MINDELEFF] NORDENSKIOLD ON MESA VERDE KIVAS 189 
hard, and perfectly even. Near the center is a round depression or hole, five-tenths 
of a meter deep and eight-tenths of a meter in diameter. This hole was entirely full 
of white ashes, It was undoubtedly the hearth. Between the hearth and the outer 
wall stands a narrow, curved wall, eight-tenths of a meter high. Behind this wall, 
in the same plane as the floor, a rectangular opening, 1 meter high and six-tenths of 
a meter broad, has been constructed in the outer wall. This opening forms the 
mouth of a narrow passage or tunnel of rectangular shape, which runs 1.8 meters in 
a horizontal direction and then goes straight upward, out into the open air. The 
tunnel lies under one of the six niches, which is somewhat deeper than the others. 
The walls are built of carefully hewn blocks of sandstone, the inner surface being 
perfectly smooth and lined with a thin, yellowish plaster. On closer examination 
of this plaster it is found to consist of several thin layers, each of them black with 
soot. The plaster has evidently been repeatedly restored as the walls became black- 
ened with smoke. A few smaller niches and holes in the walls, irregularly scattered 
here and there, have presumably served as places of deposit for different articles; a 
bundle of pieces of hide, tied with a string, was found in one of them. The lower 
part of the wall, to a height of four-tenths of a meter, is painted dark red around 
the whole room. This red paint projects upward in triangular points, arranged in 
threes, and above them is a row of small round dots of red. . . . Circular 
rooms, built and arranged on exactly the same plan as that described above, reap- 
pear with exceedingly slight variations in size and structure in every cliff dwelling 
except the very smallest ones. . . . The number of estufas [kivas] varies in 
proportion to the size of the buildings and the number of rooms. . . . [The 
ruin described contained two kivas.] . . . The description of the first estufa 
applies in every respect to the second, with the single exception that the whole wall 
is coated with yellow plaster without any red painting. The wall between the hearth 
and the singular passage or tunnel described above is replaced by a large slab of 
stone set on end. It is difficult to say for what purpose this tunnel has been con- 
structed and the slab of stone or the wall erected in front of it. As I have mentioned 
above, this arrangement is found in all the estufas.! 
The general similarity between the kivas of De Chelly and those of 
the Mesa Verde region will be apparent from the above description. It 
should be added that in the section which accompanies it the roof of 
the tunnel appears to be supported by a series of small cross sticks, 
although no information on this point is afforded by the text. The 
examples which occur in De Chelly are apparently much ruder and 
more primitive than those of the Mancos, and only one of them approaches 
the latter in finish and elaboration. 
In another place’ Nordenskiéld mentions an example in which two 
small sticks were incorporated in the masonry of the upper part of the 
tunnel in a diagonal position. From this he rejects Holmes’ explana- 
tion that the passageway was used as an entrance to the kiva, nor does 
he find the chimney hypothesis satisfactory. He states, further, that 
the use of this feature asa ventilator seems highly improbable. In one 
place he found the curtain or screen constructed not of masonry, but— 
of thick stakes, driven into the ground close to each other, and fastened 
together at the top with osiers. On the side nearest to the hearth this wooden screen 
was covered with a thick layer of mortar, probably to protect the timber from the 
heat.* 


1 Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, pp. 15-17, figs. 6 and 7. 
2 Loc. cit., p. 32. 
3 Loe. cit., p. 70. 
