Earthlodges first appeared in the farming tribes on the plains around AD 700. At that time, the Pawnee were building earthlodge towns in what became Nebraska and Kansas. To the northeast, the Omaha, Ponca, and Oto (who were related with similar languages) built similar homes. Later those tribes would gradually move into Nebraska territory. To the far north, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara built earthlodge villages near streams.

According to Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton in their book "Native American Architecture," all of these tribes put up their lodges in more or less the same fashion. Four or more central posts — generally cut from cottonwood trees that are plentiful on the plains — were planted in the ground and joined at the top by cross beams. A wider ring of shorter posts and beams encircled this square frame. Radiating from the central smoke hole was a wheel of roof rafters that rested on the outer ring. To complete the frame, a slanting or vertical sidewall of covering posts or split planks was placed around the basic structure to hold the earth walls. Smaller sticks overlaid with brush or grass provided a thick padding for the heavy layer of sod or loose earth, which dried like a plaster shell.

In some tribes, the earthlodge played a central role in the myths and rituals of the people. The Pawnee, for example, worshiped a host of celestial deities and incorporated astronomical symbolism in their earthlodges and the layout of their villages. Tirawa was the Pawnee's supreme deity and creator. His domain was in the vast expanse of the sky above, so his presence in the lodge was visible through the smoke hole and the shaft of light that came through. The door was generally faced east where the morning star pours his beam into the lodge and lights the fire. On the western wall was an altar representing the evening star, the Goddess of night. Beds were arranged around the outer walls. The fire pit was in the center.

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