58 ANNUAL REPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1922. 



National Monument does to the Upper. The great kiva at Aztec, 

 in New Mexico, lately excaAatetl, bears a somewhat similar rela- 

 tionship to the main ruin, and there are several of the Chaco Can^-on 

 ruins where similar conditions prevail. 



The site of Pipe Shrine House when work beoan was a low mound 

 covered with sagebrusli with a saucerlike depression in the center, 

 not unlike several others in the immediate vicinity of Far View 

 House. The removal ^of vegetation and debris 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 toAver 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 Avas 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 fireplace in the center of the 

 floor, no ventilator or deflector, and has eight mural pilasters in- 

 stead 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 Avails turned bright red by the great heat. On 

 the floor of the kiva Avas an inclosure set off by a semicircular wall 

 where the action of fire was particularly evident. In the inclosure 

 Avere found many votive offerings, the most numerous of which 

 Avere a dozen clay tobacco pipes of various shapes and sizes, one 

 or tAvo decorated on their exteriors. These pipes, which are the 

 first ever found on tlie Mesa Verde, evidently had been smoked 

 liy the priests and then throAvn into the shrine. Besides the 

 pijDes the shrine also contained several fine stone kniA'es. small 

 decorated clay platters, A^arious fetishes, and other objects. Pipe 

 Shrine House Avas entered on the south by two doorAvays, midAvay 

 betAA'een Avhich a large pictograph of a coiled serpent was incised on 

 a large stone set in the wall. To the south of the building there Avas 

 a plaza surrounded b}' a retaining Avail and directly opposite one of 

 the entrances there are aboriginal steps Avhich lead to a rectangular 

 shrine 4 feet in size, in Avhich Avere found a number of Avater- 

 worn stones surrounding a large stone image of the mountain lion. 

 The contents of this shrine Avere replaced, the mountain lion left 

 in his original position, and the inclosure coA^ered Avith a netting 

 to prevent the possible removing of the objects from their places. 

 Other shrined and several stone idols of considerable size were 

 found in the neighborhood. The idols found at Pipe Shrine House 

 represent the snake, mountain lion, mountain sheep, and Inrd — an 

 important discoA^ery, as previously only one stone animal idol had 

 been found at the Mesa Verde Park. 



