  We present the first results of an ongoing program to investigate the
kinematic characteristics of high redshift damped lya systems. Because damped
lya systems are widely believed to be the progenitors of current massive
galaxies, an analysis of their kinematic history allows a direct test of galaxy
formation scenarios.
  We have collected a kinematically unbiased sample of 17 high S/N ratio, high
resolution damped lya spectra taken with HIRES on the 10m W.M. Keck Telescope.
Our study focuses on the unsaturated, low-ion transitions of these systems
which reveal their kinematic traits. The profiles exhibit a nearly uniform
distribution of velocity widths ranging from 20 - 200 km/s and a relatively
high degree of asymmetry. In an attempt to explain these characteristics, we
introduce several physical models, which have previously been attributed to
damped lya systems, including rapidly rotating cold disks, slowly rotating hot
disks, massive isothermal halos, and a hydrodynamic spherical accretion model.
  Using standard Monte Carlo techniques, we run sightlines through these model
systems to derive simulated low-ion profiles. Comparing statistical measures of
the simulated profiles with the observed profiles, we determine that the
rapidly rotating cold disk model is the only tested model consistent with the
data at high confidence levels. A Relative Likelihood Test of the rapidly
rotating cold disk model indicates the disks must have large rotation speeds; v
> 180 km/s at the 99% c.l. In turn, we demonstrate that the Cold Dark Matter
Model, as developed by Kauffmann (1996), is inconsistent with the damped lya
data at very high c.l. This is because the CDM Model does not predict a large
enough fraction of rapidly rotating disks at z approx 2.5.
