Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff PalaceFewkes, Jesse Walter
History
Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace
Fewkes, Jesse Walter
Colorado -- Antiquities; Mesa Verde National Park (Colo.)
Kiva F, situated on a lower terrace than the kivas already described, is
square, with rounded corners, and is 9 feet high. The height of the
pilasters is 6 feet 10 inches, and the top of the banquette is 4 feet 1
inch above the floor. The diameter of the kiva is 13 feet. There are 6
pilasters; the distance between them averages 5 feet; their average
width is 2 feet 4 inches. The deflector, a wall of masonry, is 3 feet
wide and averages 9 inches in thickness.
The deflector is 2 feet from the flue and 18 inches from the fire-hole,
which is 2 feet in diameter and the same in depth. The distance from the
fire-hole to the sipapû is 2 feet 4 inches. The diameter of the sipapû
is 2½ inches, and its depth 5 inches.
There are 3 mural niches, similar to those previously described. The
roof of this kiva was of the same level as the floors of rooms 16 and
24, the roofs of which overlooked the kiva situated in the terrace
below.
The walls of this kiva are black with smoke. The room is surrounded by a
second wall, the interval between which and that of the kiva is filled
with rubble.
KIVA G
This kiva may be called "heartshaped." Its height from the floor to the
top of the roof is 9 feet, and it measures 6 feet from the floor to the
top of the pilasters. The banquette is 4 feet high, and the interior
diameter of the kiva is 12 feet. The numbers of pilasters is 6; their
average breadth is a little more than 2 feet, and the intervals between
them averages 3 feet 6 inches.
[Illustration: PLATE 24
FOOD BOWLS]
The deflector is a stone slab 3 feet wide and 2 feet high. The distance
from the flue to the deflector is 2 feet; from the deflector to the
fire-hole 11 inches. The diameter of the fire-hole is 2 feet, its depth
18 inches. The sipapû is 2 feet 8 inches from the fire-hole; its
diameter is 2 inches, and its depth 4 inches. There are 4 mural niches.
This kiva is situated in the terrace below that last mentioned, that is,
in the second terrace, and was wholly buried when excavations began. The
roofs of rooms 30 and 31 overlooked this kiva, their floors being on the
same level as the kiva roof.
KIVA H
Kiva H (pl. 18) measures 8 feet from the floor to the top of the wall,
and 6 feet from the floor to the top of the pilasters. The height of the
banquette is 4 feet 6 inches. The diameter of the kiva is 11 feet 6
inches.
The deflector is a curved stone wall joining the kiva wall on each side
of the flue.[53] It is built of stone, 7 feet 6 inches high, 10 inches
wide, and 20 inches high. The deflector is 1 foot 6 inches from the flue
and 15 inches from the fire-hole. The diameter of the fire-hole is 2
feet and its depth 1 foot.
[Footnote 53: A similar deflector is recorded by Mr. Morley as existing
in the Cannonball ruin, and is figured by Nordenskiöld from the Mesa
Verde.]
The sipapû is situated 2 feet from the fire-hole; it is 3 inches in
diameter and 4 inches deep.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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