Inuit Houses
The word igloo actually means any type of house, not just a snow house. The snow-block house that we usually think of when we hear igloo was not used by all Inuits. There were no snow-block houses in Alaska. The Alaskan Inuits lived cabins made from driftwood and covered with soil.
To make an igloo, hard-packed snow was cut into blocks with a long knife made of bone, ivory, or metal. A man could build an igloo in an hour. In the igloo, Inuit slept on a low snow platform covered with twigs and caribou furs. Each igloo had a skylight made of freshwater ice. When summer arrived the igloo melted, and the family had to move into tents made of animal skins.
