University of Virginia Library

SUMMARY

In these eight kivas, including B, one finds similarities and dissimilarities.
All eight are circular in floor plan and masonry lined—
cylinders of masonry sunk into a quadrangle of straight walls re-
claimed from appropriated dwellings
or purposely erected to produce a
subterranean effect. All eight are
provided with the traditional bench
encircling the floor, but four of those
benches bear low pilasters for support
of ceiling timbers and four do
not. All eight have a centrally located
fireplace, and two once had
subfloor vaults west of the fireplace,
subsequently filled and floored over.
The seven kivas within the main
walls of Pueblo del Arroyo were
originally equipped with subfloor
ventilating systems although four
of these were later converted into
ventilators opening above floor level.
Kiva B alone was furnished with
an above-floor ventilator at time of
construction, but B is not a typical
Chaco Canyon kiva.

The masonry of B is quite nonChaco
in appearance; like that of its
associated rooms, it consists of salvaged
rocks carelessly put together.
The Kiva B bench is of earth, left
in place when the pit was dug; its
only stonework is that lining the
south recess. In contrast, most of
the seven kivas we excavated inside
the pueblo were walled with laminate
sandstone intermittently banded. For
these seven, diameter at floor level

Fig. 29.—Sandal effigy of wood.

varies from 11 feet 8 inches to
25 feet 10 inches; bench width
varies from 8 to 29 inches.
Bench masonry invariably excells
that of the main wall. In
two instances, C and J, the
rubble foundation of the bench
merged with that of the wall
above.

In relation to its surroundings,
each of the eight kivas
occupied a simulated subterranean
position whatever its
actual elevation. The five
grouped at the west side of
the court, Kivas F to J, were
so constructed as to bring their
roofs at the second-story level,
while E and unexcavated D
lie a story higher. Kiva C also
was purposely raised until its
flat roof provided a dooryard
for occupants of third-story
houses adjoining.

Each of the eight kivas, including
B, has a south recess
in its encircling bench but these
recesses vary in width and
depth. In three instances, F, I,
and J, the recess extends the

A. Bowl and jar fragments of Transitional ware.

Plate 20

B. Sherds bearing typical Solid-type designs.

A. Bowl and jar fragments of typical Chaco-San Juan ware.

Plate 21

B. Sherds illustrating straight-line hachure in styles A, B, and C.

Plate 22.—Bowls from Room 14 (a), Kiva F (b), Room 28 (c), Room 15 (d-f),
and Room 27 (g-i).

Plate 23.—Bowls from Rooms 28 (a), 43 (b), 32 (c-f), and 39 (g-l).

Plate 24.—Bowls from Rooms 44 (a, b) and 27 (c); bowl and pitcher from burial in
Room 40 (d, e), and miscellaneous vessels (f-j).

Plate 25.—Bowl with polished black interior and an old design in matte paint.

Plate 26.—Three eccentric ladles from Room 27 (a) and Kiva C (b, c).

Plate 27.—Ladles and fragments from various rooms.

full width of the bench, with
no shelf at the rear. In one
case only, Kiva H, the main
wall of the chamber is also
recessed—an echo of the
"deep south recess" in kivas
of Prudden's unit-type ruins
and others north of the San
Juan.

Four kivas, C, E, F, and
G, have low pilasters spaced
at regular intervals upon
the bench as supports for a
ceiling of cribbed logs. All
are rectangular and built
either of squared timbers
thinly coated with mud, as
C and F, or of round logs
walled at the sides with
small-stone masonry and
thickly plastered, as E and
G. In both methods part
of the log was built into
the kiva wall at time of
construction leaving the
remainder thrust forward
upon the bench. Whether
bare or incased in masonry
the pilaster logs did not
extend to the edge of the
bench but stopped about 2
inches short. This was true
even of the partly razed
kiva deep under the floor
of Room 47B, with four
logs in each pilaster instead
of one. On top, nearer the
wall than the forward end,
was a small hole, made to
receive a sacrificial offering

Fig. 32.—Obsidian knife fragment, abraded
and rechipped.

