ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT 51 
what similar relationship to the main ruin, and there are 
several of the Chaco Canyon ruins where similar conditions 
prevail. 
The site of Pipe Shrine House when work began was a 
low mound covered with sagebrush with a saucerlike depres- 
sion in the center, not unlike several others in the immediate 
vicinity of Far View House. The removal of vegetation and 
débris and an excavation of the rooms revealed a rectangular 
building 70 by 60 feet, with walls averaging one story high. 
It had indications of a lofty tower in the middle of the western 
side, which must have imparted to the building somewhat 
the appearance of a church steeple or the minaret of a 
mosque. The large room was situated in the center of the 
ruin, its floor being about 20 feet below that of the other 
rooms. This subterranean room is a kiva, but it differs 
from others of like type on the park in that it has no fire- 
place in the center of the floor, no ventilator or deflector, 
and has eight mural pilasters instead of six to support the 
roof. The fallen walls within showed indications of a great 
conflagration, the stones and adobe being turned red and the 
walls turned bright red by the great heat. On the floor of 
the kiva was an inclosure set off by a semicircular wall 
where the action of fire was particularly evident. In the 
inclosure were found many votive offerings, the most numer- 
ous of which were a dozen clay tobacco pipes of various 
shapes and sizes, one or two decorated on their exteriors. 
These pipes, which are the first ever found on the Mesa 
Verde, evidently had been smoked by the priests and then 
thrown into the shrine. Besides the pipes the shrine also 
contained several fine stone knives, small decorated clay 
platters, various fetishes, and other objects. Pipe Shrine 
House was entered on the south by two doorways, midway 
between which a large pictograph of a coiled serpent was 
incised on a large stone set in the wall. To the south of the 
building there was a plaza surrounded by a retaining wall 
and directly opposite one of the entrances there are aboriginal 
steps which lead to a rectangular shrine 4 feet in size, in 
which were found a number of water-worn stones surrounding 
a large stone image of the mountain lion. The contents 
