Anthropology – The Traditional House

Built on piles and made with wood and bamboo, the Khmer Loeu house is solid and well adapted to its environment. It may vary in size but the plan is the same and they all have a terrace where visitors are welcomed and evenings are spent talking.. The living quarters are on each side of the terrace if it is a long house, or behind the terrace and on one side if it is a house of the mon-khmer type. When several families live in the same house, a bamboo partition gives a relative intimacy ; each family has its own kitchen utensils . People sleep with their heads to the east –the place where the spirits reside – and the rice wine jars are stored along the eastern partition because they represent one of the treasures of the household .