Kin Kletso, NM

Chaco Culture National Historical Park located in Northwestern New Mexico has the highest concentration of ancient pueblos in the Southwest and is an excellent place to study pre-Colombian, Anasazi history. (Make sure you have a few days to explore the outlier areas.)


Located in "Downtown Chaco" and about 1/2 mile northwest of the HUGE Pueblo Bonito, Kin Klesto is a medium sized-great house with roughly 55+ rooms and 4 kivas; 2 of which are larger and centrally located inside the ruin. The western-most kiva has been identified as a "Tower Kiva" (similarly found in Chetro Ketl) because of its single T-shaped door and lack of distinct upper-level flooring. Kin Kletso, and nearby New Alto, are built on the later McElmo style construction believed to originate from northern Anasazi immigrants, perhaps from the Mesa Verde region. Tree-ring data suggests the site to have a very short construction time-frame of about A.D. 1125-30.Located behind Kin Kletso is the signed (and ancient) trail-head for the Pueblo Alto Loop trail which provides access to New Alto, Jackson's Staircase, Pueblo Bonito Overlook as well as Pueblo Alto itself.

Kin Kletso is a garbled mispronunciation of Kin Litsooi, meaning Yellow House in the Navajo language. (wikipedia.com; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kin_Kletso)

2011-07-12 squatpuke