Near Nageezi in San Juan County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)

Chetro Ketl

Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025

1. Chetro Ketl Marker

Inscription. Chetro Ketl is the second largest Chacoan great house. It covers more than 3 acres, and contains a great kiva and elevated kivas. As builders constructed second and third stories, they created an elevated plaza that stands 12 feet above the valley floor.

Architectural design and large-scale engineering are typical of Chetro Ketl and other Chacoan great houses. Builders quarried rocks for construction, harvested timbers on distant mountains, and erected massive blocks of rooms during building episodes. The people built dams and canals, and engineered straight avenues and "roads" that crisscrossed the region and connected Chaco to distant communities.

All these projects required complex planning, organization, and cooperation on a regionwide level. Succeeding generations carried on the work of their predecessors and created a unique vision of their world - unlike anything before or since.

Erected by Chaco Culture National Historical Park, National Park Service and U.S. Department of the Interior.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples

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and Communities • Settlements & Settlers.

Location. 36° 3.591′ N, 107° 57.495′ W. Marker is near Nageezi, New Mexico, in San Juan County. It is at the intersection of North Side Loop Road and Navajo Service Route 14, on the right when traveling west on North Side Loop Road. The marker is located at the trailhead near the parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: North Side Lp Rd, Nageezi NM 87037, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in New Mexico’s Navajo Nation

and in the San Juan Basin.

It is also in the American Southwest,

in the Mountain West,

in Colorado Plateau,

and at the Four Corners.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Rocky Mountains,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once New Spain.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Pueblo Bonito (within shouting distance of this marker); Chaco Culture (approx. 0.2 miles away); Casa Rinconada Community (approx.

Chetro Ketl and Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025

2. Chetro Ketl and Marker

¼ mile away); Chacoan Stairway (approx. 0.4 miles away); Wetherill Cemetery (approx. 0.4 miles away); Kin Kletso (approx. ¾ mile away); Pueblo Alto Trail (approx. ¾ mile away); Chaco: A World Heritage Site (approx. 3.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Nageezi.

Also see . . . The Center of an Ancient World. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

Explore the monumental structures and breathtaking landscape at Chaco, a thriving regional center for the ancestral Pueblo people from 850 to 1250 CE (Common Era), through guided tours, hiking & biking trails, evening campfire talks, night sky programs, and more. Chaco Canyon is a sacred and deeply personal place for many Indigenous peoples throughout the Southwest. Please visit with respect.

(Submitted on April 16, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)

Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025

3. Chetro Ketl

Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025

4. Chetro Ketl

Kiva at Chetro Ketl image. Click for full size.

Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025

5. Kiva at Chetro Ketl

Credits. This page was last revised on April 16, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 15, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. This page has been viewed 198 times since then and 17 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on April 16, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.