Kin Nahasbas is a Chacoan

Anasazi The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southea ...

great house A great house is a large house or mansion with luxurious appointments and great retinues of indoor and outdoor staff. The term is used mainly historically, especially of properties at the turn of the 20th century, i.e., the late Victorian or ...

and

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

located in

Chaco Canyon Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a large concentration of pre-Columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, betwee ...

, 25 miles southwest of

Nageezi, New Mexico Nageezi ( meaning "squash") is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 296 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Farmington Metropolitan Statistical Area. A post office was established ...

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. Built in either the 9th or 10th centuries, it was major

pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

located slightly north of the

Una Vida Una Vida is an archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. According to tree rings surrounding the site, its construction began around 800 AD, at the same time as Pueblo Bonito, and it is one of the th ...

complex, which is positioned at the foot of the north mesa. Limited

excavation Excavation may refer to: * Archaeological excavation * Excavation (medicine) * ''Excavation'' (The Haxan Cloak album), 2013 * ''Excavation'' (Ben Monder album), 2000 * ''Excavation'' (novel), a 2000 novel by James Rollins * '' Excavation: A Mem ...

has been conducted in this area.. The ruins are now protected within the borders of

Chaco Culture National Historical Park Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a large concentration of pre-Columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, betwee ...

History

Archeologists Lekson, Windes and McKennaLekson, S.H,(Ed.) The Archeology of Chaco Canyon, page 74, School of American Research Press, 2006, place the construction of Kin Nahasbas (kin nahas bas) in the late 9th century along with early construction work on

Pueblo Bonito Pueblo Bonito (Spanish for ''beautiful town'') is the largest and best-known great house in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, northern New Mexico. It was built by the Ancestral Puebloans who occupied the structure between AD 828 and 1126. ...

Peñasco Blanco Peñasco Blanco ("White Bluff" in Spanish) is a Chacoan Ancestral Puebloan great house and notable archaeological site located in Chaco Canyon, a canyon in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. The pueblo consists of an arc-shaped room bl ...

, Una Vida, the Padilla Well Great House, the East Community, Pueblo Pintado and Casa del Rio at the extreme western end of the Chaco core. Unlike Pueblo Bonito, Una Vida and some of the other Great House ruins that can be seen in the Chaco park today, Nahasbas probably was not occupied or maintained into the next century. The late 9th century when Kin Nahasbas was built is the transition period between Pueblo I and II cultures. In Chaco the population of people living in small houses grew enormously. This growth was probably supported by migrating peoples drawn to Chaco from the great Pueblo I communities in the northern San Juan River region. The period provided favorable rains for farming

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

in Chaco canyon and on the

mesas A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge, or hill, bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and standing distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks, such as shales, capped by a r ...

that could sustain a growing "urban" Chaco population.

Current status

Today the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

does not have the Nahasbas House site open to visitors. It has not been excavated and stabilized and there are no interesting ruins to see.

Citations

References

* . Colorado Plateau Chaco Canyon Former populated places in New Mexico Chaco Culture National Historical Park {{NewMexico-geo-stub