The Pueblo II people used their kiva for a variety of purposes. Based on the location of the features which they built and used, and the artifacts which they left behind, it is possible to identify five use areas in the kiva.
In the center of the kiva, the Pueblo II people used the hearth both for heating the room and cooking their meals.
Along the lower east wall, the Anasazi used a metate to grind corn.
On the bench above the corn grinding area, the Pueblo II people stored a bowl and two ladles. These items were probably used in association with either the cooking and eating which took place around the hearth, or with the corn grinding which was done just below the bench.
On the northern bench, a cluster of about 20 artifacts suggests that the Anasazi used this area for a variety of activities. A cluster of chipped stone flakes might have been stored for later use as cutting tools. A cluster of corrugated jar sherds and a thin shaped slab may be the remains of a stone-lidded storage vessel.
On the floor below the bench were several artifacts which may well have been displaced from the bench. These items include a matching piece of the shaped slab, a polished pebble, and a spokeshave.
In the western half of the kiva, where the floor was relatively free of artifacts and features, the Pueblo II occupants may have slept. During the day, they may have rolled up their bedding and stored it out of the way on the bench.
The kiva at Ladle House appears to have been used as a domestic structure. Evidence of domestic activities was present in the form of a metate, a corrugated jar, two ladles, a bowl,and several stone tools. As reviewed in the previous page, portions of the kiva were used for cooking, food preparation, and utensil storage. No evidence of ritual activities was observed in the archaeological record: no sipapu, foot drums or objects of clearly ritual nature were found.
Evidence for domestic activities is not uncommon in kivas at Indian Camp Ranch (1) or elsewhere in southwestern Colorado (2). Evidence for corn grinding, in the form of bins, manos and metates, and stone tool manufacturing, in the form of debitage, are commonly found in these structures.
Although kivas have been traditionally viewed as religious structures, data from this kiva and several others in southwesternColorado encourage us to view them in a different light. Evidently some kivas were domestic spaces roughly analgous to our modern "living rooms". Here, members of the household might have assembled for an evening meal or entertainment. During the winter, people might have gathered around the hearth just like people do today around a woodstove in a living room. In such a place there might have been times for ritual or religious activities, just as there are in our modern living rooms (e.g., Christmas trees).
1 (Hanson Pueblo [Morris et al 1990] and Seed Jar Site) 2 (Yellow Jacket [Cater and Chenault 1988] )