Commoner houses[edit]
The commoners made up the vast majority of the population and included skilled craftsmen.[3] The individual homes of the commoners were occupied by nuclear families. This included parents and their children.[4]
Since the commoners did not have the power and prestige that the elites had, their houses were usually made out of perishable goods. They would use trees, mud, and grass to construct their homes. They would pack mud onto the walls to keep out rainfall and for temperature control. They would cover the top of the house with grass or tree branches to try to prevent rain from entering the house. If the house had a hearth in it there was a danger of fire since most of the material used to build the house was not fire resistant. Sometimes the house would have a stone foundation, but it was rare. The house was usually one big room, sometimes separated by a wall. It was common for the families to decorate the wall in the front of their house by using lime to make it whiter. The sleeping area was in the back of the house and the front of the house had the door, facing east, and sometimes a porch area.[5]
The family would sleep in the same room. The beds were made out of sapling rods and a mat was placed on top. They would use cloths made out of cotton for a blanket to keep warm at night.[5] The commoners houses had to be remodeled often because of the materials used to build them.[6]
When a relative died they would usually bury them either under the relatives’ floor or near the house. This is one of the reasons that there is less knowledge about the commoners than there is about the elites.