Aztec Ruins National Monument, New MexicoCorbett, John M. (John Maxwell)
History
Aztec Ruins National Monument, New Mexico
Corbett, John M. (John Maxwell)
Aztec Ruins National Monument (N.M.)
That the Great Kiva was originally roofed was determined by Morris’
finding the remains of four rectangular columns, countersunk below the
level of the kiva floor and composed of alternating courses of masonry
and wooden poles. Each course of wooden poles was laid at right angles
to the alternating one below. Each column was supported by three thick
circular sandstone blocks, evidently to prevent the weight of the
columns, and the roof they supported, from pressing them down into the
soft ground or spreading out the footings. In the excavation of the kiva
fill Morris also found many pieces of charred timbers, so that although
we do not know the exact method of roofing the kiva, one method which
the Indians could have used has been duplicated in the modern
reconstruction. Evidently the kiva burned and was then abandoned.
Just to the northwest of the main ruin at Aztec is a small tri-walled
ceremonial structure known as the Hubbard Site. Sixty-four feet in
diameter, it consists of three concentric walls of stone and adobe, with
a small 24-foot circular kiva enclosed in the center. This kiva is not
directly connected with any of the tri-walls; there is a space 1½ feet
wide between the outer shell of the kiva and the inner side of the
nearest wall. There are remains of eight roof pilasters, a central
fireplace, a deflector, and a ventilator shaft in the kiva. On the south
side are openings in the two outer walls, one directly behind the other,
so that access could have been along this passage and then up over the
roof of the kiva and down into it through the smoke hole. None of the
rooms in the outer two circles connect in any way with the kiva.
There are seven rooms of roughly equal size within the inner circle; an
eighth “room” might be the one mentioned above, which forms part of the
passage leading out to the south. These rooms do not connect with each
other, and access to each of them must have been through the roof.
In the outermost circle there are 13 rooms, with another constituting
the outer portion of the south passage. This is the same number of
alcoves as surrounded the Great Kiva, except that in the latter case two
were entranceways. Here in the Hubbard Mound there is no north alcove
entranceway as there is in the Great Kiva.
In the outer circle of rooms, the first four east of the south entrance
opened into each other through a lateral doorway, and the next two rooms
around to the northeast also opened into each other. The following room
toward the north was self-contained. Proceeding around to the west, the
next five rooms all opened on each other through lateral doorways.
Finally, on the southwest there is a single room not connected to any
other. None of the rooms in the outer circle opened onto any in the
inner circle or to the outside, except for one doorway on the west which
led to the series of five interconnecting rooms. The separate rooms and
the other series of connecting rooms must have been entered through the
roof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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