Chetro Ketl is one of several large masonry structures, or "Great Houses," found in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico (U.S.A.). This 337-room, four-story building was constructed between A.D. 1010 and A.D. 1109 by the Chaco Anasazi, an archaeologically-defined society that occupied the high desert of the "Four Corners Region" from approximately A.D. 500 to A.D. 1150. Although Chaco Anasazi cultural traits have been found over a large area, the Great Houses of Chaco Canyon are believed to have served as the religious and probably political centers of Chaco society.
These large masonry Great Houses have long attracted the interest of Southwestern explorers, archaeologists, and now tourists. Unlike typical Anasazi habitations, these huge structures appear to have been largely vacant and focused on ceremonial aspects of Chaco society. Excavations at Pueblo Alto, a Great House located near Chetro Ketl, revealed that few people lived in the structure. It instead appears to have accommodated large "feasting" events that led to the deposition of large quantities of broken ceramic vessels and food refuse. It is likely that other Great Houses in Chaco Canyon served a similar function. Aerial photography and ground survey has also identified the remains of prehistoric roads that led from many portions of the region to the Great Houses in Chaco Canyon, further indicating the importance of these structures to Chaco people. The discovery of ornate burials in Pueblo Bonito, the quintessential Chacoan Great House, suggests that these structures may have also served for the occasional burial of especially important people.
In addition to the large above-ground masonry Great Houses, the Chaco Anasazi constructed large, usually subterranean Great Kivas, a tradition started by their ancestors and maintained by their descendents, but one which the Chaco people mastered. These Great Kivas could measure over 20 meters in diameter and have roofs several meters in height. They were usually, but not always, roofed, and the large pine beams necessary to accomplish this had to be imported from mountains 30-50 kms. away. These structures were often surrounded by exterior chambers, and in the classic example, Casa Rinconada, a hidden underground passageway led from one of these chambers into the main room of the kiva.
The kiva located in the eastern-most "plaza area" of the Chetro Ketl Great House is a good example of a typical Chacoan Great Kiva. This structure was intermittently excavated over a period of twelve years beginning in 1920. The first excavations were conducted by the Museum of New Mexico under the direction of E.L. Hewett. After a several year recess, excavations were continued in 1929 by the Museum and the School of American Research, again under the direction of Hewett. In the final season in 1933, Gordon Vivian conducted some testing in the area outside the Great Kiva's walls. Later excavations focused on the "Court Kiva" found about thirty meters to the west. The amount of dirt that had to be removed from these kivas was so great that the excavators used a mine car placed on a short track.
The Chetro Ketl Great Kiva is actually two kivas, one built on top of the other and each representing different time periods. Based on masonry styles and tree-ring dates from the main roomblock, the earliest Great Kiva (confusingly labeled "Chetro Ketl II") was probably constructed sometime around A.D. 1062. The presence of two distinct floor levels probably indicates a period of remodeling sometime during this occupation. Chetro Ketl II had an average diameter of about 18 meters, and may have been as deep as 5 meters below the ground level. Its inside wall was surrounded by a low masonry bench, and near the center of the kiva was a hollow rectangular firebox made of stone and an associated masonry fire screen. Four large "seating pits," or masonry wells, would have supported the enormous posts needed to hold up the roof. Attached to two of these pits were two vaults, a feature common to Chaco Great Kivas whose function is still debated by archaeologists. These 2 x 1 meter vaults at Chetro Ketl contained small flagstone floors upon which a layer of sand mixed with numerous potsherds, turquoise fragments, anthracite and calcite beads, pendants, and fragments of malachite-painted wood was found. The archaeologists excavating the Great Kiva felt that these were placed as "offerings." The walls of the vaults also had several small, square openings that appear to have been below the floor of the kiva, so their function is a mystery. Similarly, the function of the narrow steps found on one side of each vault is unknown.
The most exciting find at Chetro Ketl II were the ten wall crypts, or niches, that were irregularly spaced around the inside wall of the Great Kiva. These were covered with plaster and so well hidden that they were not discovered until the 1931 season. When opened, they were each found to contain a string of beads and turquoise pendants!! This is one of the classic finds in Southwestern archaeology, one that every archaeologist working in the region wishes he or she could have experienced.
There was no clear entrance found to Chetro Ketl II, although the presence of an antechamber against the north wall of the kiva has led archaeologists to argue that there may have been a doorway opening into the kiva from this room. Another likely possibility is that the kiva was entered through the roof, using a ladder like Pueblo groups do today to enter their kivas. No roofing materials were found in Chetro Ketl II, but the presence of the post seating pits suggests that at least a portion of the roof was covered. The wood from this original roof may have been removed during the construction of the later Great Kiva.
A second Great Kiva at Chetro Ketl was built immediately on top of and inside the older one; this was labeled "Chetro Ketl I." Like its predecessor, this later Great Kiva exhibited a masonry style dating to between A.D. 1062 and 1090, but it also exhibited a style characteristic of the period between A.D. 1100 and 1116. Most of the features of this later occupation mirror those associated with Chetro Ketl II. A low masonry bench lined the wall of the kiva, and a firebox, a fire screen, and four seating pits containing decayed wood were identified. Twenty-nine wall crypts were placed in the kiva wall, but these were apparently broken into at some point in the past, and all of them were empty. Unlike in Chetro Ketl II, the vaults found in the later kiva had been used as fire pits at least during the end of the Chetro Ketl occupation, for they were burned red and partially filled with ash. However, the excavators also noted that the walls of the Chetro Ketl I kiva was burned red, as if the kiva was burned at some point during its abandonment.
The antechamber associated with Chetro Ketl I was larger than the earlier version, and a steep ramp composed of nine steps served as an entrance that descended over 2 meters into the kiva. Apparently the third and fourth steps, made of hewn wooden planks, were still in place when archaeologists excavated the Great Kiva. The fallen remains of large wooden beams radiating out from the center of the kiva were found on the floor of Chetro Ketl I, indicating that the structure was at least partially roofed.
The three-dimensional Great Kiva is based on the archaeological data recovered from the earlier Chetro Ketl II. Of course, in order to go from the relatively scanty archaeological records to a complex rendering that is supposed to emulate "reality," one has to make some assumptions and downright leaps of faith. This process is described on the page discussing the generation of the computer model.
Written by John Kantner. This summary was derived primarily from Gordon Vivian and Paul Reiter's The Great Kivas of Chaco Canyon, published in 1960 by The School of American Research in Santa Fe, N.M. Additional information was obtained from Stephen H. Lekson's Great Pueblo Architecture of Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, published in 1984 by the National Park Service.
Main Great Kiva page