Nageezi in San Juan County, New Mexico — The American Mountains (Southwest)
Casa Rinconada Community
Chaco Culture National Historical Park
| | National Park Service, U.S.Department of the Interior | |
Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025
1. Casa Rinconada Community Marker
Follow this trail to visit the largest great kiva in Chaco Canyon. Great kivas are often built into the plazas of great houses like Pueblo Bonito, but Casa Rinconada's great kiva stands alone, a ceremonial and civic center for the nearby villages.
Unlike the monumental Chacoan great houses, the villages along this trail are more modest. Yet both the great houses and villages were built and occupied during the same period. Hundreds of these small villages and communities have been discovered clustered around Chacoan great houses. The role of the great houses isn't clear. Perhaps they served a central purpose: ceremonial, economic, and administrative, and the small village communities supported those efforts.
Captions
(Photo #1) Reconstructed great kiva interior at Aztec Ruins National Monument
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Anthropology & Archaeology • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Settlements & Settlers.
Location. 36° 3.362′ N, 107° 57.511′ W.
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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: Chacoan Stairway (approx. Ό mile away); Pueblo Bonito (approx. Ό mile away); Chetro Ketl (approx. Ό mile away); Chaco Culture (approx. 0.4 miles away); Wetherill Cemetery (approx. 0.6 miles away); Kin Kletso (approx. 0.9 miles away); Pueblo Alto Trail (approx. 0.9 miles
Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025
2. Casa Rinconada Community Marker
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 17, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.)
Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025
3. Casa Rinconada Community Marker
Photographed by James Hulse, March 27, 2025
4. Reconstructed great kiva interior at Aztec Ruins National Monument
Photographed by James Hulse, March 26, 2025
5. The view of the Casa Rinconada ruins along the canyon wall
Credits. This page was last revised on July 14, 2025. It was originally submitted on April 16, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas. This page has been viewed 231 times since then and 38 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on April 17, 2025, by James Hulse of Medina, Texas.
