The subterranean room, usually round, associated with Anasazi cultures as well as modern Pueblos.

A chamber or room built for the meetings of a religious group, clan, or society, a kiva is sometimes underground. Members use the room when they come together to talk, work, and conduct religious ceremonies. Many of the nonpublic religious ceremonies of Pueblo peoples are held in kivas. Back to

or 'kiwa,' large underground chambers in the towns of the Pueblo Indians, into which the elders and spiritual leaders descended via long ladders. Here the people of the corporeal 'upper-world' communed with the (often ancestral) spirits of the 'nether-world.'

a Pueblo word for a special underground room

a special building used for ceremonial purposes

Native American ceremonial ruins that New Agers like to trample on.

A Pueblo Indian ceremonial structure that is usually round and partly underground.

(KEE-vuh) Indian Ceremonial chamber or room.

(KEE-vah) Indian Ceremonial chamber or room.

Used here in reference to a specific type of structure rather than to imply any particular use or function. In the Mesa Verde region, a kiva was a roofed structure that was usually circular, was usually underground or partly underground, contained a bench upon which the roof-support columns ( pilasters) were built, contained a hearth and a ventilator system (tunnel and shaft), and usually contained a deflector and often a sipapu. The southern segment of the bench was usually wider than the rest of the bench and is called a southern recess. Kiva entry was almost exclusively through a hatchway in the roof.

Hopi word for a special type of structure used primarily for social and religious ceremonies in present-day pueblos. In the Four Corners region, archaeologists apply this term to ancient structures that are usually round and were built underground. Prehistoric kivas were probably used for ceremonies, as well as for a variety of other activities such as cooking, eating, and sleeping.

A room, usually circular and partially below ground, used for ceremonial purposes.

(Hopi) A special room, often underground and/or in the central plaza of a pueblo, for political, ritual, and social gatherings by the Pueblo Indians. Called estufa by Spaniards.

round, underground room often used for religious ceremonies or social gatherings

a large chamber, often wholly or partially undergroundin a Pueblo Indian village used for religious ceremonies and other purposes

A Hopi word for a special type of structure used primarily for religious and social ceremonies in present-day pueblos. In the Mesa Verde area, archaeologists apply this term to prehistoric structures that are usually round and built below ground. Prehistoric kivas were probably used for ceremonies, as well as for other activities such as cooking, eating, and sleeping.

Subterranean structures built by prehistoric peoples throughout the Southwestern United States used primarily as religious and ceremonial structures. Kiva size and design varied widely, depending on the time period and the culture, from small, circular or square pits to the large, elaborate 'Great Kivas' of Anasazi cultures.

This term is most appropriately used to define a Native American place of worship and ceremony. In this structure, fires were in pits under the smoke hole in the ceiling. However, in more modern times the term kiva is used to define a certain type of fireplace. This fireplace, introduced during Spanish Colonial time, is found in the corner of the room and is bee hive in shape, almost as an extension of the adobe walls. Typically, a kiva has a low hearth rising 6" - 10" from the floor. The flue is round or square, sometimes with a smoke shelf but in Spanish colonial time, there was no damper. In many cases, due to the shape and limited depth of the firebox, wood is stacked vertically against the back corner of the firebox. There is no applied mantel but one that is integral to the adobe which creates the exterior of the kiva.

An underground ceremonial chamber typical of the Anasazi and Hopi nations. A village may have several kivas. They were used for community gatherings and religious and spiritual purposes.

An underground, or partly underground, chamber in a Pueblo village, used for ceremonies or councils.

multi-purpose room used for religious, political, and social functions in Pueblo villages on the Colorado Plateau

A kiva is a Pueblo Indian ceremonial structure, usually circular and underground.

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.

Kiva (1995) is a collaborative album by the American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Michael Stearns and Ron Sunsinger. A kiva is an underground ceremonial chamber used by Native American cultures of the Southwest.