Kiva

A kiva is a room used by the Pueblo peoples of the American South-West for rites and political meetings; among the Hopi and most other Pueblos it is a round, underground chamber. Kivas evolved from pit-houses: at Mesa Verde, square protokivas of the late 8th century had become smaller round kivas by the early 11th century. These included a sipapu, a hole thought to represent the Ancestral Puebloans' place of emergence from the underworld. Great kivas, larger and set apart from the room blocks, are believed to be the region's first public buildings.