FEWKES] ANTIQUITIES OF MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK 61 



a well-worn doorway. This curved passage opens through the kiva 

 floor by a manhole. The walls of these passages are constructed 

 of goocl masonry. Their function is unknown, but as most structures 

 connected with kivas are ceremonial, this may provisionally be called 

 a ceremonial opening. ^ 



It is evident that this ceremonial passage had nothing to do or at 

 least had no connection Avith the ventilator and deflector of the kiva. 

 The opening is situated nnder the floor, passing in its course be- 

 neath the deflector, and its external opening is by a vertical passage 

 outside the ventilator. It also differs from the ventilator iu having 

 a lateral branch likewise situated under the floor. Passing to kivas 

 outside the Mesa Verde region, we find homologous passages recorded 

 as present under the floor in Pueblo Bonito, a ruin on the Chaco, 

 and in the kiva of a ruin not far from Chama, where the passage 

 under the floor is excavated in solid rock. Evidently we have in this 

 structure a ceremonial opening the true significance of which is yet 

 to be determined. Is it connected Avith the Tewa concept that the 

 fire-hole is a sipapu, or was it used in fire rites that were performed 

 about the fireplace? These and other questions that might be pro- 

 posed must remain unanswered until more is known of similar pas- 

 sages in other cliff-dwelling kivas. 



A SUBTYPE OF KIVA (KIVA m) 



The method' of roof construction. Avhich is the uiain difference 

 that distinguishes a kiva of the subtype from one of the first type, 

 is due to the absence of pilasters. Kiva M of Cliff Palace may 

 be assigned to this subtype, although many examples of it occur 

 in ruins farther down the San Juan, as Avell as in the Navaho Na- 

 tional Monument and in Canyon de Chelly. Kivas of the subtj^pe 

 are similar to those of the second type in that pilasters are absent, 

 but they differ from them in the presence of a large banquette and 

 in the subterranean position, Avhicli features also characterize the 

 first type. The only circular kivas known to the ruins near the East 

 Mesa of the Hopi of Arizona belong to the first type, two of which 

 are found at Kukuchomo, the two ruins on the summit of the mesa 

 above Sikyatki. 



The method of roofing a kiva of the subtype may be clearly 

 observed in the kiva of Scaffold House in the Navaho National 

 Monument." The rafters here are parallel, and extend across the top 

 of the kiva, their ends resting on the woll. The middle beam, which 

 is the largest, is flanked on each side by another. Upon these sup- 

 porting beams are laid others at right angles, and on these Avere 

 placed the brush, bark, and clay that covered the roof. Entrance 



" See Bulletin 50, Bureau of American Ethnology. 



