About Karankawa Housing
The Karankawa Indians were a tribe of Indians, now extinct, who lived along the coast of Texas from Galveston to Corpus Christi for many centuries. Karankawa culture and traditions came to an end when the last Karankawa people died in the 1850s, so most of what is known about Karankawa housing comes from accounts by European and Anglo-American observers. Recently more has been discovered about Karankawa housing from archaeological findings near former Karankawa communities.
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Geography
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The Karankawa were nomads, spending part of the year on the mainland of the Texas coast and the rest on the coastal barrier islands. Food availability and climate forced the Karankawa to live a nomadic life, moving whenever their fishing, hunting and gathering culture deemed it necessary. Since the Karankawa traveled back and forth to their different campsites in dugout canoes, their dwelling structures had to be nonpermanent, easy to carry and quick to set up and take down.
Features
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Karankawa housing consisted of transportable wigwams made from willow poles and deer hides, bear skins or thatch. Usually only half of the circular housing structure was covered with the animal skins or thatch, the rest being left without a roof, open to the air and elements. This Karankawa housing was very simple to take down and store in the dugout canoes when the Karankawa moved to a new campsite.
The Karankawa had little in the way of furniture or ornamentation for their housing structures. They usually had only animal hides to sit on and stacks of the hides to make beds out of. Fires were made in the center of the wigwams to cook their food. -
Size
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Karankawa housing structures, or wigwams, were normally about 10 to 12 feet in diameter. Often two families, consisting of seven or eight people total, lived in the each hut. Karankawa housing was primarily used as shelter against inclement weather and as a place to cook, eat and sleep. Most other daily activities took place out of doors. It was vital for the Karankawa to keep their housing small so that it could be readily transferred to new campsites as the tribe moved in search of food sources or as the coastal seasons dictated.
Function
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The function of the portable, crude Karankawa housing structure was basic shelter against the elements. The Texas coast is known for its warm weather, with winters usually very mild, so the Karankawa had no need for sturdier structures that would keep cold air out. To the Karankawa, their wigwam served merely as a place to cook their food, eat and sleep without being completely exposed to the coastal elements.
Karankawa housing was very practical for their nomadic way of life, allowing for easy setup and disassembly. It was also probably the only type of housing they could stow in their canoes for transport between the mainland and the coastal islands they inhabited for part of the year.
Theories/Speculation
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Recent campsite discoveries have uncovered Karankawa communities consisting of hundreds of Karankawa housing units grouped together in neighborhoods. This supports the belief that despite being a nomadic culture, the Karankawa usually all traveled together when it was time to go in search of food. The discoveries also indicate that the Karankawa were once a large, thriving coastal culture. Disease and warfare would eventually take a deadly toll on the Karankawa, leaving the tribe extinct by the 1850s.
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