The work was physically demanding, conducted in the often-wet and cold conditions of the Washington coast, and required sustained concentration to manage the constant challenge of fragile objects in waterlogged sediment.

The Longhouses in Detail

The architecture of the buried longhouses at Ozette has been reconstructed in considerable detail from the excavation evidence, and the reconstruction tells a story about both the technical sophistication of the structures and the social organization they housed.

Makah longhouses were frame structures of massive western red cedar.

The structural system used a series of large posts, set in pairs along the length of the building, that supported major beams running the length of the house.

Rafters ran from these beams to a ridgepole or to eave plates at the top of the walls.