MINDELEF®. ] KIVAS IN TUSAYAN. OLY 
acteristic of most of the ancient pueblos has not been seen within the 
limits of Tusayan, although it occurs constantly in the ruins of Canyon 
de Chelly which are occasionally referred to in Tusayan tradition as 
haying been occupied by related peoples. Mr. Stephen, however, found 
vestiges of such ancient forms among the débris of fallen walls occupy- 
ing two small knolls on the edge of the first mesa, at a point that over- 
looks the broken-down ruin of Sikyatki. On the southeast shoulder of 
one of the knolls is a fragment of a circular wall which was originally 
12 feet in diameter. It is built of flat stones, from 2 to 4 inches thick, 
6 to 8 inches wide, and a foot or more in length, nearly all of which 
have been pecked and dressed. Mud mortar has been sparingly used, 
and the masonry shows considerable care and skill in execution; the 
curve of the wall is fairly true, and the interstices of the masonry are 
neatly filled in with smaller fragments, in the manner of some of the 
best work of the Canyon de Chelly ruins. 
The knoll farther south shows similar traces, and on the southeast 
slope is the complete ground plan of a round structure 164 feet in 
diameter. At one point of the curved wall, which is about 22 inches 
thick, occurs the characteristic recessed katchinkihu (deseribed later 
in discussing the interior of kivas) indicating the use of this chamber 
for ceremonial purposes. 
Although these remains probably antedate any of the Tusayan ruins 
discussed above (Chapter 11), they suggest a connection and relationship 
between the typical kiva of the older ruins and the radically different 
form in use at the present time. 
Native explanations of position.—Notwithstanding the present prac- 
tice in the location of kivas, illustrated in the plans, the ideal village 
plan is still acknowledged to have had its house-clusters so distributed 
as to form inclosed and protected courts, the kivas being located within 
these courts or occupying marginal positions in the house-clusters on 
the edge of the inclosed areas. But the native explanations of the 
traditional plan are vague and contradictory. 
In the floor of the typical kiva is a sacred cavity called the sipapuh, 
through which comes the beneficent influence of the deities or powers 
invoked. According to the accounts of some of the old men the kive 
was constructed to inclose this sacred object, and houses were built on 
every side to surround the kiva and form its outer wall. In earlier 
times, too, so the priests relate, people were more devout, and the houses 
were planned with their terraces fronting upon the court, so that the 
women and children and all the people, could be close to the masked 
dancers (katchinas) as they issued from the kiva. The spectators filled 
the terraces, and sitting there they watched the katchinas dance in the 
court, and the women sprinkled meal upon them, while they listened to 
their songs. Other old men say the kiva was excavated in imitation of 
the original house in the interior of the earth, where the human family 
were created, and from which they climbed to the surface of the ground 
