University of Virginia Library

Superstructure Pueblo II

The Kivas

The kivas of Tseh So were four in number. Two of these were kivas
"with a southern extension," or, as they are popularly called in the
Chaco, "Keyhole Kivas." These four kivas were placed, as was noted

before, on the east side of the pueblo, three in a line along the main tier
of rooms and the fourth at the end of the room extension formed by
Rooms 3, 4, 5, and 6. Two of these kivas, those toward the north end,
were plain pit kivas with straight sides and a rectangular bench; and
the kiva farthest to the south (Kiva 3) exhibited San Juan type pilasters.
The masonry in all four kivas was essentially the same as the
masonry for the rest of the pueblo, although as a whole, the walls were
better formed and better laid. The building blocks of sandstone which
formed the pilasters, benches, and parapets were, as a rule, well-shaped
and carefully laid to form a comparatively smooth wall with but few of
the sandstone spalls noted before. Pottery spalls were liberally used
to stud the plaster between the stone courses. All four of the kivas
were fitted with fire pits, fire screens, and ventilators, in the regulation
manner. Each of the four was oriented towards the south, i. e., the
ventilator shaft was oriented to the south. One of the most interesting
features is the series of turkey skeletons which were found back of the
fire screens in all of the kivas. In each case the deposit consisted of an
entire turkey skeleton spread out in the space immediately in front of
the ventilator shaft. In Kiva 4 there were two skeletons. These are
all of young female turkeys, and in all five skeletons the head is missing.
The meaning of these offerings is purely conjectural.

Kiva 1 (See Plate VIII and Fig. 2a)

Kiva 1 is located to the east of Rooms 7 and 8, and to the south of
Rooms 3 and 5. The enclosure surrounding this kiva is designated as
Room 12. The kiva proper is nine and one-half feet in diameter and
the same distance in depth, with a bench running around its circumference
six feet from the floor level and seventeen inches wide. Kiva 1
was provided with a southern extension in the form of a platform two
feet by four feet ten inches in dimensions, and at a depth of four
feet from the surface. Underneath this platform runs the ventilator
shaft, fourteen by eighteen inches in dimensions from its entrance or
opening in the kiva, below the edge of the platform, to its exit at the
surface through a chimney of masonry a foot square immediately to
the south of the platform extension. This ventilator shaft was covered
over in its horizontal extension under the platform with overturned
metates supported on wooden cross members which are still in place.
At its end on the kiva floor it was also provided with wooden uprights
plastered in with adobe on each side of the opening to form a rounded
frame. This rounded framework on the floor of the kiva opens out onto
a small semi-circular platform, a foot by two feet in width, and some
three inches high, placed upon the kiva floor as a sort of threshold for
the ventilator entrance. This small platform just mentioned, and the
opening to the ventilator shaft, were separated from the rest of the

kiva by a low wall of masonry eighteen inches high, which ran in a
semi-circular direction from the wall on the one side of the ventilator
shaft to the wall on the other. This last named partition wall served
as a fire screen for the fire pit directly behind it to the north. However,
it is most unusual to find the fire screen or partition wall joining
the walls of the kiva both to the east and to the west. The fire pit
immediately to the north of this screen wall is still slightly to the south
of the center of the kiva. It was well made, sunk into the kiva floor,
lined with slabs of sandstone, and was well filled with ash when found.
A small hole three inches in diameter, eighteen inches east of this fire
pit, may have been the sipapu. No other depression which might have
been used for this purpose is in evidence.

The shard evidence showed the Escavada, Exuberant Corrugated,
and Gallup combination predominating, as was true in the rooms. Of
several hundred shards pried from the plaster of the walls, Escavada
ran as high as 80 per cent, Lino and Red Mesa were next, with Gallup
running a poor last.

A most interesting situation was found on the north side of Kiva 1
where a large section of the kiva was cracking and apparently sinking
into a soft space beneath, along with the north wall. A small test hole,
dug through the side of the kiva in this direction, produced large numbers
of Red Mesa shards, as might have been expected. A test hole dug
through the floor of the kiva produced Lino gray ware.

