Marind-anim - Settlements

In the interior, the scattered location of sago groves leads to dispersed subtribe settlements, rarely numbering more than 50 or 60 inhabitants. The coast offers more favorable conditions, with coconut palms on sandy ridges and swampy areas at the back of the ridge suitable for sago cultivation. Here, settlements take the form of villages with up to 200 inhabitants, with subclans from each of the four phratries present in each. In the settlements, members of different subclans occupy different wards, each ward having a number of men's houses with one or two women's houses nearby. A men's house usually holds six or seven men of the same lineage and an occasional relative. At the back of the settlement are daytime shelters for boys and adolescent males. All houses are huts, set up in one or two irregular rows. When there are two rows, they are set in parallel lines with an open space down the center.