Existing comment:
Ceremonial Chamber.
This is an Anasazi kiva, an underground religious room. To picture what occurred here, archeologists rely on comparisons with modern Pueblo Indian kivas and beliefs. The small, circular hole in the floor is a sipapu, a symbolic entrance into the underworld -- the Pueblo place of origin.
By this time in their development, pitrooms had evolved into more formalized religious structures -- kivas. This early kiva design was continued in Mesa Verde villages. |