Evidently Kiva 1 had been excavated in Pueblo II times down
through, or at least to the edge of, the original Pueblo I mound and
possibly extended into the Basket Maker levels. The caving observed
on the northern side of Kiva 1 may indicate a subsequent settling or
decaying out of large volumes of animal and vegetable matter in the
Pueblo I structure on that side.

Kiva 2 (See Plate IX)

Kiva 2 is the northernmost of the kivas of Tseh So, besides being
the largest in diameter and the deepest. The kiva proper is twelve feet
in diameter north and south, thirteen feet in diameter east and west,
and is at a depth of ten feet from the surface adjacent to the wall of
Room 14. The usual ledge or bench runs around the circumference of
the kiva, with the exception of that portion immediately above the
screen wall and the ventilator opening. This bench varies from six
inches in width on the west wall to twelve inches on the east wall, and
is thirty-two inches from the floor. Kiva 2 was not provided with a
southern or "keyhole" extension, but the south side rose vertically to
the surface with no offset or shelf. The ventilator shaft in this case
rose immediately behind and to the south of the south wall of the kiva,
coming out in an opening approximately a foot square, of rough

Fig. 2. a—Kiva 1; b—Kiva 3

masonry, between the kiva and the north wall of Room 6. This ventilator
shaft was accommodated at its open end in the kiva by a coping of
wooden uprights and adobe to form an arcuated opening in the shape
of a "broken-sided" arch. The south portion of the kiva, immediately in
front of the ventilator opening, was screened off from the rest of the
kiva by a low single-thickness wall of masonry, as in Kiva 1. This
masonry extends from side to side of the kiva, leaving a space in front
of the ventilator shaft seventy-two by thirty-two inches. This was not
provided with a low threshold platform, as in Kiva 1. The fire pit lies
immediately to the north of this screen wall in essentially the same
plan as Kiva 1. The fire pit was lined with stone slabs sunk into the
floor, as before. A small hole to the east, six inches in diameter and
some twelve inches deep, possibly served as the sipapu.

Kiva 2 is of especial note because of several interesting cists
or recesses which occur in its walls. One of these is in the north
wall below the edge of the bench, some two feet from the floor. This
is a small recess floored with a single slab of sandstone eight inches
square, the whole recess being roughly five by five inches across, and
six inches deep. The largest of such receptacles occurs upon the east
side of the kiva, also in the side of the bench. This is a large receptacle
of roughly circular outline, some two feet in all dimensions, floored
with a piece of shale. When discovered, this recess was closed and
sealed by a carefully shaped slab of sandstone, rectangular with
rounded corners, which had been placed across the opening and plastered
in place with adobe. The recess, however, was empty when discovered.
Two other recesses or wall cists, occur on the south side of
the kiva immediately to the west of the ventilator opening just on top
of the bench. These openings, each about eight inches in depth, were
neither lined nor closed but merely open alcoves, possibly for the accommodation
of ritualistic paraphernalia.

The plaster of Kiva 2 could be observed in detail insomuch
as large quantities yet adhered to the wall. The plaster in most places
consisted of fourteen layers of pure adobe, each approximately a
sixteenth of an inch thick and superimposed upon the preceding layer.
The layers could be distinguished easily because of the smoke-deposited
soot on the surface of each layer, which formed a number of varves of
alternate dark and light colors. The plaster in this case was not
decorated and not colored.

Several vigas from this kiva were recovered for dendro-chronological
purposes.

Kiva 3 (See Fig. 2b)

Kiva 3 lies the southernmost of all the kivas, and flush with the
southernmost room of the pueblo, Room 19. This kiva also presents
a southern extension which makes it assume the "keyhole" form mentioned

in connection with Kiva 1. Kiva 3 has an additional feature in
the form of four pilasters, which adjuncts are reputed to be a San Juan
feature.[3] The kiva itself is almost exactly round, measuring ten feet
ten inches in diameter, north-south and east-west. It was provided
with the usual bench or ledge, ten to twelve inches wide and fifty to
fifty-four inches from the kiva floor. The floor of the kiva is nine feet
below the original surface and is especially featured by being paved
with large slabs of carbonaceous shale. The southern extension of the
kiva measures six feet five inches east and west, and six feet nine inches
north and south. The back or south wall of this extension is varied in
this case by a bulge or pilaster of plastered masonry to accommodate
the ventilator shaft which rises in that place.

