>>647094well old houses do rot, they just need constant maintenance like any house.
but they had methods to slow down the process,
like old roman ships you can soak them in pitch / tar.
burn the outer layer of the wood to make charcoal its to some extent a biological dead zone.
select a type/part of the wood that is rot resistant. [ for example red mulberry, osage orange, and Pacific yew , Honey locust and Black Locust have natural fungicides ]
place them in a bed of rocks or clay to keep them dry.
gravel trench to lead away incoming water
common alternative solution was to build it on top of small boulders
