Great Kivas as Ritual and Communal Space

Hegmon (Reference Hegmon, Lipe and Hegmon1989:6) has argued that one of the main roles of communal architecture at southwestern sites was to reinforce social norms and sanctify social decisions. As Rautman (Reference Rautman and Birch2013) and Stone (Reference Stone2002, Reference Stone2013) have argued, shared space implies shared experience and meaning, which in turn facilitates communal action and counters the development of factions. Ritual spaces like great kivas were therefore imbued with meaning that facilitated communication and connectivity, literally demarcating the social processes of integration.

In the Mimbres Mogollon region of southwestern New Mexico, the largest pithouse villages in the Mimbres and Gila River Valleys contain well-defined ritual spaces consisting of sequentially used great kivas associated with plazas. This pattern is most apparent at NAN Ranch (Shafer Reference Shafer2003), Old Town (Creel Reference Creel2006), and Harris (Roth Reference Roth2015). Subsequent construction of pueblos atop these pithouse villages has sometimes obscured this ritual space, but it appears to have been the common layout at other large pithouse villages such as Galaz (Anyon and LeBlanc Reference Anyon and LeBlanc1984) and Swarts (Cosgrove and Cosgrove Reference Cosgrove and Cosgrove1932) and therefore indicates a region-wide pattern of demarcating and using ritual space.

We argue that the centralized location of the great kivas and associated plazas and the long-term use of these spaces support the inference that they served as ritually integrative spaces. Rituals conducted within great kivas would have established and solidified social relationships and reinforced attitudes that emphasized cooperation. This does not mean that these spaces could not serves as venues for contesting and reworking the existing structure, but data from the Mimbres region suggest that the primary use of these structures was for integrative purposes rather than as political arenas, as has been documented for later great kivas in the Mogollon region (Dunghan and Peeples Reference Dungan and Peeples2018) and in the northern Southwest (Chamberlain Reference Chamberlain, Glowacki and Keuren2011; Plog and Solometo Reference Plog and Solometo1997). The use of great kivas mitigated social stress by creating spaces where social tension could be diffused through ritual performance and interaction. In general, rituals tend to be conservative through time, and great kivas were sometimes repeatedly revisited even after a site was abandoned to reinforce connections to the past (Creel and Anyon Reference Creel and Anyon2003). These structures therefore served as “an enduring mark of kin and cooperative group identities” (Goodale et al. Reference Goodale, Quinn, Nauman, Carpenter and Prentiss2021:183).

Great Kivas and Community Integration at the Harris Site

In the remainder of this article, we explore the role of great kivas in community integration at the Harris site. We view the great kivas and associated plaza at the Harris site as physical manifestations of ritual and social arenas that created and strengthened shared beliefs and social relationships in light of changes in agricultural intensification, population increase, and household organization that developed throughout the site's occupation.

The Harris site is located in the middle portion of the Mimbres River Valley (Figure 1). Its occupation predates the Classic Mimbres pueblo period, with excavated pithouses and great kivas dating to the Georgetown (AD 500–650), San Francisco (AD 650–750), and Three Circle (AD 750–1000) phases of the Late Pithouse period. Work by UNLV has identified the sequence of village growth and agricultural intensification extending through the end of the Three Circle phase (Roth Reference Roth2015, Reference Roth and Stokes2019; Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015). These excavations have documented the development of extended family corporate groups by the San Francisco phase, the maximum growth of the village during the Three Circle phase, and the subsequent dispersal of residents sometime in the late AD 900s.

Figure 1. Harris site location in the Mimbres Valley. (Map by Danielle Romero.)

Changes in the use of great kivas mirrored changes in village organization and illustrate the growing importance of great kivas and the plaza in village life. Haury's (Reference Haury1936) work at the Harris site involved the excavation of three sequentially used great kivas surrounding a central plaza (Houses 8, 10, and 14 on Figure 2).Footnote ¹ Subsequent work by archaeologists from UNLV resulted in the excavation of portions of an early Three Circle phase great kiva (Kiva Pithouse 55; Figure 2) and the center posthole of Haury's House 10. These data have been crucial in assessing the role of great kivas in community integration through time. The centrality of the location of this ritual space, combined with the long-term use starting in the Georgetown phase and extending to the end of the Three Circle phase (ca. late AD 900s), indicates that it retained significance within the community across substantial social changes involving population increase, agricultural intensification, and the development of extended family corporate groups.

Figure 2. Harris site map, showing plaza, great kivas, pithouse clusters, and Haury's excavations. (Map by Russell Watters.)