The ventilator shaft itself arises behind the fire deflector, and measures
eleven inches by eighteen inches. The usual wooden lintel is in
place. This shaft passes horizontally underneath the southern extension
of the kiva and rises through the pilaster just mentioned.

The deflector differs from that in Kiva 1 in that it is not joined
to the sides of the kiva on each side of the southern extension, but is
a free-standing wall of masonry thirty-one inches long and sixteen
inches high, and of single stone width.

The fire pit lies directly behind the deflector and is augmented by
yet another upright slab on the deflector end which may have served as
an auxiliary deflector or fire screen. The fire pit measures twenty-one
by twenty inches and is eight inches in depth. It was entirely filled,
when found, with fine white ash.

A small hole three inches in diameter, seventeen inches from the
east wall, evidently formed the sipapu. Two other holes of about the
same size, and about three inches apart, were found to the north of the
fire pit midway from the pit to the wall. These may be diagnosed as
loom holes.

In addition to these holes, there occurred a shallow cist through
the carbonaceous shale floor to the west of the fire pit which contained
the entire skeleton of an ordinary dog (Canis familiaris).[4] This had
been slightly flexed to accommodate it to the oval contours of the cist
which lay only eight inches below the floor. The cist had been carefully
covered over with plastered adobe, the outlines of which were in
very marked contrast to the surrounding shale.

The most striking feature of Kiva 3 is undoubtedly the very
good multiple coat of plaster which yet adheres to the walls below
the bench, and especially the series of designs which were incised into
this plaster (Plate X). These incisions take the form of at least seven
different groups of figures, for the most part on the north and west

walls of the kiva. However, others may have been destroyed by the
scaling away of the outer coats of plaster on the rest of the wall. The
figures were done in a casual, yet systematic manner. Among those
which may be tentatively identified are a seeming house design, a maze,
a fish, and a possible vegetable or tree design. These figures may be
studied in the accompanying illustration (Plate X). In addition to the
figures incised into the surface of the plaster, there are traces of paint
of two colors, black and white, on the north wall. No shapes seem to
be represented in the paint traces discernible at present.

Kiva 4

Kiva 4 is easternmost of the four kivas of Tseh So, and lies
adjacent to Rooms 5, 6, and 15. It most greatly resembles
Kiva 2 in general structure, in its pit-like appearance, and in
the absence of a southern extension and pilasters. Its walls are vertical,
well-formed, and of fair masonry of the same type as the rest of
the pueblo. A goodly amount of plain unpainted and unincised plaster,
of some seven distinct coats, yet adheres to the walls. The usual bench
encircles the kiva, twenty-five to thirty inches above the kiva floor, for
all its circumference with the exception of that portion immediately in
front of and adjacent to the ventilator and the fire screen. The bench
is especially wide at the north side of the kiva, and erratically narrows
to a point and blends into the wall on the east side. On the west it
ends in a well-rounded shoulder, as usual. The kiva floor lies at about
nine feet from the original surface.

The ventilator opening is eighteen inches high by twelve inches
wide and rectangular. It enters the south wall of the kiva for some
three feet, then turns at right angles to the surface as in Kiva 2.

The deflector is similar to that of Kiva 3 in that it does
not adjoin the walls of the kiva on either side of the fire pit. This deflector
lies thirty inches from the ventilator opening, is twenty-one
inches in length and eighteen inches high, and is of single stone thickness.
The fire pit lies just to the north of the deflector and in dimensions
is eighteen by fourteen by nine inches deep. It is lined with
squared sandstone slabs.

No sipapu was definitely located as such, but two receptacles or
cists occurred in the walls of the kiva. One of these is a semi-circular
opening twenty-four inches wide and fourteen inches high at its apex
which was let into the end of the west bench five inches above the floor.
This is a plain ungarnished opening, fashioned in the masonry and lined
with adobe. Another of these wall cists or openings occurred on the
west wall above this last named, although of somewhat smaller dimensions.
It presented the same features, and was lined with adobe, as
the previous one.