**4. Discussion of Results**

As can be seen in Figure 7, the circular dwellings correspond to the highest value of equivalent energy per living square meter. This relation takes place both if the dwellings are situated in their original locations and if they are situated in the New Mexican locations, where the sedentary process had been most developed during the pre-Columbian North America. However, the models which isolate a lower amount of energy are the orthogonal ones. Besides, the former, the circular models, are related to nomad communities, whereas the latter ones were mainly designed by sedentary groups.

Contrary to the results of the research developed by Leroi-Gourhan [2], the energy the dwellings are equivalent to decreases as long as the sedentary process goes forward. The value of Δh decreased progressively, and the energy required to achieve the same indoor conditions increased as long as that process was developed. It seems that the priority in the design of these dwellings was not air-conditioning saving, neither in shape of hearths for heating nor in shape of natural ventilation.

As explained in the Introduction, the dwellings which were selected correspond to models that are built in regions where nomad lifestyle coexisted with sedentary lifestyle. This way, if these models are classified according to their provenances, it can be seen that the nomad dwelling is always equivalent to more energy than its sedentary counterpart (Table 5).


**Table 5.** Equivalent energy of the analyzed dwellings according to their sedentary grade.

\*Taking into account the obtained results when modifying the location of the analyzed dwellings, it can be assumed that the amount of energy a tipi is equal to is the same wherever it is placed.

This tendency was inverted in the last step of the process, the one represented by the pueblos. The longhouses represent those communities which were about to achieve the same sedentary level as the pueblos, thanks to the development of agriculture, but they are also the dwellings equivalent to the lowest amount of energy. Figure 5 shows this situation. The longhouses are the models that isolate the least amount of energy. This way and according to the evolution of the sedentary process, if the nomad dwellings are the models that isolate the highest amount of energy, the Native Americans from the pueblos, the most sedentary group, should have designed the dwelling that was equivalent to the lowest amount of energy, but that was not the case. They succeeding in designing a dwelling that isolates more energy than the longhouse and the plank house, placing it at the same level as the nomadic models. As described before, its equivalent energy was so high thanks in part to its morphology, that is to say the overlapping of volumes, the indoor compartmentalization and the reduction of the outer surface by attaching several dwellings. Regarding the building materials they were built with, the determining factor is the high value of the effusivity of earth (961.24 s1/<sup>2</sup> W/m2◦C). The thermal lag also stands out (18.85 h) and indicates that the changes in the outdoor ambient were not practically perceptible inside them.

These adobe dwellings were not built just in New Mexico, but they were also used in the Middle East. Several of them can be found in sites such as Çatal Hüyük or Ain Ghazal [81], linked to other agricultural and sedentary societies.

The results presented in this research may indicate that the priority when designing these dwellings changed throughout the sedentary process. According to them, the energy required to achieve the same ambient conditions inside the dwellings rose progressively until the adobe orthogonal dwellings were built for the first time. However, they did not achieve the same values as the nomadic and seminomadic dwellings, of which all of them were circular, did. The circumstances human beings lived in changed throughout this process and maybe at its end it was necessary to add the floor optimization to the resources' optimization, which had been the main objective until the rise of agriculture and fishing. This way, the pueblos design let the Native Americans have a solution for two problems in a balanced way. Its orthogonal floor plan let them dedicate as much surface as possible to agriculture, and it also isolated more energy than the other orthogonal models they could know about.

According to the results that were obtained, it can also be concluded that the dwelling designed by the Native Americans from New Mexico did not provide the most comfortable indoor environment (Figure 12). However, these adobe dwellings provided a higher level of humidity, a lack to be compensated in the desert of New Mexico.

**Figure 12.** Environmental conditions of the analyzed dwellings. The original materials were assigned to them, and they were placed in the New Mexican locations.
