Cliff Palace Kivas

Cliff Palace is the largest and most popular of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado. From April to November, Cliff Palace can be visited on $3, one hour ranger guided tours.

The guided tours begin at an overlook point. From above, many of the visible rooms are the circular kivas. The current trail guide says that Cliff Palace has 21 large circular, partially underground rooms and 2 kiva-like structures. The usual tour has 3 stops. At the overlook there is an introduction to the site and some safety precautions.

The group then descends to the left side and discusses how the alcove structures fit in with the overall way of life in the region, and the theories of why the alcove structures were built and why they were eventually abandoned. At the final stop, the group gathers around a kiva on the right side and views the interior details. During the busy summers, the tours begin every 30 minutes and the groups are forced to keep moving.

Many of the Cliff Palace kivas are toward the back of the site or are surrounded by square walls and aren’t visible to visitors walking along the front of the site.

The trail guide describes one of the kivas as being at the center of Cliff Palace at the point where walls without doorways divides the site into two parts. This kiva or the partition hasn’t been pointed out on any of the tours I have attended; perhaps it isn’t easy to see at ground level.

Most of the Mesa Verde Kivas show a similar design. There are usually six pillars, or pilasters, to support the roof material. A deflector wall directs the incoming fresh air from the ventilation shaft around the room and away from the fire pit.

About half of the kivas have a small symbolic hole in the floor called the Sipapu. Some kivas have passage ways to other rooms. The usual entrance is through the roof. None of the Cliff Palace kivas has a roof but there are three reconstructed kiva roofs at Spruce Tree House.

Some kivas have a recess on one side giving a keyhole shape. The keyhole shaped kivas at the large Chaco Canyon structures in northwest New Mexico are pointed out as examples of Mesa Verde influence. Kivas are most often interpreted as of ceremonial purpose because current day Pueblo people use them that way. The explanation I like is that they were necessary for winter survival.

We mostly visit these sites in the warm part of the year, not when there are several feet of snow on the ground and temperatures are freezing. The underground arrangement provides insulation and conserves heat. The kivas are the only structures we see with ventilation systems. The recess areas could be for storage of food and fuel during a storm. The passage ways provide a way to get out without exposure to the elements.