ABSTRACT
Tiv domestic buildings are divided into three main types: sleeping-huts (iyou, pi. ayou), reception huts (ate, pi. mba ate), and granaries. Although there are several varieties of each, there is least variation in the sleeping-huts. The most common kind is circular (igbirititi), with its walls made either of mud blocks or of courses of puddled mud resting on a wider, raised base (kungur) to keep out the water. These huts may be from 10 to more than 20 ft. in diameter. The roof, an inverted cone resting on the walls, is made of a framework (ha’av) of poles (hange) reinforced at about 18-in. intervals by lateral supports of tough vines lashed spirally around the framework with rope twined from various types of grass. The huts are thatched with sword grass (Imperata cylindrica) braided into long strips which are wound around the conical roof frame from bottom to top. The mud floor is pounded to a smooth polished surface by special hardwood paddles.