Great Kiva Use through Time

The Georgetown phase occupation at the Harris site is inferred to represent a seasonally sedentary occupation (Roth Reference Roth2015). Data from this phase are limited at Harris, but it appears to mark the beginning of an increasing focus on agriculture, and it is the period when an initial communal structure was built at the site (House 14; Haury Reference Haury1936). The village was still quite small, and House 14 apparently served to integrate the growing community. This structure is larger (44 m²) than the Georgetown phase domestic houses, which usually average 12–15 m². Artifacts recovered by Haury in House 14 consisted primarily of domestic trash, but they also included a stone bowl made of volcanic tuff and a clay pipe (Figure 3). Elsewhere, Roth and colleagues (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) have suggested that volcanic tuff stone bowls were part of a suite of artifacts associated with great kiva rituals. Anyon (Reference Anyon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) and Roth et alia (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) argue that Georgetown phase communal structures in the Mimbres River Valley were multipurpose and were perhaps used by initial landholding households for both habitation and ritual activities. The fact that House 14 opens directly onto the plaza suggests its association with communally integrative activities and establishes the long-term use of the great kivas and plaza as communal and ritual space.

Figure 3. Stone bowl and clay pipe from Pithouse 14, the Georgetown phase great kiva excavated by Haury. (Photo by Barbara Roth.) (Color online)

House 14 was later repurposed as a burial location (cemetery), with 10 inhumations and one cremation dating to the subsequent San Francisco and Three Circle phases. We see the repurposing of House 14 as tied to commemorative activities used to physically represent “social connections and memory” (Makarewicz and Finlayson Reference Makarewicz and Finlayson2018:19). Both males and females were buried in the structure fill, but only females had preserved grave goods.Footnote ² One of the inhumations, a young adult woman (Burial 22), was buried in such a way that she was seated on the floor of the communal structure. Based on other data on social memory at the site (Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015), this appears to have been a purposeful action that we interpret as linking this particular woman and perhaps her lineage to previous ritual activities conducted within this structure. A similar burial (Burial 11) was found in one of the extended family households on the west end of the plaza that is inferred to have been sponsoring kiva rituals (discussed below).

By the San Francisco phase, the pace of social change increased at the Harris site. Roth and colleagues (Roth Reference Roth2015, Reference Roth and Stokes2019; Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015) document the development of extended family groups by this period, which they see as tied to both agricultural intensification and the coincident land-tenure issues associated with this change in household organization. These extended family groups were identified as clusters of pithouses surrounding common work areas and sharing distinct material traits, including evidence of craft production and possible ritual sponsorship (Roth Reference Roth2015, Reference Roth and Stokes2019). They are spatially distinct from individual pithouses that have been inferred to represent autonomous contemporary households and none of the autonomous households have material assemblages indicative of craft production or ritual activities.

One pithouse cluster and three associated burials dating to the San Francisco phase were found in the northern portion of the site (Cluster 3; Figure 2). A second cluster of pithouses associated with two extramural burials was excavated by Haury in the southern portion of the site, and this may be a second extended family household, although the data recovered from them are not robust enough to determine this unequivocally. The burials in these extended family clusters indicate that some social distinctions were beginning by this time. Extramural burials associated with Cluster 3 included an adult male buried with multiple ceramic vessels, a white chert projectile point, a Glycymeris shell bracelet fragment, and a piece of turquoise tessera; an adult male buried with 14 Agaronia shell beads across his chest (which are thought to represent a sash), three Glycymeris shell bracelets, and a white chert projectile point; and an older (50+) adult female buried with four ceramic vessels. These represent some of the wealthiest burials in terms of associated artifacts found on the site (Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015). A child (12–15 months) buried in the lower floor of a superimposed pithouse associated with this cluster, Pithouse 45, was buried with two Glycymeris shell bracelets, two turquoise pendants, and four ceramic vessels. Taken together, these data suggest that the extended family household associated with Cluster 3 was attaining some level of social power within the Harris community.

During the San Francisco phase, a new great kiva, designated by Haury as House 8, was constructed south of the Georgetown phase communal structure (Figure 2), and the Georgetown structure was first used as a cemetery. House 8 was only partially excavated by Haury, who excavated along the edges of the house to outline it and then dug a trench through the center, exposing the hearth and entryway. At 71 m², it was significantly larger than the contemporary domestic pithouses, which continued to average 12–15 m², and it opened onto the plaza with the entryway facing due east. It is not clear if this structure was used for both domestic and ritual activities or if its use was transitioning into a primarily ritual and integrative role, as seen in the more formal great kivas built during the later Three Circle phase. An incised volcanic tuff spindle base was found in the fill of this house along with a large, intentionally broken stone pipe. Elsewhere Roth and colleagues (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) have documented the association of stone pipes with great kiva retirement rituals at the Harris site and other Mimbres Valley sites, so this pipe was most likely used in the closure and retirement of House 8.

