Title/Reference:
Kin Kletso.
Author: G. Arboleda
Image No.: 387
Code No.: D05VIII19-II-06109
Approx. shoot date:
August 19, 2005
Date uploaded:
November 13, 2005
Orig. File Size: 14.4 MB
Original Media: Digital
Filed under:
Built landscape Indigenous building Digital 10-20 MB 2005 USA Arboleda, G. Stone - Concrete Pre-15th century architecture Architecture - Exterior
Related notes:
Lecciones sobre consumo (y sobreconsumo) de energía, tras un viaje de costa a costa Lessons on energy after a trip cross-country
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Place |
USA - New Mexico. Edge of the "mesa" or plateau at the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
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Description |
Kin Kletso was built during the late period of Chacoan occupation, by the 1100s. Although still a spectacular structure, it followed a simpler plan than Pueblo Bonito, the most classic of the Chacoan large houses.
Notice how, although Kin Kletso's plan looks oval, it is the walking of visitors on their way around the house what has shaped it that way. When turning around the corners, visitors indeed step on old foundations of this rectangle-plan house.
This "aerial" view is actually taken from the edge of the mesa or plateau. The descent from this point happens through a set of "Chaco stairs," which are basically natural stone slabs arranged as steps inside the rock's natural cracks. I imagine the kind of spectacle that travelers nine hundred years ago would have seen, after walking tens or even hundreds of miles on their way from the north, and arriving to Kin Kletso through the plateau. They would finally get to this point and... voilà! The majestic structure would appear revealed to them in all of its splendor...
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