Tents

One of the most basic types of tents used by steppe peoples consisted of a single center pole and verticle poles forming the sides. Ropes and stakes kept the side poles upright. Often the outer covering was decorated. These tents are sometimes still used by the decendants of the Chagatai Khanate.

The Altai Yurt also used verticle poles for the sides, but instead of ropes, the poles were pounded into the ground. Several poles made up the roof. The main variations of these tents were in the way that the roof was constructed. The simplest design is the Chapari which has the roof poles lashed together. With the Sagaitsi and Teleuti we see the use of roof rings. Altai Yurts could be found throughout the North Altai, Yenisei region, Turkestan, Afganistan, and northern Iran.

Chapari

Sagaitsi

Teleuti

The Chorama-dyu was used by some of the Evenk peoples and the Yukaghir of Siberia. This type of tent is covered in reindeer skins during the winter. In the summer it is covered in skins and birchbark.

The Yaranga was large and housed several families. This type of tent was used in Siberia by the Chukchi and Koryak peoples.

One of the most "modern" designs of tents was the Mongolian ger. Used by many Mongol peoples, the ger (also called a yurt or kibitki) varied slightly from tribe to tribe. One feature that these tents had in common was the use of collapsible lattice work walls.

Gers were usually covered in felt, however, some were covered in bark and some even built out of wood.

"Tipi" stlye tents called Ursas were used by many tribes especially reindeer herders. Some conical tents were covered in skins. Other tents were covered in bark or wood. Some of the Tribes that used these tents are Evenks, Oroks, Yakuts, Yukagir, Nentsy, Nganasan, and Tuvans.

Not all dwellings built were round. Some Tuvans built Todzhas that were square and covered in bark. Some Kirghiz used square shapped tents covered in felt. These tents had veticle poles making up the walls and ropes and stakes to hold them up.

Large rectangular tents were often used by Khans to conduct court business or run a war campaign from. As it was taboo to step on the threshold of a ger, on these rectangular tents, it was taboo to touch the guy ropes. Today in Mongolia and Siberia, these tents are still used for large gatherings and celebrations.

The evolution of the ger

Tents: architecture of the nomads by Torvald Faegre

Nomads of South Siberia by Sevyan Vainshtein

The Yakut by W. Jochelson

Mongolian Ger Barilga By N. Tulten and D. Bayarsaikhan

The Jorney of William of Rubruk from Mission to Asia by Christopher Dawson

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