As noted above, the San Francisco phase is when the first extended family households occur at the Harris site. The presence of extended family groups alongside autonomous households would have created some level of tension between the two groups, especially if access to productive agricultural land was being negotiated. The great kiva and rituals performed within it and the associated plaza consequently became essential to facilitate the integration of and cooperation among these increasingly disparate households.

Great Kivas, the Plaza, and Community Integration during the Three Circle Phase

The Three Circle phase at the Harris site witnessed continued village growth, both in general site population and in the development of additional extended family corporate groups (Roth Reference Roth2015, Reference Roth and Stokes2019). UNLV's excavations identified five extended family households that lived contemporaneously with autonomous households. Roth and Baustian (Reference Roth and Baustian2015) discuss the beginning of architectural and burial practices during the Three Circle phase that they see as tied to the use of social memory in demarcating land tenure. These include the rebuilding of houses within the same architectural footprint, the superpositioning of hearths within these superimposed houses, and the placement of child burials with multiple burial goods in the floors of the lower pithouses. These practices are confined to the extended family households, and Roth (Reference Roth and Stokes2019) and Roth and Baustian (Reference Roth and Baustian2015) argue that these households began to maintain their social power in part through ritual sponsorship (discussed more below)—a process that likely began during the San Francisco phase given the evidence discussed above.

The increasingly significant role of the great kivas and plaza in community integration is evident at the Harris site and across the Mimbres Valley in the large size and formal characteristics of the Three Circle phase great kivas, including well-plastered walls and floors, distinct ritual paraphernalia, and in some cases, specialized features such as sipapus and benches (Anyon and LeBlanc Reference Anyon and LeBlanc1980). Large great kivas are present at the major Three Circle phase villages in the Mimbres River Valley, including Old Town, NAN Ranch, Swarts, Galaz, and Harris. Creel and Anyon (Reference Creel and Anyon2003; Creel et al. Reference Creel, Anyon and Roth2015) see the construction and use of these great kivas as tied to an increased focus on irrigation agriculture and the associated labor and land tenure requirements. At some point in the AD 900s, the majority of these structures were ritually retired in prescribed ways that involved intense burning, toppling of walls, and the deposition of retirement artifacts such as pottery vessels, grinding slabs, pipes, stone bowls, and projectile points (Creel and Anyon Reference Creel and Anyon2003:77).

Creel and Shafer (Reference Creel and Shafer2015) have discussed the significance of plazas in Mimbres communities during the Late Pithouse and Classic periods. Extensive plaza excavations at NAN Ranch documented a series of cremations that Creel and Shafer argue represent important individuals in village society and may represent social ties with Hohokam groups to the west. Haury conducted some excavations, primarily trenching, in the plaza at the Harris site. He excavated three burials of socially prominent males, given the quantity of grave goods recovered from them, including ceramic vessels and abundant shell (Haury Reference Haury1936; Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015). Haury also excavated one cremation in the plaza, although little information is available on it. A large pit with multiple smashed ceramic vessels was found in the plaza in front of one of the Three Circle phase kivas (Kiva Pithouse 55) during UNLV's work at the site. This feature, discussed below, has been interpreted as the remains of a feasting event associated with the ritual retirement of the great kiva. It therefore appears that the plaza at the Harris site was a locale for ritual and communal performance and also served as the burial location for important individuals in the community.

New Data on Three Circle Great Kivas at the Harris Site

Data from the two excavated great kivas at the Harris site provide additional information on the role of great kivas in community integration during the Three Circle phase: Kiva Pithouse 55, excavated by UNLV and dating to the early to mid Three Circle phase, and House 10, excavated by Haury and dating to the late Three Circle phase. Kiva Pithouse 55 was built and ritually retired before House 10 was built. House 10 was one of the structures in the Mimbres Valley that was intentionally and intensively burned in the early AD 900s in a valley-wide phenomenon of great kiva retirements (Creel and Anyon Reference Creel and Anyon2003). This represents the final great kiva built at the Harris site; other sites in the valley, including Galaz and Old Town, had later Three Circle phase great kivas, but none was found at the Harris site.

Kiva Pithouse 55: Early Three Circle Phase Great Kiva

Kiva Pithouse 55 dates to the early to mid AD 800s. It is large (76 m²), and the entryway faced south (195°) opening onto the plaza (Figure 2). A berm rising approximately 60–90 cm surrounded the kiva and likely represents material from the original excavation of the floor that was then piled around the kiva walls. A similar berm is present around House 10, and these berms likely served to further demarcate the great kivas as important ritual spaces.

