Square Kiva, Quarai, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, NM
**Quarai** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000498, date listed 19661015
1 mi. S of Punta de Agua
Mountainair, NM (Torrance County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
Quarai is located at the intersection of several draws in the gently rolling land close to the eastern base of the Manzano Mountains about a mile west of Punta de Agua, New Mexico.
The earliest known occupation of Quarai is represented by a small, mound, measuring 75 feet by 100 feet, south of the larger ruins complex. Adobe walls have been noted to occur within this mound. Judging from the pottery types which this area has yielded, archeologists believe that occupation first occurred about 1250 A.D. and continued until the end of the 14th century. The area then appears to have been uninhabited or only sporadically occupied for about 200 years. (1)
The square kiva located inside the convento of the Quarai Mission is an interesting riddle. What is a subterranean Puebloan religious structure doing within a Spanish mission? And why is a regularly circular kiva in this case square. Just like the kiva inside the convento at Abo, we do not really have a good answer for these questions.
What we do know is that this square kiva was built sometime between 1622 and 1645. This would have been at the same time that the Quarai convento and church were being constructed. The placement of this kiva exactly in the center of the larger patio room suggests that this was not a kiva that existed prior to the construction of the convento, but rather was built in this location on purpose. What this may suggests is that the square kiva was built under the supervision of the Spanish missionaries possibly as a conversion technique. The Spanish recognized that in conversion you would be less successful if you simply disregarded the previous religion.
As for the shape of the kiva, the square design is actually common amongst the western Pueblo groups. This would include the Hopi and Zuni, two tribes that trace their ancestry to the Salinas Pueblo Missions. (2)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/66000498.pdf
(2) Salinas Pueblo Mission NPS www.nps.gov/sapu/learn/historyculture/square-kiva.htm
Square Kiva, Quarai, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, NM
**Quarai** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 66000498, date listed 19661015
1 mi. S of Punta de Agua
Mountainair, NM (Torrance County)
A National Historic Landmark (www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalhistoriclandmarks/list-of-nh...).
Quarai is located at the intersection of several draws in the gently rolling land close to the eastern base of the Manzano Mountains about a mile west of Punta de Agua, New Mexico.
The earliest known occupation of Quarai is represented by a small, mound, measuring 75 feet by 100 feet, south of the larger ruins complex. Adobe walls have been noted to occur within this mound. Judging from the pottery types which this area has yielded, archeologists believe that occupation first occurred about 1250 A.D. and continued until the end of the 14th century. The area then appears to have been uninhabited or only sporadically occupied for about 200 years. (1)
The square kiva located inside the convento of the Quarai Mission is an interesting riddle. What is a subterranean Puebloan religious structure doing within a Spanish mission? And why is a regularly circular kiva in this case square. Just like the kiva inside the convento at Abo, we do not really have a good answer for these questions.
What we do know is that this square kiva was built sometime between 1622 and 1645. This would have been at the same time that the Quarai convento and church were being constructed. The placement of this kiva exactly in the center of the larger patio room suggests that this was not a kiva that existed prior to the construction of the convento, but rather was built in this location on purpose. What this may suggests is that the square kiva was built under the supervision of the Spanish missionaries possibly as a conversion technique. The Spanish recognized that in conversion you would be less successful if you simply disregarded the previous religion.
As for the shape of the kiva, the square design is actually common amongst the western Pueblo groups. This would include the Hopi and Zuni, two tribes that trace their ancestry to the Salinas Pueblo Missions. (2)
References (1) NRHP Nomination Form npgallery.nps.gov/pdfhost/docs/NRHP/Text/66000498.pdf
(2) Salinas Pueblo Mission NPS www.nps.gov/sapu/learn/historyculture/square-kiva.htm