Gururumba - Settlements

About one-third of Gururumba territory is in dense forest cover; the remaining portion is open grassland, studded with gardens and stands of planted casuarinas. Major villages, containing 150-300 people, are located between the Asaro River and the forest line, arranged in a linear pattern if located on ridges, or in a rectangular arrangement if not. The latter Villages were also sites of important ceremonial events, which hundreds of people from other sovereignties and language groups would attend for several days at a time. Prior to European contact the villages were somewhat smaller, palisaded, and located in less-open positions on ridges closer to the Forest for defensive reasons. Houses were round in floor plan with a center pole supporting radial rafters and a thatched roof. The walls were made of a double row of wooden stakes lined with grass and sealed with horizontal strips of tree bark. Each village consisted of one or two large houses, where all the adult men slept and ate together, and a series of smaller houses: one for each married woman, her unmarried daughters, and young sons. In either case, the houses were divided into a front half, where the door and hearth were located, and a back half used as a storage and sleeping area.