University of Virginia Library

GREAT KIVA A

Kiva A, central and most conspicuous feature of Pueblo Bonito,
was excavated by the National Geographic Society in the summer
of 1921. Contrary to published statements (Hewett, 1922, p. 125;
et al.) the Hyde Expeditions of 1896-1899 did not excavate Kiva A
but did clear the peripheral rooms overlooking the chamber from
north and south. We saw no evidence of pre-1921 shovelwork within
the kiva walls other than a trench that had bared 5 feet of west-side
masonry.

In 1921 the Kiva A depression contained approximately 4 feet of
sand and silt blown and washed in from all sides. Greasewood 4 to 5
feet high had taken root upon this fill (NGS Negs. 3018B; 7641A);
fallen stonework had banked up against the encircling wall and from
this pile we gathered the larger stones for future repairs (pl. 71,
upper). Excavation was monotonous pick-and-shovel work; teams
and scrapers removed the overturned earth.

The masonry of Kiva A is chiefly of laminate sandstone with
intermittent banding and a noticeable lack of the softer, friable
sandstone so abundant in Chaco Canyon. The highest intact masonry,
at the west, stood 11 feet 5 inches above the floor. It was here, in
this highest surviving section, that we noted three partially decayed
3-inch poles, presumably pine, embedded side by side in the stonework
at a height of 9 feet 7 inches and burned off just within the wall
facing. I assumed they represented the outer edge of the ceiling—the

last vestige of the original roof—so took care to replace them in
exactly the same position during 1921 repair work.

Kiva A was designed with surprising precision. We measured its
floor diameter at 45 feet 1 inch; 3 feet higher, at 51 feet 10 inches
north-south and 52 feet 1 inch east-west. The floor was ringed by
three encircling benches that vary in width and height and merge at
irregular intervals. Trowel tests here and there showed that the upper
bench had been built against the kiva wall, the second against the
upper and the third, without foundation, against the second. As a
means of convenient recording, I labeled the three, a, b, and c—the
lower, middle, and upper—and measured width and height at 14
stations, clockwise from the east side of the north stairway. For such
information as they may convey, I repeat six of the readings herewith:

         

	12 o'clock		3 o'clock		6 o'clock
	w	h	w	h	w	h
c	12″	7″	13″	7″	13″	8″
a	11″	10″	13″	26″	10″	12″
b	15″	17″	17″	5″	17″	2″

       

	8 o'clock		9:30 o'clock		11:50 o'clock
	w	h	w	h	w	h
b	20″	27″	42″	34″	21″	24″
c	21″	10″			20″	14″

Total width and height at the 14 stations average 40½ inches and 34 inches,
respectively.

As will be seen from the floor plan (fig. 16), the three Kiva A
benches differ but little in width until about 6:45 where b narrows
to 7 inches and then merges with a. From a little past 9 o'clock until
about 10:20 the three unite into a single bench 42 inches wide by 34
high. In the face of this combination, 21 inches above the kiva floor
are two small niches approximately 5 inches square and 8 inches deep.
Both were open and empty.

Around the main wall at an average 32 inches above the upper
bench are 34 larger recesses, likewise open and empty. They approximate
9 inches square by 10 inches deep, and each is capped by
a sandstone slab. Between and below them in the east half of the
chamber are five smaller niches, 4 of them at an average height of 19
inches and the fifth at 40½. All are empty; none plastered. Comparable
recesses may have been present in portions of the wall now
fallen.

At the north where a recessed stairway 25 inches wide affords
access to the so-called "altar room," 148, our encircling benches
again separate, two on the west side, three on the east. On the upper
(c) a 4-inch-high step with a 15-inch tread provides a sort of "landing"

for the flight of seven steps as they rise 6½ feet to the Room 148
floor level (pl. 72, lower). Six of the steps are masonry and average
9 inches high by 6½ inches deep. Three cedar poles about 1½ inches
in diameter lay lengthwise upon the front half of the lower step; three
like poles embedded in the stairway jambs at the level of and in front

Plate 62

Upper: The remains of an older kiva appeared beneath the floor of Kiva D and a subfloor
passage to Room 241B (under ladder).

