Aztec West Audio Tour: Stop #4

The fourth numbered stop on the Aztec West self-guided audio tour.

NPS

The trail through the Aztec West great house is 0.5 mile in length and requires about 40 minutes to complete using the audio tour. Most of the trail is paved and accessible to wheelchairs, with some steps and low doorways. Wheelchairs are available at the visitor center to borrow upon request.

• Stop #4

  
  

  The fourth numbered stop on the Aztec West self-guided audio tour.
  Audio Transcript

  This Great Kiva was excavated by Earl Morris in 1921 and reconstructed under his direction in 1934. The fifteen surface rooms surrounding the central chamber are a unique feature of the structure. The purpose of the rooms is unknown. They may have been for the spirits of the ancestors, individual clans or societies, spectators, or ceremonial preparation. Four massive pillars of alternating masonry and horizontal poles held up to ceiling beams. Each pillar rested on four weighty limestone discs brought in from at least 30 miles away. Supporting the 95-ton roof was a difficult feat of engineering, both when the Great Kiva was originally built and when it was reconstructed. Fragments of charred wood on the floor indicated that the roof had burned; these pieces help guide Morris during the reconstruction. Morris found bits of reddish and white-washed plaster clinging to the original walls, as well as in the excavated material. He chose to paint color for the reconstruction based on these remnants of plaster. This color scheme is found throughout the ancestral Puebloan world.