MINDELEFF] FEATURES OF KIVA CONSTRUCTION 175 
Here then it seems that other requirements were strong enough to 
overcome the ceremonial necessity for partly subterranean structures, 
for examples of that kind are comparatively rare. In all of the ruins 
on the canyon bottom the requirement could be filled, and as many of 
the villages on defensive sites were constructed after the site itself had 
been partly filled up with loose débris, it could also be filled in those 
cases. There are also instances where the bottom of the kiva rests 
directly on the rock, while outside the walls the site was covered deep 
with artificial débris. But it would be diffieult to determine what was 
the surface of the ground when the kiva was in use. 
The size and character of the kivas in De Chelly, and their relations 
to the other rooms about them, are shown in the ground plans preced- 
ing. Some have walls still standing to a height of 6 feet above the 
ground, but this could not have been the total height. -Dr H. C. Yar- 
row, U.S. As, in 1874 examined one of the five large circular kivas in 
Taos. He states! that it was 25 or 30 feet in diameter, arched above, 
and 20 feet high. Around the wall, 2 feet from the ground, there was 
a hard earthen bench, and in the center a fireplace about 2 by 3 feet. 
Entrance to the 8 : 
kivas is invariably yin: aN ee 
from the roof by a / ; ee aa eee 
ladder. This ap- Sse % ges> aed 
pears to be a cere- ieee ee 
monial requirement. as * 
Doorways at the ; 
round level are not 
only unknown, but Fic. 70—Part of a kiva in ruin No. 31. 
also impracticable; but in De Chelly there are some puzzling features 
which might easily be mistaken for such doorways. The principal 
kiva in the ruin, which occurs at the point marked 10 on the map, and 
described above (page 123, figure 24), is on the edge of the ledge, and its 
outer wall is so close as to make a passage difficult, although not impos- 
sible. At the point where the curved wall comes nearest the cliff there 
is a narrow gap or opening, not more than 15 inches wide. In front of 
this there appears to be a little platform on the sloping rock, 2 feet 
long, 10 inches wide, and now about a foot high. At first sight this 
would be taken for a doorway so arranged that access to the kiva could 
be obtained only from below; but a closer examination shows that this 
was probably only what remains of a chimney-like structure, such as 
those described later. 
Inruin31 there isanother example. The kiva here was about 20 feet 
in diameter, with rather thin walls smoothly plastered inside. On the 
inner side the walls are from 3 to 5 feet high; outside they are generally 
flush with the ground. The kiva is not a true circle, but is slightly elon- 
gated north and south. On the south side, nearest the edge of the ledge, 
there is an opening, shown in figure 70. The opening is 6 feet 3 inches 



p Wheeler Survey Re sports, vol. vil, Archeology, p. 27 
