Kiva

A kiva is a ceremonial and meeting rooms of the Pueblo cultures. The word itself comes from the language of the Hopi. At a Pueblo usually include several kivas, a great for all residents as well as several smaller ones for each clan.

The circular kivas are invested half or wholly underground. Tree trunks formed the roof. These were then plastered with clay, so that again was a flat walkable area in the underground facilities. As access to used a ladder that was placed through a hole in the roof. In semi -subterranean kivas led down a ladder from a small vestibule.

Each kiva is equipped with a fire pit and an air shaft. There are stone benches all around on the inner wall. This consists of six units in the control group represents the possible directions of movement ( in addition to the directions above and below). A small hole in the ground, the Sipapu, symbolizing the entrance to the underworld, or even the way by which the people came into this world. In at least two kivas ( Yellow Jacket Canyon and Sand Canyon in Colorado) the Sipapu is associated with a peculiar figure. During the construction of Kiva large-format images of the fertility deity Kokopelli were painted before they were obscured by the actual floor of the kiva above and on the ground first.

Some kivas are connected by underground tunnels with nearby multi-storey towers. The function of the towers and their connection to the kivas is unclear.

An original reconstructed kiva is to visit Aztec Ruins National Monument at Aztec, New Mexico. It also found numerous specimens in the Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, which are well preserved apart from the originally existing roofing.