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What is a great kiva site?
The defining characteristic of a great kiva site is the large, circular semi-subterranean structure, which may be up to 18 m. in diameter. These are thought to be the ritual focus of the dispersed small settlements, not just the residents of the sites with this ceremonial architecture. The settlements with great kivas seem to have been occupied over longer periods of time than the contemporaneous sites in the region as evidenced by the larger accumulations of trash deposits. The majority of the great kivas in the Mogollon Rim area were constructed on small sites dating to the 11th and 12th centuries. The three great kiva sites intensively studied by this project are representative of more than 14 similar contemporaneous settlements with similar ritual architectural features known to exist in the Silver Creek drainage, Forestdale Valley, Hay Hollow Valley (at the Carter Ranch site; pictured above) and Chevelon drainage. These sites' construction, after about AD 1000, are thought to correspond to the migrations out of the San Juan Basin. It is thought that these structures are functionally similar to the Chacoan Great Kivas, although they represent a smaller investment in labor than the subterranean Chacoan kivas with full roofs.
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