NO. 12 ARCHEOLOGY OF TAOS VALLEY — JEAN^ON I 5 



was a good hard stamped floor, with only a large river boulder in 

 about the center to break it. After the floor was cleared, the writer 

 decided to raise the boulder to see if there might be something below 

 it, as it seemed out of place in the plaza. When the stone was raised 

 a section of curved wall was disclosed, which led to the excavation of 

 the kiva. 



The one prominent problem of the kiva is the double wall on the west 

 side (pi. 4). It was impossible from the excavation to determine why 

 the two walls were used. At times it seemed to suggest two occupa- 

 tions ; again this impression was destroyed by other indications which 

 seemed to point to a single occupation. Both walls are alike in ma- 

 terial and construction. The outside wall runs around about one half 

 of the inner one. Starting at a point almost due north it runs around 

 the western side and terminates almost due south. There is no outer 

 wall on the eastern side. The ventilators are on the inner walls only, 

 one east and one west (pi. 5, A). Both of these are barrel-shaped. 

 The fill between the walls was composed of soft dirt, debris of 

 roof material, river boulders, bits of pottery, and a few artifacts 

 in bad condition, although a very handsome pipe was found in 

 the trash. A curious feature occurring only in the kiva is the hori- 

 zontal lines running around the inside of the walls. At first it 

 would appear that these walls were laid up in regular courses, but an 

 examination of shattered fragments shows that the wall was built in 

 the same manner as all the others in the group, and that the horizontal 

 lines do not indicate the use of moulds as would be suggested by their 

 appearance. The walls still rise seven feet in height from the floor. 

 They are about nine inches thick, and are very well made and hard. 



The floor was formed of packed adobe, probably mixed with blood 

 and ash as was the custom formerly. Three feet above the floor, in 

 the debris which filled the chamber, was a deposit of two and one- 

 half feet of drift sand, and between the sand and the floor were the 

 remains of the roof beams, but these were in such bad condition that 

 nothing could be learned of the roof construction. 



There were two erect cedar posts at points shown on the map of the 

 kiva, and in related positions were two holes in the floor, where 

 additional supf)orts had stood. These four uprights served to support 

 the roof and show an interesting method of roof construction, one 

 which was continued in later structures in the region. 