Portions of the kiva were excavated during UNLV's work at the site, including the entryway, hearth, and the center posthole (Figure 4). Several trenches were also excavated to define the kiva walls. The walls and floor of this structure were heavily plastered, and Roth (Reference Roth2015) has described this feature as “overbuilt,” given the investment in architecture, the presence of a large step in front of the entryway, and the presence of a large plastered basin hearth (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Kiva Pithouse 55, Three Circle phase great kiva, after excavation. Note center post, hearth, step leading to entryway, and entryway. (Photo by Barbara Roth.)

The structure was ritually retired, most likely at the time that House 10 was built in the late AD 870s. It was not completely burned, however, unlike what has been documented for later Three Circle phase structures and House 10 (Creel and Anyon Reference Creel and Anyon2003), because only the front portion of the house over the center post, hearth, and entryway exhibited evidence of burning. The roof in this portion of the house came down onto the floor, and then the walls were toppled over this section of the burned kiva.

Combustible material was burned in the hearth, leaving a thick layer of ash. A Glycymeris shell bracelet fragment was found on top of the ash, and a white chert dart point was found within it. These objects were apparently placed in the ash after the material burned, because they do not exhibit any signs of burning. The ash was covered with a layer of adobe, and cobbles of ochre were placed atop this adobe cap.

The center post was removed prior to burning the structure, suggesting that the two burned lateral posts adjacent to it were the major weight-bearing posts for the central portion of the roof. The center posthole was also covered with a thick layer of adobe. A complete stone cloud blower pipe with red ochre on it was found on top of this adobe cap. The use of the cloud blower pipe was one of the final acts before the kiva was retired. Abundant ethnographic data point to the use of stone cloud blowers in rituals, given that the smoke was used for both cleansing and blessing ceremonies (Aberle Reference Aberle1966; Parsons Reference Parsons1939; Underhill Reference Underhill1946). It therefore appears that the pipe and smoke were important components of the closure of the great kiva. Shell beads were found around the pipe, and they were apparently sprinkled on top of the center posthole.

Stratigraphic evidence indicates that the structure was then left open for some period of time before the side and back walls were toppled into the center of the kiva. The upper levels consisted of a mixture of trash fill and material washing in from the berm. Unlike some of the other great kivas found in the Mimbres area and House 8 at the Harris site, no burials were found in the excavated fill of Kiva Pithouse 55.

A large pit (Feature 36) was found in the plaza directly in front of the entryway to Kiva Pithouse 55. Only a small portion of the pit was excavated, but the recovered artifact assemblage points to feasting activities tied to the closure of the great kiva. The pit was filled with a number of smashed ceramic vessels (Romero and Lauzon Reference Romero, Lauzon and Ludeman2015). At least 10 separate vessels have been identified, including several large partially reconstructed decorated and corrugated jars, as well as some decorated bowl fragments. The sherds in this pit were stacked, indicating that the vessels were smashed first and then placed in the pit. One broken and one complete stone palette were found in a layer of ash on top of the smashed vessels. Stone palettes are common in the Hohokam region to the west and are one of the artifact types that Roth and colleagues (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) link to ritual activities associated with great kivas and plazas at the Harris site. This feature is consequently inferred to be tied to village-wide feasting rituals conducted on the plaza when Kiva Pithouse 55 was ritually retired.

The Role of Extended Families in Ritual Sponsorship

Data from Haury's and UNLV's excavations at the Harris site provide evidence suggesting that certain extended family households were associated with great kiva and plaza activities and that they were potentially sponsoring rituals to facilitate community integration. Three clusters of pithouses surrounding the plaza have large, superimposed houses that contain evidence of specialized activities. These superimposed structures, built within the same architectural footprint, are inferred to be what Roth and Baustian (Reference Roth and Baustian2015) refer to as “anchor” households for extended family households, most likely representing the residence of heads of the household. Each of the extended family households identified at the Harris site by Roth and Baustian (Reference Roth and Baustian2015) has at least one superimposed house, but the ones surrounding the plaza (Clusters 2, 4, 5) are the only ones that contain artifact evidence indicative of their association with kiva and plaza rituals. These data suggest that these socially prominent households were developing strategies to address emerging social differences by sponsoring rituals that would promote cooperation and social cohesion (Van Keuren Reference Van Keuren, Glowacki and Keuren2012).

