Tsin Kletsin

Last updated

Tsin Kletsin or Tsin Kletzin is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archaeological site located on top of South Mesa in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northwestern New Mexico, United States. It is located 3.2 kilometers south of Pueblo Bonito. Tree-ring dating placed the construction around 1110-1115 A.D. Originally it contained 81 rooms, 3 kivas and a plaza constructed to create a 2-story structure. The plaza was enclosed by a wall, and a 1-meter-wide entry portal allowed access to the plaza from the south. The masonry style of this complex is called McElmo (Chaco-McElmo), characterized by large sandstone blocks and some tubular slabs. Some 800 meters north-east from Tsin Kletsin there is Weritos Dam. Its alleged role was to retain the storm water runoff in a reservoir that archaeologists Lagasse, Gillespie and Eggert suggest provided Tsin Kletsin with all of its domestic water. However, massive amounts of silt accumulated during flash floods would have forced the residents to regularly (10–15 years) rebuild the dam and dredge the drainage channel, and perhaps as early as every 2 years the water might have overflowed the dam causing some flooding.

Contents

Tsin Kletsin is accessible through the South Mesa Trail, 2.6 mi (4.2 km) round trip starting at Casa Rinconada; however, tourists typically do not visit there.

Etymology

Tsin Kletsin is a misspelled version of Navajo Tsin Łizhin meaning "black wood place" or "charcoal place."

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chaco Culture National Historical Park</span> U.S. national park in New Mexico

Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a concentration of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, between Albuquerque and Farmington, in a remote canyon cut by the Chaco Wash. Containing the most sweeping collection of ancient ruins north of Mexico, the park preserves one of the most important pre-Columbian cultural and historical areas in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canyons of the Ancients National Monument</span> Monument protecting significant sites of ancient Native Americans

Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is a national monument protecting an archaeologically significant landscape located in the southwestern region of the U.S. state of Colorado. The monument's 176,056 acres (71,247 ha) are managed by the Bureau of Land Management, as directed in the presidential proclamation which created the site on June 9, 2000. Canyons of the Ancients National Monument is part of the National Landscape Conservation System, better known as the National Conservation Lands. This system comprises 32,000,000 acres (130,000 km2) managed by the Bureau of Land Management to conserve, protect, and restore these nationally significant landscapes recognized for their outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values. Canyons of the Ancients encompasses and surrounds three of the four separate sections of Hovenweep National Monument, which is administered by the National Park Service. The monument was proclaimed in order to preserve the largest concentration of archaeological sites in the United States, primarily Ancestral Puebloan ruins. As of 2022, over 8,500 individual archeological sites had been documented within the monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wetherill</span> American archaeologist

Richard Wetherill (1858–1910), a member of a Colorado ranching family, was an amateur archaeologist who discovered, researched and excavated sites associated with the Ancient Pueblo People. He is credited with the rediscovery of Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde in Colorado and was responsible for initially selecting the term Anasazi, Navajo for ancient enemies, as the name for these ancient people. He also excavated Kiet Seel ruin, now in Navajo National Monument in northeastern Arizona, and Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kin Kletso</span>

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. 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. 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.

Nuevo Alto is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, in the US state of New Mexico.

The Chacra Mesa is a high mesa massif composing the southwestern flank of Chaco Canyon, a region that is notable for its rich collection of Ancestral Puebloan archaeological sites.

Casa Chiquita is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, northwestern New Mexico, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chetro Ketl</span> Ancestral Puebloan archeological site in New Mexico, US

Chetro Ketl is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico, United States. Construction on Chetro Ketl began c. 990 and was largely complete by 1075, with significant remodeling occurring in the early and mid-1110s. Following the onset of a severe drought, most Chacoans emigrated from the canyon by 1140; by 1250 Chetro Ketl's last inhabitants had vacated the structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pueblo Alto</span>

