60 architecture: The Americas The wigwam served as the primary building type for many groups such as the Ojibwa (also called Chippewa) and Algonquian in the Great Lakes and northeastern areas of North America The wigwam’s design makes for easy transportation, because it consists of a simple frame and roof covering made of reeds or bark The frame, typically constructed from bent tree saplings tied together to create tears, gave the structure an oblong shape Often a hole would be left in the roof covering to allow for smoke to escape These structures would house one to two families and generally ranged from to 20 feet in diameter Some variation in size and shape (such as the extended and conical shaped wigwam) also appeared In the Great Lakes a special type of ceremonial building developed, called Midewiwin lodges These structures were very large and featured barrel-roofed frames that would be covered by bark or mats Building in the form of earth mounds is perhaps the most distinguishing characteristic of architectural practice among the southeastern cultures The Mississippian tradition (ca 750–ca 1500) ushered in the continuation and spread of mound building These designs often took on elaborate geometric designs and required extensive labor and planning Although they mostly served as a means of denoting ceremonial or burial space, they demonstrate a propensity for building on a monumental scale An outstanding example may be seen at Cahokia (near modern-day Saint Louis, Missouri), where beginning around 800 more than 100 mounds defined a large city center The largest of these, Monk’s Mound, grew higher than 100 feet high as the result of a series of 14 separate building phases The temple mound would have been topped by wattle-and-daub construction Perhaps the most well-known example of mound building is the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio The Mogollon culture (ca 500–ca 1400) of central and southwestern New Mexico improved upon the ancient pit house design by lining the walls with stone masonry Called great kivas, these ceremonial and social structures appeared around 800 and were large and rectangular in their plans The Hohokam culture (ca 500–ca 1400), located in the southern part of Arizona, was unique in their development of defense, ceremonial, and dwelling structures These buildings were constructed using thick walls formed by hand-shaped adobe There is evidence of Mexican influence on Mogollon sites such as Casa Grande and Snaketown, where ball courts have been found, though they are either egg shaped or feature bulbous ends rather than the Mesoamerican I-shaped design There is also evidence of large-scale complexes of adobe and wattle-anddaub buildings that may have been used for protection against attack These structures feature observation holes, suggesting that the complexes also had cosmological associations The Anasazi (ca 900–ca 1300; located near the presentday Four Corners region of the southwestern United States) developed large, multistoried dwellings made of adobe brick and stone These structures were often situated beneath overhanging cliffs for protection The most impressive example is Mesa Verde in the southwestern part of Colorado The Anasazi also built kivas that were circular and were used for ceremonial purposes beginning around 950 The kivas would be entered through a hole in the roof by way of ladder, and the interiors often featured a bench, hearth, and air vent The Anasazi began to construct “Great Houses” in the 11th century at sites such as Chaco Canyon These towns were made up of kivas, plazas, towers, and terraces and required a considerable amount of raw material to construct The Pueblo Indians, also living in the Four Corners area, constructed large-scale, multistoried, multiroom adobe dwellings The layout of the pueblo, or town, often suggests some cosmological association Domestic dwellings were constructed near the central sacred plaza, indicating a close relationship of the people to the sacred Mesoamerica The medieval period ushered in tremendous developments in monumental architecture throughout the Mesoamerican and Central American regions The great commercial and military city of Teotihuacán (ca 1–ca 700) had already begun to influence the development of architecture significantly throughout Mesoamerica, especially through the talud-tablero style This architectural is often used in pyramid construction, where a platform (talud) sits on and juts over a sloping wall (tablero) Despite the widespread influence of this style, contemporary and later cultures began to place their own stamp on monumental architecture The most significant of these innovations were carried out by the advanced and sophisticated cultures of the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec It should be noted that monumental architecture throughout Mesoamerica as well as South America was most often constructed as a means of defining sacred space Therefore, ceremonial centers often feature plans designed to reflect a culture’s cosmological model The region that the Mayan peoples occupied is vast and varied, since it encompasses the Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Guatemala, parts of Honduras, El Salvador, and the Mexican states of Chiapas and Tabasco Despite the proliferation of architecture throughout the Mayan world, their cities lack any standardized system of planning, such as a grid Rather, Mayan sites tended to grow in a more sprawling, organic fashion that was strongly influenced by the shape of the natural landscape Classic Period (ca 200–ca 900) Mayan architecture is generally characterized by large, stepped platforms topped by