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A Kiva Bell from Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David M. Brugge
David M. Brugge*
Affiliation:
Gallup Indian Community Center, Gallup, N.M.
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Extract

The writer recently observed in a private collection an artifact that is of interest because it has been identified as a kiva bell, an object occasionally found archseologically and still used by the modern Pueblo Indians.

The artifact was found many years ago on the site of Rainbow House, Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. It resembles a blade, being tapered and rounded on one end, squared on the other, with 2 notches set toward the squared end. It was apparently first percussion chipped and then polished on both sides, without any attempt being made to eliminate all traces of the chipping around the edges. The material is a finegrained black basalt. It is broken across the middle, but this is reported to have occurred after it was found. The dimensions are: length 24.5 cm., width 8.8 cm., and thickness about 1.3 cm.

The identification was made by a Cochiti Indian who said that there are others similar to it in use at Cochiti today.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , July 1955 , pp. 83 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1955

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