The Earth Hut in the Romanian Space

The story of one the longest-standing dwelling in Romania.

Steliu Lambru, 18.06.2016, 14:00

The earth hut, that is “bordei in Romanian, is the oldest type of lodging documented in the Romanian space, especially outside the Carpathian curvature. Evidence of earth hut-type lodgings has also been found in geo-cultural areas bordering the Romanian space, since the earth hut is typical for sedentary populations.

Archaeologists unearthed sites containing clusters of earth huts dating back to prehistoric times. Up until the early 20th century, rural populations dwelt in that type of lodging. Today, earth huts can only be seen in Bucharests Village Museum, the Wine-Growing Museum in Golesti and the Boian Culture Museum, located in Olt County, some 150 kilometres away from Bucharest, which is well known for its Neolithic culture.

Considered a sign of backwardness and poverty, the earth hut was nonetheless the most suitable dwelling place for populations living in regions with many winds, heavy downpours and big discrepancies in temperature readings between winter and summer.

In an area of rural economy, the handiest natural resources were used to provide minimum living standards. In the earth huts found in pre-historic sites, archaeologists dug out fragments of ceramic pots, fragments of clay pots, tools, animal bones and traces of ash.

Thanks to their half-buried lodgings, people had stability, warmth throughout the winter and cool during the summer: they also had protection from the dangers outside. Besides, the earth hut was easy to build and maintain. The earth hut was built at between 40 centimetres and 1.85 meters in the ground, with the smallest ones having a surface imprint of 9 square meter, while the biggest earth huts had a surface area of 35 square meters. The walls of the earth hut were made of clay mixed with water, or clay mixed with water and straws, and did not have windows. Fittings were also modest and easy to manufacture. The walls of the earth hut were clad with wooden boards and the earth was battered, so that the floor may not become soft. Such a house had a slanted, thatched roof which provided the hydro isolation. The half-buried lodgings had one or two rooms, with the hearth being placed in the main room, where the fire was made and where family members had lunch. Access to and from the earth hut was provided by some sort of stair less earthen “toboggan.

A typically peasant lodging, the earth hut was perceived as an icon of the oriental geo-cultural space. Since the 17th century, foreign travellers to the Romanian Principalities provided descriptions of the earth hut and its dwellers, also presenting it as the typical way of living for Plainfield Romanian rural areas.

Modern ideas of the late 18th and the early 19th centuries provided a groundbreaking change in perception for the earth hut and the Romanians traditional household and way of life. The new way of life had set for itself western standards and not oriental ones, as had happened before. Consequently, the earth hut became a symbol of decay and the typical lodging of the disenfranchised and the downtrodden.

Medical doctors were the fiercest opponents of the earth hut; for them, poor living conditions meant lack of perspective, backwardness and disease.

Romanian social reformers were adamant in taking rural people out of their own squalid living conditions, and that would eventually bear fruit. Once the modern national state was formed and literacy, reforms and education programs were implemented, in rural areas houses were built at a faster pace while the building of earth huts suddenly dropped. Half-buried lodgings would then mainly be inhabited by gypsies, most of whom would be disenfranchised, having been released from their centuries-old serfdom. Late into the 19th century, once economy became more dynamic, most of the rural population got to live in proper houses. However, the earth hut was a hallmark of Plainfield villages.

Today the earth hut is a curiosity to be found in a museum or as a property of a bunch of eccentrics, for whom the eco way of life is by far better than the normal one. In the town of Giurgiu, 60 kilometers south of Bucharest there is an earth hut built in 1884. It could not be brought down, since it was declared a historical monument. Apart from a series of museum exhibits and words denominating extreme poverty, the earth hut, “bordei in Romanian can be found in family names, as it was preserved in Bordeianu, and in place names, since in one of northern Bucharests most expensive areas you can find the “Bordei park.