Pueblo Alto is an Ancestral Puebloan great house and archaeological site located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northwestern New Mexico, United States. The complex, comprising 89 rooms in a single-story layout, is located on a mesa top near the middle of Chaco Canyon; 0.6 miles (1 km) from Pueblo Bonito, it was begun between AD 1020 and 1050. Its location made the community visible to most of the inhabitants of the San Juan Basin; indeed, it was only 2.3 miles (3.7 km) north of Tsin Kletsin, on the opposite side of the canyon. The community was the center of a bead- and turquoise-processing industry that influenced the development of all villages in the canyon; chert tool production was also common. It shares its mesa with another great house, Nuevo Alto, both of which are now protected within the borders of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Storerooms at Pueblo Alto opened to the outside rather than into the interior rooms and there was a huge midden of pottery. This and chert found in the midden came mostly from the Chuska area 70 km (43 mi) to the west.

Kin Nahasbas is a Chacoan Anasazi great house and archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, 25 miles southwest of Nageezi, New Mexico, United States. Built in either the 9th or 10th centuries, it was major pueblo located slightly north of the Una Vida complex, which is positioned at the foot of the north mesa. Limited excavation has been conducted in this area. The ruins are now protected within the borders of Chaco Culture National Historical Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elysium quadrangle</span> One of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the US Geological Survey

The Elysium quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Elysium quadrangle is also referred to as MC-15.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lunae Palus quadrangle</span> Quadrangle map of Mars

The Lunae Palus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is also referred to as MC-10. Lunae Planum and parts of Xanthe Terra and Chryse Planitia are found in the Lunae Palus quadrangle. The Lunae Palus quadrangle contains many ancient river valleys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coprates quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

The Coprates quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Coprates quadrangle is also referred to as MC-18. The Coprates quadrangle contains parts of many of the old classical regions of Mars: Sinai Planum, Solis Planum, Thaumasia Planum, Lunae Planum, Noachis Terra, and Xanthe Terra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ansel Hall Ruin</span> Archaeological site in Colorado, United States

The Ansel Hall Ruin, also known as Cahone Ruin, is located in Cahone, Dolores County, Colorado. A pre-historic ruins from the Pueblo II period, the Northern San Juan pueblo was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pueblo II Period</span> Era in the history of the Pueblo peoples

The Pueblo II Period was the second pueblo period of the Ancestral Puebloans of the Four Corners region of the American southwest. During this period people lived in dwellings made of stone and mortar, enjoyed communal activities in kivas, built towers and dams for water conservation, and implemented milling bins for processing maize. Communities with low-yield farms traded pottery with other settlements for maize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancestral Puebloans</span> Ancient Native American culture in Four Corners region of the US

The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. They are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture. The people and their archaeological culture are often referred to as Anasazi, meaning "ancient enemies", as they were called by Navajo. Contemporary Puebloans object to the use of this term, with some viewing it as derogatory.

Huérfano Mountain, also known as Huerfano Mesa and El Huerfano, is one of the six sacred mountains in the mythology of the Navajo people. Located in San Juan County, New Mexico, the 7,470-foot (2,280 m) mountain is believed in Navajo culture to be the home of Yódí Atʼééd and Yódí Ashkii. It is also thought to be the original home of Áłtsé Hastiin and Áłtsé Asdzą́ą́.

Gallo Cliff Dwelling is a pair of Ancestral Puebloan room blocks that lie under a cliff in Gallo Canyon, New Mexico, United States. Located adjacent to the National Park Service campground, the site includes a central room that features a multi-storied wall and a five-room structure with kiva that was probably occupied during the early 12th century by Mesa Veredans, who built in a distinctive McElmo masonry style. The inhabitants of these dwellings dates from 1150 to 1200 AD, or the late Chacoan Period. National Park Service excavations there during the 1960s uncovered a quantity of perishable items, including sandals and baskets, from the rooms.

Fort McRae was a Union Army post, established in 1863, then a U.S. Army post from 1866 and closed in 1876, in what is now Sierra County, New Mexico. The post was named for Alexander McRae (1829–1862) a slain hero of the 1862 Battle of Valverde.

References

36°02′11″N107°57′28″W / 36.0364°N 107.9578°W / 36.0364; -107.9578