I recently learned about the backstuga type homes that once existed in rural parts of Finland and Sweden. It seems like they might not have been common in Norway, or they had a different name. I know that pit houses existed a thousand years ago in Norway, so it seems like hillside dugout might have been possible.

On the other hand, I can see that maybe many slopes in Norway have too many huge rock formations and fewer spots to dig into a steep little hill.

Further, it would seem that there could be huge energy savings to build an earth sheltered home in modern times, but I also understand that in the last 70 years, but I also can see how earthen shelters seem to fit only 1 or 2 people well, and that beyond medieval times, bedrooms are usually not shared by the whole household. So, that would rule them out, being cost prohibitive if multiple rooms were needed, in-home toilets, etc…

My perspective is from the southern US. So, I could be unaware of a ton of things. In the southern US, our biggest reason is termites, if there's otherwise a decent slope for drainage. It seems that northern regions of the world have a greater amount of rot resistant Timber, and fewer termites, if any.

See Wikipedia entry:

by RusticSet

3 comments

  1. Not really a widrspread concept in norway I think.

    The defining property of these dwellings were not the construction method but that it was a type of house that was not a crofter or cottager with duties and land to tend but just the house and perhaps a tiny garden.

    I dont think we had a separate tax code for this in Norway and thus this was not registered in the same way. I guess people lived like this, but were probably just counted as tenants.

  2. You cannot dig into anything in Norway. For most of the country, the bedrock is litteraly a foot down, and if it isn’t, it’s either a bog, or a field.

    Could you build a house on a slope, sure. But you’d have to build out, and not dig in, until you have modern tools.

  3. You should search for the term “gamme”. Often being seen as a Sapmi concept nowadays, but they’ve been built in Norway for at least many hundreds of years.

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