Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2017
A series of large structures termed great kivas has been excavated at Point of Pines, Arizona. To add to the sequence of these kivas a site was excavated in 1959 on one of the upper tributaries of Eagle Creek, 16 miles northeast of Point of Pines. The site complex included a great kiva and five attached rooms, a U-shaped masonry pueblo, scattered storage units, trash deposits, a reservoir, and agricultural terraces. The kiva was rectangular with an encircling bench, a stepped entrance, two possible floor resonators, and a post pattern suggesting a polygonal roof support. The ceramic content of the site places it late in the Reserve phase which is dated from A.D. 1000 to 1150.
This particular kiva type appeared during late Three Circle phase and had a distribution centered in the upper San Francisco and Blue River valleys. The antecedents for the structure seem to lie in the general Mogollon great kiva tradition. The surrounding areas were examined for possible contributions to the complex; ceramic evidence of contact was present but no definite source for the introduction was found. The presence of a number of Anasazi traits plus the direction of Reserve phase cultural change suggests a northern source for this kiva form.
Contributions to Point of Pines Archaeology, No. 15.