Mesa Verde.....

Balcony House

While visiting Mesa Verde I went to Balcony House and Cliff Palace. At Balcony House there were a couple of kiva's - they explained that each family had their own kiva and that it was a matrimonial society. Mesa Verde is situated on a plateau on the top of a mountain - more specifically in the side of the mountain. The guide explained that wood logs would rest on the stone shelf forming a peaked roof - grass and other organic would cover the logs. A ladder would be let down from the middle and people could enter the kiva to worship, talk, commune with Mother Earth or Father Sky or whatever. After everyone was inside the kiva, the ladder would be removed and a fire would be built. The kiva has a ventilation shaft that would suck air into the room, hit the barrier in front of the fire, disperse the air around and then the smoke would be sucked back up through the hole in the middle of the roof. In the floor is a small hole called a sipapu, that the ancient peoples believed was a ladder from the last world. They believed that this was the fourth world and that three other worlds had come before and that people would climb up the ladder into the next world, each world being better than the last and this world is close to the end of its existence and the fifth world would soon be here and that people would climb up the ladder into that world - sound familiar?

Square Tower House

Excavated Pit Houses