lived in dark, smokey, 1 room huts. they were constructed on a wooden frame using wattle and daub, which was straw and wet mud that hardened. the roof was thatched straw. floors were dirt. no chimney, just a stone slab where a fire could be lit. no windows. holes and cracks where some light could enter. during wet or cold weather, these holes would be covered with animal skins. very little furniture-stool or 2, a table, a couple of beds made from a pile of straw on the floor with a blanket. no running water. no sewerage. garbage and sewerage tipped outside into the streets. during winter, the animals came inside to keep warm. these unhygienic conditions meant that fleas, bugs, lice and rats were everywhere, and disease & sickness were common.