The person who walks into Cliff Palace and views a kiva for the first time has not the slightest chance of guessing its original purpose. It is absolutely remote from anything he has ever seen. But when he is told that these same strange rooms still survive in the present-day pueblos and are used as club rooms and ceremonial chambers, the use becomes immediately apparent. In the center of the ancient kiva floor is a tiny hole that has no obvious purpose. That same hole is still found in some of the present-day kivas and the Indian explains that it is the spirit entrance to the earth. Even the wisest archeologist could never have guessed that. Without the help of present-day Indians it would be almost impossible to answer questions about such non-material things as religion and social customs. We can dig up the bones of a man, every bone he ever possessed. But who can look at those bones and tell how many wives he had? Some people think it should show but it doesn’t. In order to answer the question we simply go to the descendants of that man. Without doubt they still have the same customs. From all this it can be seen that the ethnologist has added much to our story. Since the Pueblo Indians of today are the descendants of the Pueblo Indians of a few centuries ago, a thorough knowledge of them is the soundest approach to an understanding of the ancient people. In using our knowledge of the modern Pueblo Indians in an effort to picture life in ancient times we are faced with an important question. How much have the customs changed because of the influence of the Spaniards? As soon as the Spaniards entered the Pueblo country they established missions in the Indian pueblos. The native religion was suppressed and a new religion was forced upon the Pueblo people. In the Rio Grande area in New Mexico this foreign pressure was strongest and there can be little doubt that the native Indian religion and customs have changed to some extent. In the western pueblos of the Zunis and Hopis the Spanish pressure was not so great. Missions were maintained at Zuni only intermittently and among the Hopis for only a short time. As a result the native Pueblo religion and customs of these western pueblos have undergone less change and they will be used, for the most part, in our effort to picture the ancient life of the Mesa Verde.