About twenty rooms seem to have opened into this kiva court. Certainly it should not be considered that there were that many individual families. But it is evident that a large number of people occupied the rooms and shared the open court. In the left foreground can be seen the hatchway of a second kiva. The roof of this kiva formed another court which was surrounded by another group of rooms much like those shown at the right. The kiva itself should not be tied too closely to the clan or group of families living around it. Customs in some of the present-day Indian Pueblos lead to the belief that a kiva was used by a religious society and men from other parts of the village and other clans could have been members of this ceremonial group. The kiva may have belonged to the clan which lived around it and may have been taken care of by the men of this clan. But its ceremonies would have been conducted by a religious society to which belonged men of various clans. [Illustration: Kiva Court in Spruce House.] WHY DID THE INDIANS BUILD IN THE CAVES? It is impossible to look at the cliff dwellings without wondering why the Pueblo Indians chose to build their homes in the cliffs. A few of the ruins are in large, open, airy, easily accessible caves, that to the casual observer might seem like rather decent places in which to live. But most of the caves are not of this type. The majority are high on the cliff faces—many are merely narrow high ledges on which a few rooms could be perched. For many centuries the Pueblo Indians of the Mesa Verde area lived on the open mesa tops and in the broad fertile valleys. They were a settled agricultural group, highly skilled in all their arts and crafts. Then, rather suddenly, they left their pleasant pueblos and moved into the caves. Within a short time there were few Indians left out in the open. What caused this sudden change in their way of life? In order to answer this question it is necessary to consider the entire background of the Pueblo Indians of this area. The earliest evidences of these people indicate that they were well established in the Mesa Verde region shortly after the birth of Christ. Originally a hunting people, they had received corn and squash from more southern neighbors and were turning to a settled agricultural life. At first they seem to have had no houses so, at least for part of the year, they occupied the caves. After a time they began to experiment with simple pithouses. When substantial houses had developed they left the caves and built their villages in the open. For many centuries they lived in the open valleys and on the broad mesa tops. The population grew and the tribe spread over a wide area. The architecture developed steadily and by the twelfth century the people were living in hundreds of pueblos, constructed of stone and adobe masonry.