They were formerly used as uma longhouses by the Sakuddei tribe before they were forced to abandon their traditional way of life through government intervention in the 1950s and 1960s.

Villages are built alongside riverbanks and are made of one or more communal Uma longhouses and single-story family houses called lalep.

Rusuk were dwellings for widows and bachelors, similar to the family longhouse but without an altar.

The uma is the centre of social, religious, and political life, where every village member of egalitarian Mentawai society contributes to meetings about matters affecting the community.

To protect themselves from these spirits, fetish sticks are placed by the entrances of the log wall that surrounds and fortifies the village and forms a stockade for cattle.