Kin Kletso is a Chacoan Ancestral Pueblo great house and notable archaeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Nageezi, New Mexico, United States. It was a medium-sized great house located 0.5 miles (0.8 km) west of Pueblo Bonito; it shows strong evidence of construction and occupation by Pueblo peoples who migrated to Chaco from the northern San Juan Basin in the time period of 1125 to 1200 ( McElmo Phase of Chacoan Architecture). From its masonry work, rectangular shape and design Kletso is identified as Pueblo III architecture by prominent Chaco archaeologists Stephen H. Lekson and Tom Windes. [1] They also argue that this great house was only occupied by one or two households. Fagen writes that Kletso contained around 55 rooms, four ground-floor kivas, and a two-story cylindrical tower that may have functioned as a kiva or religious center. Evidence of an obsidian production industry were discovered here. The house was erected between 1125 and 1130. [2]
Etymology
Kin Kletso is a garbled mispronunciation of Kin Łitsooí, meaning "Yellow House" in the Navajo language.
Notes
- ^ Lekson, S.H (Ed.), The Archaeology of Chaco Canyon, page 91, School of American Research Press, 2006, ISBN 1-930618-47-6
- ^ Fagan 2005, p. 11.
External links
- Kin Kletso, a photo gallery
References
- Fagan, B (2005), Chaco Canyon: Archaeologists Explore the Lives of an Ancient Society, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-517043-1.
36°03′55″N 107°58′12″W / 36.0652°N 107.9700°W
 | This article relating to archaeology in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This New Mexico state location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |