48 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



south of the Santa Fe railroad. The kiva site was marked by a 

 surface depression at the southwest corner of the plaza. A test pit 

 revealed a flagstone floor at a depth of 5 feet ; above this, burnt soil 

 and charcoal encouraged our hope that we might find here suitable 

 timbers from which the room could be dated. This hope was subse- 

 quently realized ; from several fragmentary timbers and numerous 

 small pieces of charcoal, Doctor Douglass has been able to determine 

 the approximate construction date of this ceremonial chamber. 



The kiva was not perfectly rectangular nor was it accurately 

 oriented as to the cardinal points. The long axis of the chamber had 

 an approximate bearing 20 degrees east of north. The inner dimen- 

 sions are as follows : * north wall, 13 feet 3 inches ; south wall, 13 feet 

 3 inches; east wall, 17 feet 3 inches; west wall, 15 feet 5 inches. 



Masonry. — The kiva masonry was inferior to that in neighboring 

 dwellings. Its building stones were generally unshaped although a 

 great many carefully dressed blocks, apparently fallen from the ad- 

 jacent two-storied rooms, were removed from the debris which filled 

 the kiva. Adobe mortar was plentifully used, the walls were never 

 more than a foot thick and horizontal coursing of building stones was 

 practically absent. 



The west wall, 6 feet from the northwest corner of the kiva (see 

 fig. 12), curves slightly to the east and then back to the west again. 

 At this same point is a distinct vertical separation in the masonry 

 which we interpret as the place of juncture of two walls of a former 

 room. This suggests, as several other points did also, that the kiva 

 was remodelled from previous living rooms. 



The central part of the east wall had collapsed. We rebuilt this 

 portion in 1929 in a manner readily distinguishable from the original 

 masonry. 



In the west half of the south wall is a shallow offset (pi. 16, fig. 2; 

 text fig. 12, a) I foot 10 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Its significance 

 is not known to us. 



Plaster. — Originally the inner walls of the kiva and the face of the 

 platform were covered with adobe plaster. Small patches still adhering 

 to the walls showed upwards of 1 1 coats or separate applications with a 

 total thickness of f inch. There was considerable variation in the 

 color of the several plaster layers ; some were excessively smoke- 

 blackened while others were less so, probably denoting long or short 

 elapses of time between renewals of plaster. 



* In treating of the descriptive material of the kiva, the sides will be referred 

 to as being either north, south, east or west, although these were not exactly- 

 oriented to those points. 



