I am living in the woods for a year after I graduate and one of the things I have to do is build myself a shelter. I would love to emulate Native American styles and so avoid having to construct a large, time consuming, and nigh unheatable log cabin, but I am confused about some of the details. How did Native Americans in the area I will be living in (upstate New York, near the national border) insulate against the brutal cold? It does not seem like bark alone would provide enough insulation.
I can help answer this! I live in a part of the country where Algonquin tribes still maintain their heritage independently of the federal government (due to some weird treaty laws) and interact with the local community. The Maliseet and Mi'kmaq both utilized the permanent wigwams for surviving in the cold. These are constructed as rather large domes, big enough that you could stand in and about twice as wide, closed on all sides except for a small door, with a hole in the roof. Then, with a perpetually fed fire burning in the middle and more than one person sleeping inside, you could keep the whole thing pretty warm without burning off all your oxygen. I don't have a published source, are interviews of primary sources okay? I could probably prove it to the mods.
http://www.nativetech.org/wigwam/construction.html will help you
The Haudenosaunee (also known as Iroquois) who lived in Upstate New York lived in longhouses- communal buildings housing many families. In fact, Haudenosaunee means "People of the Longhouse"
I recently visited Plimoth Plantation, which has some pretty good examples of Wampanoag shelters. According to the staff there, the shelters on site have been built entirely using the methods, materials and tools that would have been available to Wampanoags in the early 1600s.
Their website has a bit of information.
If you ever get a chance to visit, I highly recommend it. I can only speak for myself, but I was very impressed with the whole experience.