Kin Ya-ah, Archaeological site near Crownpoint, New Mexico, US.
Kin Ya'a is an unexcavated Chacoan great house on the Dutton Plateau near Crownpoint, New Mexico, 25 miles south of Chaco Canyon. It has thirty-five rooms and four kivas, including a four-story tower kiva visible from several miles away.
Kin Ya'a was built during the late 11th and early 12th centuries, as shown by dendrochronology of its wood. The great house was linked to Chaco Canyon by the South Road, one of the routes of the Chacoan road system. It served as the center of an outlier community on the Dutton Plateau, 25 miles (40 km) south of the canyon.
This settlement was part of a vast network of connected communities that shaped how Ancestral Puebloan peoples organized their world. The arrangement of rooms and ceremonial spaces reflects shared beliefs and practices that held these societies together.
The location is extremely remote and GPS signals are unreliable, so visiting requires careful preparation before departure. Stop at the Chaco visitor center first to gather information and consider how season and weather might affect trail conditions.
Kin Ya'a's name means "tall house" in Navajo, a reference to the four-story tower kiva that rises above the unexcavated great house. The structure is visible from several miles away, and more than one hundred small building sites lie within 4 square miles (10 km2) around it.
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