Underground Kiva Passages

Extract

Florence Hawley Ellis (1952) has brought some new ethnological evidence from the pueblo of Jemez to bear on the question of certain archaeological features found in a number of prehistoric southwestern kiva structures. Details are given of various acts of legerdemain for the magical production into the center of the kiva of small animals and shelled corn apparently out of nothing. These are ritual shows put on by the initiated to impress the lay spectators at the periodic kiva dedications that occur in Jemez. Ellis describes the use of secret pits in the kiva floor as well as other mechanical devices to produce these special effects. She correctly, in my view, expresses the opinion that her ethnological data lend substantiation to Reiter's speculation that underground passages and trenches such as he uncovered in connection with the Rinconada big kiva in Chaco Canyon were aids to magical effects so that, “Participants in kiva ceremonies could appear as if from the interior of the earth.” (Rieter, 1946, p. 189).