610 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



ter. Fire rites are undoubtedly among the most ancient forms of cere- 

 monies among the Hopi. Some of the objects used to-day have been 

 inherited from a time when the Hopi lived in cliff houses. We have, 

 as evidence that the ancient cliff dwellers associated the creation of 

 fire with procreation of life, many symbols of vitality on the walls of 

 cliff houses, but especially pictures of a fire god still personated at 

 Walpi. At the present time the new fire at Walpi is kindled in a 

 kiva or ceremonial room, but my last season's field work at the Mesa 

 Verde has shown that the fire cult had reached so high a development 

 on that plateau that the aborigines had erected a special temple for 

 that purpose. A statement of the nature of the fire worship of the 

 cliff dwellers as revealed by archeological data would make an article 

 of considerable proportions that may not be here attempted. 



Several buildings that may have been used as fire temples have 

 been reported from the Southwest, among which may be mentioned 

 the Hopi ruin called Fire House, the " Great Kiva " at Aztec, the 

 Lower House at Yucca National Monument, numerous " great kivas " 

 in the Chaco Canyon, and other ruins. 



