Hopi Indian snake priest preparing to descend into the kiva during the Hopi Snake Dance Ceremony, Oraibi, Arizona, ca.1898

Photograph of a Hopi Indian snake priest preparing to descend through the entrance to the kiva or kisi during the Hopi Snake Dance Ceremony, Oraibi, Arizona, ca.1898. The top of a ladder going into the raised stone entrance of the kiva sticks up several feet. A jumble of pottery jugs lays on the ground at right. Spectators sitting on the roofs of the adobe dwellings of the pueblo are visible in the background.