Editing Pawnee people (section)

===Villages===
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:pawnee village soil resistivity image.jpg|thumb|left|Geophysical image depicting the subsurface archaeological footprint of Pawnee earth lodges and associated features, of a late 18th and early 19th&nbsp;century village.]] -->
Historically, the Pawnee led a lifestyle combining village life and seasonal hunting, which had long been established on the Plains. [[Archeology]] studies of ancient sites have demonstrated the people lived in this pattern for nearly 700&nbsp;years, since about 1250&nbsp;CE.<ref name=Weltfish1977/>{{rp|4–8}}

The Pawnee generally settled close to the rivers and placed their lodges on the higher banks. They built [[earth lodge]]s that by historical times tended to be oval in shape; at earlier stages, they were rectangular. They constructed the frame, made of 10–15&nbsp;posts set some {{convert|10|feet}} apart, which outlined the central room of the lodge. Lodge size varied based on the number of poles placed in the center of the structure. Most lodges had 4, 8, or 12&nbsp;center-poles. A common feature in Pawnee lodges were four painted poles, which represented the four [[cardinal directions]] and the four major star gods (not to be confused with [[Creator deity|the Creator]]). A second outer ring of poles outlined the outer circumference of the lodge. Horizontal beams linked the posts together.
[[File:Pawnee lodge.jpg|thumb|Pawnee lodges near [[Genoa, Nebraska]] (1873)]]

The frame was covered first with smaller poles, tied with willow withes. The structure was covered with thatch, then earth. A hole left in the center of the covering served as a combined chimney / smoke vent and skylight. The door of each lodge was placed to the east and the rising sun. A long, low passageway, which helped keep out outside weather, led to an entry room that had an interior buffalo-skin door on a hinge. It could be closed at night and wedged shut. Opposite the door, on the west side of the central room, a [[bison|buffalo]] skull with horns was displayed. This was considered [[Shamanism among the indigenous peoples of the Americas|great medicine]].

Mats were hung on the perimeter of the main room to shield small rooms in the outer ring, which served as sleeping and private spaces. The lodge was semi-subterranean, as the Pawnee recessed the base by digging it approximately {{convert|3|feet|4=0|abbr=off|sp=us|spell=on}} below ground level, thereby insulating the interior from extreme temperatures. Lodges were strong enough to support adults, who routinely sat on them, and the children who played on the top of the structures.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Prairie Logbooks |last=Carleton |first=James Henry |author-link=James Henry Carleton |year=1983 |pages=66–68 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=0-8032-6314-7}}</ref> (See photo above.)

As many as 30–50&nbsp;people might live in each lodge, and they were usually of related families. A village could consist of as many as 300–500&nbsp;people and 10–15&nbsp;households. Each lodge was divided in two (the north and south), and each section had a head who oversaw the daily business. Each section was further subdivided into three duplicate areas, with tasks and responsibilities related to the ages of women and girls, as described below. The membership of the lodge was quite flexible.

The tribe went on buffalo hunts in summer and winter. Upon their return, the inhabitants of a lodge would often move into another lodge, although they generally remained within the village. Men's lives were more transient than those of women. They had obligations of support for the wife (and family they married into), but could always go back to their mother and sisters for a night or two of attention. When young couples married, they lived with the woman's family in a matrilocal pattern.