Seven Kivas
While at Goosenecks SP, we went on a rather strenuous hike to see the Seven Kiva Ruin in Road Canyon on Cedar Mesa. The hike isn’t that long; the difficult part is getting down into the 400'-deep canyon. Here’s Randy trying to find the rather obscure "trail."
Once in the canyon, the going got a little easier.
The Seven Kivas are in pretty good shape, considering their age, but only 2 of them still have their roofs. Kivas were round subterranean ceremonial chambers used for religious or social functions. The entrance into the kiva was from the top, down a ladder. Each kiva also had a "sipapu," a symbolic entrance to the spirit world.
Lots of artifacts were lying around: potshards, little corn husks, little bones, etc.
Down canyon a little were some nice petroglyphs.
Once in the canyon, the going got a little easier.
The Seven Kivas are in pretty good shape, considering their age, but only 2 of them still have their roofs. Kivas were round subterranean ceremonial chambers used for religious or social functions. The entrance into the kiva was from the top, down a ladder. Each kiva also had a "sipapu," a symbolic entrance to the spirit world.
Lots of artifacts were lying around: potshards, little corn husks, little bones, etc.
Down canyon a little were some nice petroglyphs.
posted by Diana | 9:12 PM
2 Comments:
Beautiful! Hayduke Country for sure. Do you know when Seven Kivas was abandoned??
Lew
I haven't read aything specific about Seven Kivas, Lew, but the BLM has documented 1700 ancient sites in the Cedar Mesa area, most of which date from 900 to 1300 AD.
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