‘Near where he found the last fish, Aniŋatchaq smelled cooking. Where was the smoke coming from? he wondered. There were no iglus [houses] here. But it was smoke all right, and he was drawn towards it. He walked further. There was an iglu: and smoke rose from the cooking area.’ Told by Asatchaq Jimmie Killigivuk, Point Hope.

The popular image of Inuit living in snow houses for most of the year, deriving from explorers’ accounts of Canadian Inuit of the central Canadian Arctic, is inaccurate for most parts of the Arctic. Thus, while Iñupiat occasionally did build snow houses in winter, these were only used temporarily for shelter, for instance on hunting trips.

In the nineteenth century, the Iñupiat's permanent winter dwellings were semi-subterranean houses built of whale bones (later of logs), and covered with sod for insulation (Fig. 1). They were called iglu (house) or, more specifically, ivrulik (sod house). Most houses consisted of one square room, with a sleeping platform on one side, usually for two families. Next to the house there was a scaffold of driftwood, used to store equipment, skins and meat supplies (Figs 2 and 3) well out of the reach of dogs.

In addition to family homes, each village had one or several larger buildings (qargi) that served as community halls for dances, and as workshops for men.

In summer, Iñupiaq families lived in tents (tupiq), covered with caribou or seal skin. Canvas, increasingly common from the end of the nineteenth century, was initially obtained from wrecked ships, later through trade. In the engravings, both houses and tents are often depicted in cross-section, so the interior is visible (Fig. 4).