Aztec West Audio Tour: Stop #5

The fifth 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 #5

  
  

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

  The round room in front of you was another kind of kiva or ceremonial chamber. Kivas like this may have been used by clans or other groups such as medicine or religious societies. Most communities had many smaller kivas, but only one or two Great Kivas. The roof in this kiva was domed (or cribbed) with timbers resting one upon another, a common style for kiva roofs. The timbers on the low pilasters are from a reconstructed roof that has since been removed; they helped to illustrate how the roof was constructed. Descendants of the ancestral Puebloan people describe this kind of construction as representing a basket, which is associated with the sky above. People entered the kiva through a hatchway in the roof.