Finishes Analysis: Kiva K

Kiva K has been analyzed and treated for the last two years by several researchers. The following observations are a combination of past and present field investigations, previous unpublished research (M. Slater, 1999) and current analysis. After initial field investigation, representative samples from the major architectural elements of the kiva: lower banquette wall, pilasters, and upper inter-pilaster walls were selected for further study.

Panoramic photomontage of Kiva K showing all sectors. Sample locations are indicated in red.

Architecture
Kiva K is a small irregularly shaped kiva. Architectural features including plaster finishes are largely intact. The masonry is extremely irregular in construction. The stones are largely unfinished and semi-coursed with large boulders used in the base of the east wall and on the north and south walls flanking the west recess. These are most likely fallen alcove rubble that was worked into the wall construction. The stones used to top the banquette are large thin leveling slabs. The pilasters are the most refined masonry, shaped, coursed and battered back as retaining buttresses for the irregular upper walls. Each upper interpilaster wall panel is constructed differently: coursed tabular to uncoursed, semi-coursed large irregular stones. Banquette tops possess thick (1.5"-2.25"), coarse light brownish gray plaster (10YR 6.5/2) with fragments of shale (crushed), bone, small pebbles and charcoal, all possibly midden material.

Kiva K was first recorded by Fewkes (1911, 57) and described as "the finest [kiva] in Cliff Palace and in some cases the most exceptional," apparently for its jacal deflector. Fewkes replastered the deflector and stabilized the upper walls. Additional Morris-Lancaster (1934) and modern repairs are evident along the wall's top stone course and in the recess.

Surface Finishes-Stratigraphy
The finish schemes for Kiva K are not very complex; finishes appear only on the banquette and front faces of the pilasters, taken to the height of the pilasters and across boulders adjacent to the pilasters, and in the recess. Black soot covers the upper interpilaster walls, probably more as a function of space heating than the deliberate incorporation of a black-sooted surface into the overall scheme as in Kiva Q.

After initial investigation representative samples from the banquette, pilasters, and inter pilaster walls were taken. The sample from the banquette (Sample 19) consists of eight layers. In contrast, the pilaster faces (Sample 27) display only four layers, and the inter pilaster walls have only two finish layers (Samples 23 & Sample 24). The first layers of all the samples are plasters. Plaster layers and later washes are clearly separated by soot. Thicker soot layers are found on the pilasters and inter pilaster walls.

Interpretation of the finishes has suggested at least seven schemes. This confirms and extends the on-site investigation. Four schemes can be considered as main schemes, and three schemes can be interpreted as transitional phases. Simple plasters and washes were applied to the banquette and pilasters. In contrast, the upper interpilaster walls were left sooted after the first scheme. As in other kivas, the earliest schemes are monochromatic browns (Schemes 1- 4); the later schemes may have incorporated a white dado and aura around the niches. Important shield figures are inscribed along the uppermost zone of the banquette. The most recent scheme (prior to abandonment) incorporates white/yellow pilasters and a white/yellow aura around the east niche combined with a light brown wash on the banquette. A conjectural sequence of schemes was made in gouache based on the Munsell color match of each layer.

Scheme 1:
The first scheme was a simple light brown (7.5YR 6/4) leveling and finish plaster applied irregularly to the top of the walls and to the banquette tops and the recess floor. Sufficient soot evidence was found on this layer to suggest exposure as a first finish.

Scheme 2:
The banquette, recess-walls and recess floor were selectively refinished with the same light brown (7.5YR 6/4) wash as in the previous scheme. The pilasters and upper inter-pilaster walls were not refinished.

Scheme 3:
The same light brown (7.5YR6/4) wash was applied again as a wash to the banquette and pilaster fronts. The pilaster sides and upper-inter pilaster walls were not refinished and left sooted.

Scheme 4:
The banquette, recess-walls and recess floor were selectively refinished with the same light brown (7.5YR 6/4) wash as in the previous scheme. The pilasters and upper inter-pilaster walls were not refinished.

Scheme 5:
A tan (10YR7/3) wash was applied selectively to the banquette and pilaster fronts. The pilaster sides and upper-inter pilaster walls were not refinished and left sooted. A yellow-white (2.5Y7/3) dado and niche aura may have been applied during this or subsequent schemes making this the first complex full finish in Kiva K. The banquette tops and recess floor retained the earlier brown wash. Niche 1 (east) was fully plastered light brown inside.

Scheme 6:
The same light brown (10YR7/3) wash was applied to the banquette, banquette tops and recess floor only. The pilaster sides and inter pilaster walls were again left black with soot. Niche 1 (east) was fully plastered light brown inside. A yellow-white (2.5Y7/3) dado and niche aura may have been applied or continued during this period.

Scheme 7:
The same light brown (10YR7/3) wash was applied to the banquette, banquette tops and recess floor only. A yellow-white (2.5Y7/3) wash may have been applied as a dado and niche aura and to the pilasters during this period. Shield figures were inscribed along the uppermost zone of the banquette in the brown plaster as well.

The upper inter pilaster wall was repointed after an episode of burning due to the evidence of heavy carbon soot accumulation on the upper wall stones and not on the mortar. The sooted plaster of the banquette and boulders was covered by a last thin red wash. This suggests that Kiva K was repaired in the last campaign.

Fabric Analysis
Quantitative analysis of the micro fabric of the surface finishes of Kiva K reveals both similarities and differences between layers. This is evident in the ratio of matrix to aggregate and the arrangement, size, shape and frequency of individual particles and voids within the layers as a whole, and within features themselves. The thickness of the washes averages between 200µm - 450µm while the leveling plaster is thicker, varying between 500µm-1cm. Most of the aggregate is found to be anhedral, irregular, and very few grains are subhedral.
The ratio of the matrix to the aggregate is expressed in the charts to the right. This indicates the percentages of matrix, aggregate and voids. The ratios determined for the leveling plaster (Layer 1 on most samples) reveal the highest percentage of aggregate to matrix of all the subsequent layers. With the exception of the last layer (Layer 7-Sample 19), all other wash layers display an equal ratio (1:1) of matrix to aggregate. This confirms the distinction between plasters and washes based on the mineral matter ratio. Further analysis of the leveling plaster samples (Samples 19, 23 & 27) also suggest two types of leveling plasters as in Kiva Q. That on the upper walls of the kiva has a nearly equal ratio (1:1 aggregate to matrix) while the plaster on the lower walls has a higher ratio of aggregate to matrix.

The aggregate grain size can be best described as a fine sand. Aggregate distribution patterns for the plaster and wash layers in the various samples of Kiva K are illustrated in the figures below. The grain size distribution of Samples 19 and 27 shows similarities for all layers and is generally well sorted.

Qualitative analysis with XRD identified the matrix as kaolinite (7:10), illite (2:10), a mix of illite and smectite (1:10) and a negligible amount of calcite (Austin 1999). The aggregate was identified from most abundant to least abundant as: quartz, clay, calcite, dolomite, and orthoclase feldspar. Macroscopically, organic matter such as vegetable fibers, charcoal, and bone were found in the leveling plasters and mortars only.