Historic Structure Report: Kin Nahasbas

Mathien, Frances; Windes, Thomas

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. This historic structure report concerns Kin Nahasbas. Proposed treatment inclues basic structural stabilization and backfilling of great kiva. Prior to 1983, information on the site of Kin Nahasbas was insufficient to properly evaluate some management questions. Excavation at Kin Nahasbas had been carried out by a School of American Research/University of New Mexico archeological field school in 1935; only the great kiva, the antechamber, and one room on the hill above the great kiva were examined at that time. A student report by Luhrs (1935) was used by Vivian and Reiter (1965) as the basis for their discussion of the great kiva. Luhrs' report of the excavation does not provide maps of the entire site, nor discuss in detail the excavation of a room in the house above the great kiva. Her map of the great kiva (Plate 1) itself was not complete in the detail needed to answer all management or research questions. None of the field notes, original maps, or artifacts could be located. The only map of the entire site was a sketch map drawn by the UNM survey crew in 1971 (revised by Schelberg in 1974). The site survey form noted the presence of several rooms on the slopes above the great kiva, the great kiva, a trash deposit, four hogans, and three rock art panels.

Historic Structure Report: Kin Nahasbas

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