Kiva

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This article is about the structure. For the non-profit organization, see Kiva (organization). For the cartoon character, see Megas XLR.

Reconstructed kiva at Bandelier National Monument.

Interior of a reconstructed kiva at Mesa Verde National Park.

A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, modern kivas are square-walled and above-ground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies.

Similar subterranean rooms are found among the ancient peoples of the American southwest, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, the Mogollon and the Hohokam. Those used by the Ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I Era and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round, and generally believed to have been used for religious and other communal purposes. When designating an ancient room as a kiva, archaeologists make assumptions about the room's original functions and how those functions may be similar to or differ from kivas used in modern practice. The katchina belief system appears to have emerged in the Southwest at approximately AD 1250, while kiva like structures occurred much earlier. This suggests that the room's older functions may have been changed or adapted to suit the new religious practice.

Kivas are entered through a hole in the roof. A stone bench for sitting lines the inside wall, sometimes interrupted by support columns for the roof. There is usually a hole or indentation in the floor, now called a sipapu. Pueblo belief systems state that the sipapu symbolizes the connection from birth with Mother Earth. It may also represent the spot from which the original inhabitants emerged from the lower world. Near the center of the kiva is a fire pit. A ventilation shaft on one side supplies floor-level air for the fire.

As cultural changes occurred, particularly during the Pueblo III period between 1150 and 1300, some kivas were also built above ground. Kiva architecture became more elaborate, with tower kivas and great kivas incorporating specialized floor features. For example, kivas found in Mesa Verde were generally keyhole shaped. In most larger communities, it was normal to find one kiva for each five or six rooms used as residences. However, after 1325 or 1350, except in the Hopi region, the ratio changed from 60 to 90 rooms for each kiva. This may indicate a religious or organizational change within the society, perhaps affecting the status and number of clans among the Pueblo people.