KilroyMcFadden said:
The original hut reminds me of the dwellings you would find in spaghetti westerns of the 60's and is in every respect the dwelling in which I would expect to find a desert hermit.
Indeed Tatooine is an analogy to the Old West as seen in Western movies.
Mos Eisley is a Western town. Chalmun's Cantina is a Western-style saloon. "Cantina" is also a Spanish word. Phil Tippet called it a "Western Town" in interviews.
Sand people = "Indians". Back in '02 there was someone who identified that a particular shot from Anakin's ambush on the Sand People village was composed just like a particular shot in some old Western movie showing an ambush of an "indian" village. Their dwellings also look like a cross between a wigwam and a tepee. Shmi is a squaw.