FBWKBS] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 59 



in Cliff Palace have this ceremonial opening, thus following the 

 Hopi rather than the Tewa custom. Whether the fireplace was used 

 by those who performed rites in kiva Q as a symbolic oj^ening into 

 or from the " underworld " is unknown to the writer. The sub- 

 terranean passage in kiva V leading to the fire-hole, but not enter- 

 ing it, is interesting in this particular. Kiva V, however, as pointed 

 out, has in addition to the fire-hole a fine potterv-lined sipapu corre- 

 sponding to the sipapus in Hopi kivas, but made in the solid rock 

 floor. 



This kiva is square, with rounded corners. Its height is 8 feet, and 

 the height of one of the pilasters above the floor 5 feet 10 inches. 

 The banquettes are 3 feet 3 inches above the floor. The diameter of 

 the kiva is 10 feet 4 inches. . 



The number of pilasters is 6; their average breadth is 20 inches. 

 The distance from flue to deflector, which is a slab of stone, is 3 feet 



2 inches ; the height of the deflector is 1 foot 7 inches and its width 



3 feet. 



From the deflector to the fire-hole the distance is 7 inches. The 

 diameter of the fire-hole is 2 feet, its depth 9 inches. There are 2 

 mural niches. The large banquette is 3 feet 6 inches broad. The 

 shaft of the flue, after passing 18 inches under the kiva wall, turns 

 southeastward 4 feet 4 inches and then takes a vertical course. The 

 masonry of kiva S is fairly good. A jar is set into one of the ban- 

 quettes, and was perhajDs formerly used for containing sacred meal.'' 

 This receptacle was left as found, and a slab of stone placed slant- 

 ingly above it to shield it from falling stones. Under the huge rock 

 above it there are light masonry walls outlining diminutive rooms 

 used possibly for storage but not for habitation. 



This kiva stands on an elevated rock, and has double walls, the 

 intervals between the wall of the kiva and the outside walls being 

 filled with rubble. 



The height of kiva T is 7 feet 6 inches, that of one of the pilasters 

 6 feet 6 inches. The banquette is 3 feet 9 inches above the floor. 

 The diameter of the kiva is 10 feet 5 inches. There were probably 6 



"Among the Hopi at the present day certain fetishes, as the effigies of the Great 

 Plumed Serpent, are regarded as so sacred that when not in use they are kept in jars 

 set in a banquette, the surface ot which is level with the neck of the jar. These 

 receptacles are closely sealed with a stone slab when the images are deposited in them. 

 Possibly the jars set in the kiva banquettes of Cliff Palace may have been used for a 

 similar purpose : i. e., were receptacles for fetishes held in such veneration that, as is 

 the ease with the Great Serpent effigies of the Hopi, one even touching them may, in the 

 belief of the people, be afflicted with direful disorders. 



