kiva

A subterranean circular room c.5–14 m/16–46 ft in diameter and 2·5 m/8 ft high, with a ceiling hatch and access ladder, used by the prehistoric Anasazi Indians of the American SW for meetings, rituals, storytelling, weaving, and crafts. Inside is a firepit and sipapu, a small hole in the floor symbolizing the point at which the ancestral Anasazi emerged from the underworld.

A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, modern kivas are square-walled and above-ground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies.

Similar subterranean rooms are found among the ancient peoples of the American southwest, including the Ancient Pueblo Peoples, the Mogollon and the Hohokam. Those used by the Ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I Era and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round, and generally believed to have been used for religious and other communal purposes. When designating an ancient room as a kiva, archaeologists make assumptions about the room's original functions and how those functions may be similar to or differ from kivas used in modern practice. The katchina belief system appears to have emerged in the Southwest at approximately AD 1250, while kiva like structures occurred much earlier.

Kivas are entered through a hole in the roof.

As cultural changes occurred, particularly during the Pueblo III period between 1150 and 1300, some kivas were also built above ground. Kiva architecture became more elaborate, with tower kivas and great kivas incorporating specialized floor features. For example, kivas found in Mesa Verde were generally keyhole shaped. In most larger communities, it was normal to find one kiva for each five or six rooms used as residences. However, after 1325 or 1350, except in the Hopi region, the ratio changed from 60 to 90 rooms for each kiva.