KIVA
A kiva (also estufa) is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" refers to a large, circular, underground room used for spiritual ceremonies and as a place of worship.
Similar subterranean rooms are found among ruins in the Southwestern United States, indicating uses by the ancient peoples of the region, including the ancestral Puebloans, the Mogollon culture, and the Hohokam. Those used by the ancient Pueblos of the Pueblo I period and following, designated by the Pecos Classification system developed by archaeologists, were usually round and evolved from simpler pit-houses. For the Ancestral Puebloans, these rooms are believed to have served a variety of functions, including domestic residence, social, and ceremonial purposes.
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