How To Build A Treehouse - Building tree platforms or nests as a shelter from dangers on the ground is a habit of all the great apes, and may have been inherited by humans. It is true that evidence of prehistoric man-made tree houses have never been found by paleoanthropologists, but remains of wooden tree houses would not remain. However, evidence for cave accommodation, terrestrial man-made rock shelters, and bonfires should be possible to find if they had existed, but are scarce from earlier than 40000 years ago. This has led to a hypothesis that archaic humans may have lived in trees until about 40000 years ago.

Even today, treehouses are built by some indigenous people in order to escape the danger and adversity on the ground in some parts of the tropics. It has been claimed that the majority of the Korowai clans, a Papuan tribe in the southeast of Irian Jaya, live in tree houses on their isolated territory as protection against a tribe of neighbouring head-hunters, the Citak. In 2018, the Korowai had constructed tree houses "for the benefit of overseas programme makers" and did not actually live in them. However, the Korowai people still build tree houses, but not elevated on stilts, but fastened to trees in the tree trunks of tall trees, to protect occupants and store food from scavenging animals.

Modern tree houses are usually built as a hut for children or for leisure purposes. Modern tree houses may also be integrated into existing hotel facilities.

Along with subterranean and ground level houses, tree houses are an option for building eco-friendly houses in remote forest areas, because they do not require a clearing of a certain area of forest. However, the wildlife, climate and illumination on ground level in areas of dense close-canopy forest is not desirable to some people.

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