Lower: Squared pilaster timbers in Kiva D had been burned with their ceiling poles but the
subfloor vault and ventilator survived.

(Photographs by O. C. Havens, 1921.)

Plate 63

Upper: Behind the cribwork in Kiva B were hand-hewn planks packed with bunchgrass.

Lower: Dwellings crowding Kiva B from the south turned its ventilator duct east to the
air intake.

(Photographs by O. C. Havens, 1921.)

Plate 64

Upper: Kiva 2-D was provided with an under-floor ventilator, a built-in air shaft at the north,
and wide banquettes, east and west.

(Photograph by Neil M. Judd, 1926.)

Lower: Rooms 350 and 351 (right) were unexpected West Court discoveries.

(Photograph by O. C. Havens, 1925.)

Kiva E, restored, in foreground; Kiva J, with excavations in progress, beyond.

Plate 65

Beneath the floor of Kiva J was a D-shaped kiva, partly razed, with no bench and no
pilasters.

(Photographs by Neil M. Judd, 1922.)

Plate 66

Left: In Kiva 59
a broad south recess
rose ceiling
high with shallow
niches at either
side.

(Photograph by
O. C. Havens,
1924.)

Right: NonChaco
Kiva 2-E,
at the southeast
corner of the East
Court, was equipped
with a Chaco-like
under-floor ventilator.

(Photograph by
Neil M. Judd,
1923.)

Kiva X, foreign to Chaco Canyon, possessed unusual pilasters 30 inches high and a
lateral ventilator.

Plate 67

A Kiva T pilaster with four 2-inch timbers instead of a single log.

(Photographs by O. C. Havens, 1924.)

Plate 68

Left: Later
stonework (left 2thirds)
abutted the
original secondtype
masonry of
Kiva G, to correcting
an irregularity.

(Photograph by
Neil M. Judd,
1922.)

Right: Kiva X
pilasters, 31 inches
high, were unique
with their plastered
sides, 2 embedded
logs, one above the
other, and no setback.

(Photograph by
O. C. Havens,
1924.)

Plate 69

Upper: Pilasters 2 and 3 (left), Kiva G, with bench posts and third-type-masonry repairs.
Second-type north wall of Room 62, upper middle.

(Photograph by Neil M. Judd, 1922.)

Lower: Fireplace, ventilator, and south bench recess of Kiva R with Pilasters 1 to 3 beyond and
ceiling pole offset at upper left.

(Photograph by O. C. Havens, 1924.)

of the remaining five masonry steps increased their tread to about 11
inches. Three poles only, without accompanying masonry, divided
the 21 inches between the sixth step and the floor of 148 (fig. 16a).
These cedar foretreads had all rotted, but their positions were clearly
indicated and we replaced each one.

The "altar" in 1921 measured 4 feet 5 inches long, 11½ inches wide,
and 13 inches high. It was of masonry and presumably was formerly
plastered. It stands a bit off center in 148 and not quite parallel
with the north side.

The enormous roof of Kiva A had rested upon four masonry
pillars. That at the southwest, best preserved of the four, measured
8 feet 9 inches on the north, 5½ feet on the east, 7 feet 8 inches on
the south, and 5 feet 7 inches on the west. In thickness the four
sides varied from 14 inches on the south and west to 22 inches on
the east. They were finished on the outside and the space within
was filled with a rubblework strengthened by close-lying cedar poles
that extended through from one exterior to the other. These poles
were in alternating layers about 9 inches apart, north-south, east-west.

