaut of the head of Portland Canal, who used temporary brush and bark lodges. The Alaskan people are more likely to use spruce wood, which has characteristics similar to cedar, due to the availability of that resource. Cedar was the material of choice for the coastal people of southwestern Canada, and Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. References Hilary Stewart, Cedar: Tree of Life to the Northwest Coast Indians, University of Washington Press, 1984 Wilson Duff, The Upper Stalo Indians of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia, University of British Columbia, Indian Education Resources Centre, 1952 Nancy Ruddell, Raven's Village: The Myths, Arts and Traditions of Native People from the Pacific Northwest Coast: Guide to the Grand Hall, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1995 Waterman, T. T. (Thomas Talbot) and Greiner, Ruth, Indian Houses of Puget Sound, Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, 1921 Edited by Gary Coupland and E.B. Banning, People Who Lived in Big Houses: Archaeological Perspectives on Large Domestic Structures, Prehistory Press, 1996 External links Maurer Site Information at www.sfu.ca Maurer Site Information at www.asbcnanaimo.nisa.com www.sciencecourseware.org A plank house that has been reconstructed A mudslide animation and documents a plank house Official web site of Quinault Indian Nation Photographs of Indian houses, camps and villages. Late 1800s to very early 1900s. Native American architecture Vernacular architecture in California