This life-sized diorama depicts the partial interior of a Hodinöšyö:nih longhouse located south of what is now Rochester in the Appalachian Plateau around 1400. Rectangular in shape, It is constructed of many tall wooden posts fastened together with hickory lashings. The walls are made of large sheets of elm bark. To our far left, a braid of shucked, yellow corn hangs to dry next to a woven basket that contains firewood. A stretched-out deer hide covers a portion of the wall. Other hides, including deer, raccoon, and bear, are draped over the upper and lower platforms that extend lengthwise along the walls of the longhouse. Various vessels and implements, such as snowshoes, baskets, gourds, and bowls, are stored on the upper level. 

Near the center of the diorama, a baby rests with their eyes closed in a cradleboard suspended from one of the posts supporting the longhouse structure. The cradleboard is wrapped in a light beige, fringed hide. Nearest to us and in front of the baby, a woman kneels on the earthen floor by a fire. She looks toward our right, where a wooden bowl, basket, and a stone mortar and pestle sit on top of a small animal hide on the ground. She wears a light beige, fringed leather dress and leather moccasins, and her hair is tied with strips of dyed, red leather. Her left arm rests on her left knee. She stirs a wooden ladle with her right hand in a large clay pot that features incised designs on its rim.

Moving to our right, a man wearing a leather breechcloth sits on the lower platform. His hair is also tied with pieces of leather. With his right hand, he uses a stone tool with a wooden handle to carve a long and shallow oval tray. The tray is made of a light brown wood and has two handles on either end. He wears moccasins and places his feet on a round, woven mat. To his left, a child sits cross-legged on the floor of the longhouse. Their hair, tied into two plaits with leather, also rests over their shoulders and torso. They wear a fringed, leather breechcloth. In their hands, they shape clay into a small vessel. Four similar containers sit on the ground to their left. Various tools and materials, such as a war club, tumpline, antlers, and wood, are stored in the corner behind the child.

To our far right and just outside the open door of the longhouse, a woman holds a long, wooden corn pounder over a hollowed-out stump. She wears moccasins and a fringed, leather dress that features a stitched diamond pattern bordered by red lines. Her hair is similarly tied with two leather strips. Depicting a view of the landscape, an early autumn scene featuring a forest of mostly green and yellow trees is painted in the background. The painting also includes a palisade, or defensive barrier. It is built of tall, upright posts set into the ground and surrounds the longhouse. A ladder is propped against the palisade, and boulders of various sizes are piled on the ground nearby.

A forest of tall trees, ranging in color from green to yellow to red, is painted on the background of the curved, horizontal diorama depicting an Onödowa’ga:’ (Seneca) village c. 1600 located east of Honeoye Creek in the presently named town of West Bloomfield. A dark blue river winds from left to right through the forest. Clouds are scattered across the light blue and overcast sky. Large fields of corn grow in the midground in front of the river and in the distance to our left. Tree stumps are scattered throughout the landscape. In the painting, a palisade, or defensive barrier, built of tall, upright posts made from tree trunks set into the ground, borders the scene on our left and right. Sharpened posts sit at an angle on either end of the palisade facing the land.

The foreground of the diorama transitions into a village scene, which sits upon a hill overlooking the painted valley below. The ground of the village has been cleared of grasses and foliage. To our left, the palisade wall extends outward to us. It features an entryway and an elevated wooden platform, against which a ladder leans. Boulders of various sizes rest upon the platform. Smaller sharpened stakes made from wood are piled below it. Nearby, three adults perform different tasks. Closest to us, a person wearing a leather skirt runs a wooden tool along an animal hide that rests on an angled wooden frame. To their left, a seated woman threads fiber through a piece of leather. She wears a fringed, leather top, a skirt, and leather moccasins. Her hair is plaited into two braids. A similarly dressed woman walks from the village entrance to the center of the scene. She carries a basket of corn on her back. Just beyond the group, a conical structure composed of tree bark and branches faces us. Inside, a used fire pit is situated in the center and a wooden tray rests near the entrance. To the structure’s left, another fire pit is built. A woman kneels next to a seated child. She shapes a clay pot in her hands. Similar vessels are placed upon flat stones to dry. A supply of clay and pottery-making tools sit nearby. The seated child, who wears a breechcloth, extends a small clay vessel out to the woman with their right hand. 

Near the center of the diorama, a man carries a deer as well as a bow and sheath of arrows on his back toward us. Behind him, a narrow, rectangular longhouse sits parallel to us. Its outer and interior framework is half complete, and six men work to finish its construction using materials such as wooden posts, elm bark, and hickory lashings that are scattered across the scene. Each man wears a breechcloth, and their hair is tied with two strips of leather. On the left end of the longhouse, a man secures large sections of bark to the wall of the longhouse frame. On his right, another man chops large wooden poles with a stone ax using his right hand. He props his left foot on a rock. On top of the longhouse’s frame and to our right, one man fastens poles together with fiber, while another stands on the ground below and tightens the slack. To the far right of the longhouse, two men work together to install a large support post. One positions an end of the tall post into a hole while the other uses a lever to hold the opposite end upright.

On the right side of the diorama, two women facing one another hold long, wooden corn pounders over a hollowed-out stump. A small bowl of corn kernels sits on the earth behind them. Ground corn fills a larger wooden bowl, and it lightly dusts the tools and area around them. Sitting on a log to the right of this pair is an elder woman who scrapes corn kernels from a cob. More cobs and kernels are stored in two different bowls by her feet. Another elder sits on a rock with their left arm wrapped around the shoulders of a child. The elder points with their right hand up to the sky, where they are both looking. A white dog stands nearby. All of the people are wearing fringed, leather tops and skirts. Their hair is gathered into two plaits with strips of leather. They are all positioned in front of an elevated platform. On the second story of the platform sits a square structure made of bark with four walls, a pyramidal roof, and an open entryway. A ladder is propped against the structure. Inside, braids of shucked, yellow corn hang to dry. Some corn is stored on the floor. On the lower level, a pit has been dug into the ground. It stores gourds, including pumpkins and squash, and is covered with a conical-shaped roof constructed of posts and bark. More squash and pumpkins rest on the ground out front. Behind this storage structure, the opposite side of the palisade and defensive platform extend outward from the painted background and to our right.