At floor level the east side of this composite pillar overhung by
4 inches a cylindrical base of rough stonework built in a dug hole
4 feet 3 inches deep, the space between pillar and bank being filled
with shale chips. Opposite, under the northwest corner, we came
upon the exposed portion of a large stone incorporated in the foundation.
It was 7½ inches thick, its edge had been rounded by battering,
it may have been 2½ feet in diameter. I did not explore further
because it seemed to me the knowledge to be gained could not justify
destruction of the overlying masonry and that of the vault adjoining.
South of this stone and a foot above the kiva floor a casual wedge of
mud and rock joined pillar and the lower bench.

The other three pillars differed from that at the southwest in overall
dimensions but were otherwise very much alike. Each was quadrangular
and stood upon a cylindrical foundation of coarse stonework
built in a hole 3 to 4 feet deep and packed about with shale chips.
Like that at the southwest, the southeast pillar was reënforced with
cedar poles in alternating layers and its foundation, only 34 inches
high, came to within 3 inches of the floor; its near corner rose 28
inches from the lower (a) bench. The two northern columns both
evidenced reconstruction; both stood above the remains of earlier
structures; both had finally collapsed into low piles of clay and rock.

Based on personal notes and on photographs made by the Museum
of New Mexico shortly after excavation of Great Kiva A, Gordon

Vivian (1960, pp. 67-70) doubts the presence of shale under the four
local columns because he saw none and he states that the southeast
pillar (identified by his figure 31) had been rebuilt since excavation
to provide a circular timber socket. The Pueblo Bonito Expeditions
began and concluded their study of Kiva A as part of the 1921
program and the reported pillar alteration could only have been accomplished
some time later. The southeast pillar, like that at the
southwest, had been braced by crossed poles and those still present,
however decayed, were left as we found them (pl. 74, upper).

Shale, occurring with low-grade subbituminous coal that sometimes
approaches lignite in quality, is a product of the Menefee formation
which underlies Chaco Canyon's Cliff House sandstone (Bryan, 1954,
p. 4; Shaler, 1907). It was lavishly employed at Pueblo Bonito both
as a wall packing about pilasters and elsewhere and as an under-floor
spread but was never, to my knowledge, used as a fuel in the manner
of the prehistoric Hopi (Colton, 1936; Hack, 1942).

Sunken, masonry-lined vaults of unknown purpose abutted the
north side of the two southern pillars. That adjoining the southwest
column although reduced to an average height of 12 inches on the
east side and 22 on the west—the number of dislodged stones did not
indicate any appreciable increase—appeared continuous with the pillar
masonry as though built at the same time (fig. 16). Originally
plastered and measuring 9 feet 5 inches long, 50½ inches wide, and
30 inches deep, this vault was subsequently reduced to 6 feet 4 inches
long by 33 inches when abutting masonry was introduced at the north
end, the remainder filled with clean sand covered with flagstones,
and new masonry built upon the slabs (pl. 71, lower).

Apparently the sides of that southwest vault formerly continued
north to enclose a companion but this latter had been razed and
replaced by a third vault on a floor 8 inches higher. Lying across
the doubled masonry between the older vault and its replacement was
a sandstone slab 1½ inches thick, 24 inches wide, and 33½ inches long
with two corners missing.

Comparable vaults with varying floor levels occupied the space
between the southeast pillar and that at the northeast. This latter,
like its opposite at the northwest, had been repaired once or twice
but finally was reduced to a low square standing upon its foundation
of rough stonework. In this instance the foundation had been built
in a hole 4 feet deep the diameter of which was a foot greater than
that of the foundation itself thus leaving a 6-inch space all around
that was filled with loose shale to within 10 inches of the kiva floor.

A test pit at this point (pl. 73, right) disclosed remnants of two
earlier kivas with floors at depths of 23 and 39 inches.

A second limited test farther along the east wall, at about 4 o'clock,
showed the lower bench (a) averaging 12 inches in height with no
foundation. Its lower 3 inches were abutted by constructional debris
and above that were no less than 17 successive adobe surfaces or
compacted sand layers, each ash-darkened and thickest next the
bench as though piled there by circulating air currents. Farther removed,
less dubious floors appeared 5, 11, 14, and 15¾ inches above
the original work surface.