—repositories permanently sealed when the cribbed ceiling was
constructed upon the pilasters. Kivas lacking pilasters, as B, H, I,
and J, were roofed with logs reaching from wall to wall.

Fig. 33.—Tip of
argillite blade.

Ventilation was provided by an external air
intake and an outlet inside the kiva. Air heated
by the central fireplace would rise to escape from
the overhead hatchway, drawing fresh air down
the outside shaft and through a tunnel to the
outlet, thus creating a circulation that seems to
have been adequate.

Each of our eight kivas is furnished with such
a ventilating system. In B the outlet is in the
south recess and above floor level; the other seven
have, or had, their ventilator outlets in the floor
6 or 8 feet in front of the recess. The below-floor
air passage or tunnel is a characteristic of the
Chaco-type kiva. In four of those in Pueblo del
Arroyo, however, F, G, I, and J, this subfloor tunnel had been dismantled
and replaced by a lateral air passage cut through the rear wall
of the recess to connect with the vertical shaft belonging to the abandoned
system. In F and G, masonry deflectors were built in to shield
the fireplace from side drafts, but in I and J comparable results were
apparently realized merely by reducing the size of the outlet.

Although the same data are included in Appendixes B and C, it
seems desirable to brief them here in order that our eight kivas may
be compared the more readily.

                   

	Diameter		Bench			Ventilator
Kiva	On floor	Above bench	Width	Height	Pilasters	Below	Above
B	11′ 6″	13′ 6″	12″	34″	0		X
C	25′ 10″	30′ 8″	29″	22″	8	X
E	14′ 6″	17′ 10″	20″	24″	6	X
F	14′ 11″	18′ 1″	19″	19″	6	X	X
G	18′ 6″	23′ 0″	27″	26″	6	X	X
H	15′ 0″	16′ 10″	11″	20″	0	X
I	14′ 10″	17′ 10″	18″	28″	0	X	X
J	11′ 8″	13′ 0″	8″	23″	0	X	X

Whether or not kiva builders took bearings on the stars when laying
out their ceremonial chambers, no two of ours are oriented alike, the
variation of the subfloor air passage being from N. 10½° E. to
N. 30° W. As regards fireplaces, two are square or nearly so; two
are decidedly rectangular, two are circular, and one semicircular. In
Kiva H a fireplace 30 inches in diameter and four inches deep had
replaced one 27 by 33 inches and 2 feet deep. One hearth is lined
with slabs, three are masonry lined, two are lined with a combination
of masonry and slabs, and my notes are indefinite in the case of two.

Among the seven inside Pueblo
del Arroyo, C is perhaps the
purest example of a Chaco Canyon
kiva. It is the only one having
eight pilasters, to be sure, but
these are thoroughly typical. Its
south recess is less than half the
depth of the bench, leaving a
shelf between recess and wall.
Its subfloor ventilator duct is
paved with slabs, walled with
uniformly sized blocks of laminate
sandstone, and roofed with
selected small poles, a layer of
slabs, and a thick adobe floor. The
duct vents 5½ feet north of the
recess but continues south, under
the kiva wall, an additional 18
inches to meet its vertical shaft.
The subfloor vault in C measures
8½ feet by 3 feet 10 inches by 18½
inches deep, almost twice that in
Kiva F.

With the possible exception of
C, none of the kivas we examined
had been included in the original
plan for the pueblo. Kiva H was
squeezed into a former dwelling
and so, too, the partially razed

kiva under Room 47B.

The depth, or apparent depth, of Pueblo del Arroyo kivas caught
Jackson's eye. One near the east end of the north wing "27 feet in
diameter, was three stories in height. . . . The interior is nearly
filled up, but it was originally over 25 feet in depth." (Jackson, 1878,
p. 443.) In the south wing, the roof of Kiva C provided a dooryard
for occupants of third-story rooms adjoining, but we estimated its
ceiling height at only 10 feet. Apparently floor and walls had been
raised several times.

