Kiva

A kiva (also called estufa) is a special space used by the Puebloan people for important meetings and ceremonies. Many of these meetings are linked to the kachina belief system. Today, the Hopi and many other Pueblo groups use kivas as large, round rooms dug into the ground. These rooms are used for spiritual ceremonies and as a place of worship.

Similar underground rooms can be found in ancient ruins across the Southwestern United States. These show that many old peoples of the area, such as the ancestral Puebloans, the Mogollon culture, and the Hohokam, used these spaces too. The ancient Pueblo people during the Pueblo I period and later often built round kivas. These rooms grew from simpler pit-houses and were used for many purposes, including living, social gatherings, and ceremonies.

Evolution

During the late 8th century, people in Mesa Verdeans began building square pit structures called protokivas. These were usually 3 or 4 feet deep and 12 to 20 feet wide. By the mid-10th and early 11th centuries, these changed into smaller circular rooms called kivas, which were about 12 to 15 feet across. These rooms often included a special hole in the north called a sipapu, which may have been important in their beliefs.

As time passed, kivas became more important in the community, especially between 1150 and 1300. Some kivas were even built above ground and had special features. In Mesa Verde National Park, kivas often had a keyhole shape. Usually, there was one kiva for every five or six rooms in larger communities.

The Great Kiva at Aztec Ruins National Monument had fifteen rooms around its central space. After around 1325 to 1350, except in the Hopi and Pueblo areas, the number of rooms per kiva changed, which might show important changes in their society or beliefs.

Great kiva

Great kivas are special, big spaces used by ancient peoples in the American Southwest. They are much larger and deeper than other underground rooms called Chaco-style kivas. Unlike Chaco-style kivas, the walls of great kivas stand above the ground. Great kivas are usually separate from the main buildings, while Chaco-style kivas are often part of larger structures. They also have benches around the inside and special floor vaults that may have been used during ceremonies. Great kivas are thought to be the first public buildings made in the Mesa Verde region.

Chaco Canyon also had both types of these special rooms.