The southeast vault apparently was built on the first of these
surfaces, that at 5 inches, while its northward extension was built on
the ninth at 14 inches (pl. 74, upper). An 8-inch post formerly stood
near the north end of this addition and just around the corner, underlying
the masonry, was part of a thick stone, its edge rounded by
pecking as was that beneath the outer corner of the southwest pillar.
A foot or more of blown sand, chunks of burned roof adobe, and
scattered pieces of charred wood crossed the vault and sloped thence
to the top of the middle bench (b). Above it, water-washed sand
and clay and fallen masonry sloped up to East Court level.

The southeast pillar foundation stood upon a silt surface in a
hole 34 inches deep and was packed all around with shale fragments.
On that same silt surface and underlying the lower bench was a
20-inch layer of household sweepings mixed with debris of demolition.
From this mixture we recovered a number of McElmo
Black-on-white potsherds, proto-Mesa Verde, and Little Colorado
Polychrome—fragments that readily identify Kiva A as of late construction.
Clean sand was encountered at 5 feet 10 inches.

Midway between this southeast pillar and that opposite, the southwest,
stood a raised masonry fireplace 23 inches high and a little
more than 5 feet square. Its outer corners were rounded; its basin
was clay-lined, burned, and ash-filled. There was a draft deflector,
or fire screen, 3½ feet to the south—a screen consisting of wattlework
5 feet 2 inches long, height unknown, supported by five posts and
with a 28-inch long adobe extension subsequently added at the east
end. Not quite parallel with the fireplace and not quite aligned with
the pillars on either side, this screen had been built on the fifth floor
level, about 8 inches above the bottom of the fireplace—a fact evidencing
its late installation (fig. 16).

In the open space fronting the fireplace, various test pits revealed
formerly occupied surfaces and portions of wall masonry. On a

Fig. 22.—Kiva R with cross section, A-A′, showing relationship of its
predecessors.

floor at depth of 20 inches and partly underlying the west side of
the southeast vault was a fireplace measuring 16 by 28 inches and
14 inches deep. A couple feet west of this but on an ill-defined surface
3 feet deeper, we encountered parallel walls of third-type
masonry 22 inches apart and about 29 inches high, one 17 inches
thick and the other 20. Still another wall fragment, 18 inches high,
its broken end abutted by the foundation under the southeast pillar,
extended thence west beneath the Kiva A fireplace on a floor at
depth of 30 inches.

Beyond these under-floor features, and there were others, our
attention was diverted momentarily by apparent rodent burrowings,
varying in size but all filled with soft, ashy earth. At the northwest
the hole prepared for the pillar foundation had cut through the arc
of a partially razed earlier kiva, its floor at depth of 23 inches. Outside
that arc and on a well-marked surface 8 inches deeper, we encountered
an intentional dump of constructional debris. Through it a vertically
cut bank, the marks of digging sticks still plain upon it, curved
back under the doubled bench as though prepared for a larger kiva
that was never built.

All that remained of the Kiva A roof in 1921 was a pair of decayed
logs lying lengthwise upon the east vaults. To bridge the distance
from one pillar to the other those logs must have been at least
30 feet long. Presumably they were paralleled by a second pair on
the west side; presumably shorter pairs spanned the shorter distance
at each end of the long logs; presumably lesser timbers covered the
middle ceiling from east to west while others reached out from the
paired beams to the surrounding wall and there were firmly seated
in the upper stonework, as in Kiva L and others of its kind.

I assume the 3-inch poles embedded side by side in the west-wall
masonry 9 feet 7 inches above the Kiva A floor were among such
lesser, bordering timbers and that their opposite ends rested upon
the paired beams. If those paired beams were each 12 inches in
diameter their supporting pillars must have stood at least 8 feet high
to allow for a 9½ foot ceiling. It sems incredible that 4 mud-andsandstone
columns 8 feet high, even when strengthened by crossed
poles, could support the enormous weight of a roof 45 feet across
and a foot or more in thickness. But there is no alternative. We saw
only one possible ceiling prop, the butt of an 8-inch post near the
northeast corner of the east vault.