The physical location of the pithouse clusters surrounding the plaza (Clusters 2, 4, and 5 on Figure 2) is the first line of evidence supporting their role within the village and their link to the great kivas and plazas. Artifacts found within them also point to this association. Superimposed Pithouse 49/54, located on the eastern end of the plaza, is part of an extended family household cluster along with Pithouse 53 (Cluster 4; Figure 2). The lower house (Pithouse 54) burned, and a roof beam from the structure had a cutting date of AD 844. This is the same as one of the dates from the lateral post in Kiva Pithouse 55, suggesting the possibility that the beams were procured at the same time (Ron Towner, personal communication 2013) and that these structures were built at the same time. Pithouse 49/54 had all but one of the tabular knives recovered from the site, with the only other tabular knife recovered from Pithouse 41/47, discussed below. Roth (Reference Roth2015) has suggested that this household was processing and possibly fermenting agave based on the presence of the tabular knives and the recovery of a jar with significant pitting and wear indicative of fermentation (Miller and Montgomery Reference Miller, Montgomery, Rocek and Kenmotsu2018; Shafer Reference Shafer and Ludeman2013). The location of this house next to the plaza, the cutting date associated with the construction of Kiva Pithouse 55, and evidence of fermentation that was likely tied to feasting and ritual activities all suggest that this extended family household was participating in and possibly sponsoring rituals.

Superimposed Pithouse 41/47 is located on the west end of the plaza and is inferred to be the anchor household for an extended family cluster, along with two unexcavated pithouses (Cluster 5; Figure 2). The primary evidence of ritual sponsorship for this household comes from Burial 11, an adult female found in the trash fill of Pithouse 41. The burial pit extended through the floor of the upper house (Pithouse 41), and the woman was seated on the floor of the bottom house (Pithouse 47). She was buried with four black-on-white vessels, one of which is stylistically identical to a vessel found in the feasting pit associated with the retirement of Kiva Pithouse 55. The close similarity of these vessels indicates that they were made by the same potter—possibly this woman. Two intentionally broken stone palette fragments were found in a layer of ash above this burial, a pattern that virtually replicates the two stone palettes found in the layer of ash on top of the feasting pit. We therefore interpret this household as associated with ritual activities in the plaza.

The third household thought to be sponsoring rituals, House 23/22, is a large, superimposed structure excavated by Haury (Reference Haury1936) on the north end of the plaza. Haury originally interpreted this as a ceremonial structure, but UNLV's research resulted in a reconsideration of the role of House 23 in the Harris community. Given its architectural traits and artifact content, it is now thought to be part of an extended family pithouse cluster (Cluster 2). This cluster contained two other superimposed structures (Pithouses 35/36 and 39/40) that had superimposed hearths that were touching despite some time between house occupations. This is thought to represent the marking of ancestry and social memory tied to land tenure (Roth and Baustian Reference Roth and Baustian2015).

One large stone cloud blower pipe “blank” (per Haury's field notes) was found in House 23, and a complete, red-slipped stone pipe was found in House 22 beneath it. The context of these pipes suggests that this extended family was possibly involved in pipe production for kiva rituals. Roth and colleagues (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) discuss the significance of stone pipes in kiva retirement rituals at the Harris site, and Creel and Anyon (Reference Creel and Anyon2003) found that they were associated with kiva retirement rituals throughout the Mimbres Valley. All but one of the stone pipes recovered during UNLV's excavations at Harris came from ritual contexts, and the one that was not associated with the great kivas was found in the upper trash fill of a pithouse next to House 10; Roth and colleagues (Reference Roth, Romero, Lauzon, Stokes, Dungan and Sedig2022) suggest that this may have come from the fill of House 10 during Haury's excavations at the site. Haury found stone pipes in three domestic pithouses that he excavated, with Houses 22 and 23 representing two of these houses. These data consequently highlight the restricted context of stone pipes and indicate that House 23/22 was unique in the presence of stone pipe production.

Households with the largest land holdings would have become more socially prominent in the village, but this would have resulted in some tensions between households for access to land and other resources. This could have been mitigated in two ways: (1) through community rituals designed to bring households together and facilitate cooperation and social cohesion, and (2) through ritual sponsorship by the socially prominent households. These appear to have been the strategies used by extended family households at the Harris site. The centrality of great kivas and the plaza between groups of structure (see Figure 2) indicates that communal rituals served the entire village. Communal rituals conducted in the plazas may also have involved visiting kin and visitors from surrounding communities. The role of socially prominent households in ritual sponsorship would have been one way for these households to promote village-wide cooperation, solidify local and regional social relationships, and mitigate any stress or dissention caused by variation in resource access.