Reconstructed kiva at Bandelier National Monument. For the anthropologist see Adolph Bandelier. Bandelier National Monument is a U

Interior of a reconstructed kiva at Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park is a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United

Ruins of a great kiva at Chaco Canyon. Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park and it is a portion of a UNESCO World Heritage Site hosting the densest

Great Kiva excavated in 1921 by Edwin Morris and reconstructed by him 13 years later, at Aztec Ruins National Monument. The Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves ancestral Pueblo structures in north-western New Mexico, United States, located close to the town of Aztec

Interior of Great Kiva at Aztec Ruins National Monument shows the vast size of the structure. The Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves ancestral Pueblo structures in north-western New Mexico, United States, located close to the town of Aztec "Fifteen surface rooms encircle the central chamber. Their purpose is unclear . . . Each had an exterior doorway to the plaza. . . . Four massive pillars of alternating masonry and horizontal poles held up the ceiling beams, which in turn supported an estimated ninety-five-ton roof. Each pillar rested on four shaped stone disks, weighing about 355 pounds apiece. These discs are of limestone, which came from mountains at least forty miles away. " (A Trail Guide to Aztec Ruins, 4th printing:WNPA, 2004).

A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. The Pueblo people are a Native American people in the Southwestern United States. Kachinas (also spelled Katsina, the plural "katsinam" exist in Hopi and in Pueblo cosmology and religious practices Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and above-ground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies. The Hopi are Native American people who primarily live on the 12635 km² (2531 A ceremony is an activity infused with Ritual significance performed on a special occasion

Similar subterranean rooms are found among the ancient peoples of the American southwest, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, the Mogollon and the Hohokam. "Anasazi" directs here For the X-Files episode see Anasazi (The X-Files. Hohokam (ho-ho-KAHM Those used by the Ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I Era and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round, and generally believed to have been used for religious and other communal purposes. The Pecos Classification is a division of all known Ancient Pueblo Peoples Culture into chronological phases based on changes in Architecture The Pecos Classification is a division of all known Ancient Pueblo Peoples Culture into chronological phases based on changes in Architecture When designating an ancient room as a kiva, archaeologists make assumptions about the room's original functions and how those functions may be similar to or differ from kivas used in modern practice. The kachina belief system appears to have emerged in the Southwest at approximately AD 1250, while kiva like structures occurred much earlier. Kachinas (also spelled Katsina, the plural "katsinam" exist in Hopi and in Pueblo cosmology and religious practices This suggests that the room's older functions may have been changed or adapted to suit the new religious practice.

As cultural changes occurred, particularly during the Pueblo III period between 1150 and 1300, kivas continued to have a prominent place in the community. However, some kivas were built above ground. Kiva architecture became more elaborate, with tower kivas and great kivas incorporating specialized floor features. For example, kivas found in Mesa Verde were generally keyhole shaped. Mesa Verde National Park is a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United In most larger communities, it was normal to find one kiva for each five or six rooms used as residences. Kiva destruction, primarily by burning, has been seen as a strong archaeological indicator of conflict and warfare among people of the Southwest during this period.

After 1325 or 1350, except in the Hopi region, the ratio changed from 60 to 90 rooms for each kiva. The Hopi are Native American people who primarily live on the 12635 km² (2531 This may indicate a religious or organizational change within the society, perhaps affecting the status and number of clans among the Pueblo people.

Kiva construction

Kivas are entered through a hole in the roof. A stone bench for sitting lines the inside wall, sometimes interrupted by support columns for the roof. Near the center of the kiva is a fire pit called a hearth. A ventilation shaft on one side supplies floor-level air for the fire. The ventilation shaft is generally located on the eastern side of the kiva.

There is usually a hole or indentation in the floor, now called a sipapu. Sipapu, a Hopi word is a small hole or indentation in the floor of Kivas used by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples and modern-day Puebloans. Pueblo belief systems state that the sipapu symbolizes the connection from birth with Mother Earth  . Childbirth (also called labour, birth, partus or parturition) is the culmination of a Human Pregnancy or It may also represent the spot from which the original inhabitants emerged from the lower world  .

Cajete and Nichols say that the Chacoan kivas were similar, and at the Aztec site's guide they also point out a rectangular room that was "remodelled into a kiva" (ibid).

Detail of kiva at Long House, Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde National Park is a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United

References

• Cordell, Linda S. Ancient Pueblo Peoples. St. Remy Press, Montreal and Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C. , 1994. ISBN 0-89599-038-5
• Cajete, Gregory A. and Nichols, Teresa. A Trail Guide to the Aztec Ruins: 4th Printing, WNPA (Western National Parks Association), 2004.
• LeBlanc, Steven A. "Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest. " 1999, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. ISBN 0-87480-581-3.
• Rohn, Arthur H. and Ferguson, William M, 2006 Puebloan Ruins of the Southwest, University of New Mexico Press, Albuqureque NM, 2006. ISBN-13 978-0-8263-3970-6 (pbk :alk. paper)

1. ^ Cajete and Nichols, Aztec Ruins, "Stop 15"

See also

• Clown society
• Fogou
• Pit house
• Souterrain
• Sipapu