This matter of weight and ceiling height introduces the question of
the relationship between Kiva A and its peripheral rooms, three on

the north side and five on the south. All eight had been cleared by
the Hyde Expeditions prior to 1900 and we have no contemporary
data regarding the operation. All were of relatively late construction.
Each room overlies the remains of earlier structures; each appears
to have been a sacrifice to religious necessity; each was a 3-walled
room. In no instance did I see positive evidence of a fourth wall
upon the kiva stonework.

Only in Room 148 was there the possibility of such a fourth
side—a remnant now 14 inches high where it abuts the east-wall
foundation and is floored over from there to the top of the stairway
and the broken edge of the kiva masonry. Opposite at its west end,
that possible south-wall remnant is covered by 3 inches of adobe
pavement; an earlier floor at depth of 25 inches had been cut through
apparently when the kiva was built, and the ends of two 5-inch logs
lie embedded in the kiva stonework. So far as I could judge, and
against my better judgment, Room 148 had opened directly into
Kiva A.

Of the eight peripheral rooms only one, 318, was provided with a
fireplace; only two, 317 and 318, were connected by an open doorway.
All other doors, inside and out, had been blocked with building
stones.

Just beyond the north end of Room 150 and a foot above its floor
an 8-foot-long concavity in the abutting East Court masonry evidences
construction of the latter against a previously standing convex
curve. Opposite, on the west side of Kiva A, wall masonry in
1921 measured 11 feet 5 inches high. If that masonry formerly rose
to ceiling level of Rooms 144 and 146 the bordering West Court wall
would have been continuous throughout and would have stood approximately
7 feet above my estimated roof level of Kiva A (Judd,
1922a, p. 116). And such height on one side would normally require
a compensating height on the other.

Nowhere in my 1921 notes do I find any fact to justify the thought
that walls 16 to 18 feet high once enclosed Great Kiva A. With the
possible exception of 148, the peripheral rooms apparently stood open
and unroofed. Despite the bulk of excavation waste thrown from
them into the kiva and partially represented by the piles of stone we
salvaged for repair work (pl. 71, upper), I doubt that the kiva wall
ever stood more than 2 or 3 feet above floor level of those rooms.

Room 148 is the exception. Architecturally, it remains enigmatic,
unsolvable. Its floor lies 8 feet 3 inches above that of Kiva A, 16
inches below the Kiva A ceiling as represented by the 3 roofing poles

embedded in the west masonry. Either the sacred rites performed
within 148 were exposed to all passersby, which would be most unlikely,
or the Kiva A roof rose 18 feet to roof level of Room 148,
equally unlikely. A roof sloping, say, from the north beams in Kiva A
to roof edge in Room 148 would be architecturally unthinkable any
where in the Pueblo country.

From what we found, I believe Great Kiva A was deliberately
demolished and its roofing timbers withdrawn for use elsewhere.
Hence the broken wall all around and the broken flooring adjoining
in each peripheral room. The data in hand do not evidence destruction
by fire. Neither before nor after abandonment was Kiva A
utilized as a repository for neighborhood rubbish. It was not a dump.
Besides the usual assortment of lost beads, paint stones, arrowpoints,
and curious minerals, we recovered during excavation only 1,830 miscellaneous
potsherds and only one piece of stone worthy of note.
Without protest on my part, our enthusiastic Zuñi masons during
1924 repairs to the bordering West Court wall installed a Kiva A building
block incised with a running zigzag.

From this recital, however inconclusive, the informed archeologist
will have noted many striking similarities to the Great Kiva at Aztec
Ruin, excavated and convincingly described by the late Earl H.
Morris (1921).