50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 82 



Platform. — This feature, which is typical of the rectangular kivas 

 of the Little Colorado drainage, extends the full length of the east 

 wall (fig. 12, b) ; the normal old Hopi kiva, however, is benched at 

 the south or southeast end across the shortest dimension of the room. 

 Its maximum width is 3 feet ; its height at the south end is 2 feet 

 2 inches, but at the north only i foot 10 inches. The front of the 

 platform, made of the same nondescript masonry as that found else- 

 where in the chamber, supported a fill of loose earth at the north end 

 and, at the south end, of clean coarse sand. This filled space was then 

 capped with thin sandstone slabs to form the bench floor. 



Referring to plate 17, figure i, it will be noted that the capping 

 slabs at the south end of the platform had collapsed under the weight 

 of the debris forced upon them. This may denote the existence of a 

 hollow space there at the time of destruction and also suggests that the 

 sand may have been contained there for a definite purpose. What 

 that may have been we do not positively know, but judging from 

 modern practices, the sand could well have been used in forming the 

 ground work of sand paintings constructed during ceremonial observ- 

 ances. The platform would make a convenient storage place for that 

 material and could be easily reached by removing the slab covering. 

 Hargrave's ^ finding of two large sand-filled ollas buried under the 

 floor in a kiva at Kokopnyama probably signified a similar custom. 



Bench. — The kiva is without a true bench or banquette. The 

 merest suggestion of one exists along the south wall (pi. 16, fig. 2; 

 text fig. 12, c) from the east side of the offset to the platform. It 

 measured 7 inches in width and 2 feet 4 inches in height. 



Floor. — The floor is completely paved with sandstone slabs from 

 I to 2 inches in thickness. These vary in size from slabs 3 and 

 4 feet in length to small pieces which were fitted into corners and 

 crevices. The larger flagstones were carefully placed, leaving only 

 small cracks which were later filled with clay. 



Fire-pit. — Two feet 9 inches from the platform and midway be- 

 tween the north and south walls is the fire-pit (fig. 12, d), a circular 

 opening in the floor, 16 inches in diameter and 11 inches in depth. 

 The bottom of the pit was formed by the convex surface of a large 

 water-worn boulder. Wood ashes completely filled the fireplace. 



Deflector. — No true deflector or fire screen, such as those usually 

 associated with early Pueblo kivas, was found in the Pinedale 

 chamber. Less than 2 feet east of the fire-pit, however, a stone 

 10 inches wide by 4 inches thick protruded 6 inches above the flag- 

 stones (fig. 12, e). Inasmuch as this stone was not directly in line 



^ See page 112, hereinafter. 