Subfloor walls, if any, have been considered in our description of
each kiva. There can be no doubt of the degree of priestly or kivagroup
authority after studying the sequence of residential sacrifices
leading to Kiva E, for example: first the original Room 47 was

taken over, then the room next on the north and, finally, the pair
immediately west of these two. Even before the third one had been
completed it was replaced by E, its floor 10 feet above that in the
first of the series.

Fig. 35.—Head of "mountain lion."

Kiva C was at least partially
destroyed by fire; the
cribbed ceilings in E, F,
and G had been deliberately
removed and their pilaster
offerings reclaimed. Ceiling
timbers in Kiva I likewise
were salvaged. As
usual in such demolition
work chunks of roofing
adobe, bark, spalls, and
other waste was allowed to
lie where it fell. In each
instance the depth of the
fallen debris approached
bench height, and upon it
household sweepings from
nearby dwellings soon began to accumulate. The quantity of this
domestic debris was surprisingly limited, however. Potsherds were
always present but the number of bone awls, broken and discarded
stone implements, bird and mammal bones recovered falls far below
what one would normally expect from such dumps. One gathers the
impression that not many people were living thereabout at the time.

Kiva B has a narrow bench with a shallow bench recess at the
south and an above-floor ventilating system. Each of the seven we
examined within Pueblo del Arroyo had originally been equipped
with subfloor ventilators, but four of these were subsequently replaced
by ventilators like that in B. Above-floor ventilators are standard
equipment in P. II-P. III communities north of the San Juan River,
and they are usually accompanied by a deep south recess above bench
level and by a sipapu in the floor north of the fireplace. There are
exceptions but not many. Although the narrow bench without pilasters
occurs sporadically, most northern kivas were provided with masonry
pilasters rising flush with the face of the bench and 2 to 4 feet higher
(Kidder, 1924; Martin, 1929, 1936; Brew, 1946). In ruins with
marked Chaco affiliations to the south, the below-floor ventilator and
the sipapu again occur together (Hodge, 1923; Roberts, 1932).

None of our eight kivas was
provided with a subfloor layer
of shale, a standard provision
at Pueblo Bonito, but such a
layer was present in the razed
kiva partially underlying the
north end of Room 55.

Low pilasters set back an
inch or more, a south recess in
the bench rather than in the
wall above it, a subfloor ventilating
system, and absence of
the sipapu are earmarks of
the Chaco kiva. In none of
our eight at Pueblo del Arroyo,
including B, did we find an
indubitable sipapu. Three, with
benches 8 to 18 inches wide,
are without pilasters. Four
have pilasters on benches varying
in width from 19 to 29
inches, and in each case the
pilaster is less than a foot
high and is set back from the
edge of the bench. From P. II
and Early P. III ruins in the
La Plata Valley, southeast of
Mesa Verde National Park,
Morris (1939) reports a number
of kivas with shallow south
recesses in the bench, some-

times accompanied by a deeper banquette above, and pilasters set back
an inch or two. Unlike those of the Chaco, however, La Plata Valley
kivas usually have the sipapu; the subfloor ventilator is rare.

Northwest of the Mesa Verde, Martin (1930, 1936) reports both
above-floor and below-floor kiva ventilators even in the same ruin. The
associated pottery he describes as "Mancos" and "McElmo" and
sherds of those two wares predominate in late P. II and Early P. III
ruins north of the San Juan and they are conspicuous in our Pueblo
del Arroyo collections. Migrant makers of "Mancos" pottery may very

Fig. 37.—Figurines of clay (a-c) and sandstone.

Fig. 38.—Incised fragment of sandstone.

well have settled at partially vacated Pueblo del Arroyo and been responsible
not only for construction of Kiva B but also for conversion
of the ventilating systems in F, G, H, and I. Both types of ventilators,
shallow recesses in the bench and deep recesses above bench level,
sipapus and no sipapus, occur in Bc 51, a small-house Chaco ruin
(Kluckhohn and Reiter, 1939).