Chetro Ketl Ruins

The Chetro Ketl Ruins

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Situated near the Pueblo Bonito ruins, the Chetro Ketl ruins are amazing. It's not certain what the name "Chetro Ketl" means, but it was once translated as "Rain Peublo" although the source of that translation is not known. Chetro Ketl is a "great house" and was built into a D-shape with more than 500 rooms on three floors. Some of the rooms have been excavated, but most are left in their natural state; filled with dust and rocks from centuries of wind and rain. Chetro Ketl is neat because there is a mosaic on one of the interior walls that you can view (but cannot photograph). It has geometric designs in green and blue. The walls inside the rooms were once covered by a layer of mud. This kept them cool in summer and warm in winter. No one knows for sure what each of the rooms were used for; some of them don't have any windows or direct air-flow so are supposed to have been storage rooms.

The rooms along the back of Chetro Ketl, facing the cliff, once had balconies on them. You can still see logs poking out through the walls to support the balcony floors. Another interesting facet of Chetro Ketl is the Mexican-influenced collonades across the front of the plaza. This influence is important because it ties the Chaco and Incan/Mayan architects and cultures together.

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Situated near the Pueblo Bonito ruins, the Chetro Ketl ruins are amazing. It's not certain what the name "Chetro Ketl" means, but it was once translated as "Rain Peublo" although the source of that translation is not known. Chetro Ketl is a "great house" and was built into a D-shape with more than 500 rooms on three floors. Some of the rooms have been excavated, but most are left in their natural state; filled with dust and rocks from centuries of wind and rain. Chetro Ketl is neat because there is a mosaic on one of the interior walls that you can view (but cannot photograph). It has geometric designs in green and blue. The walls inside the rooms were once covered by a layer of mud. This kept them cool in summer and warm in winter. No one knows for sure what each of the rooms were used for; some of them don't have any windows or direct air-flow so are supposed to have been storage rooms.



The rooms along the back of Chetro Ketl, facing the cliff, once had balconies on them. You can still see logs poking out through the walls to support the balcony floors. Another interesting facet of Chetro Ketl is the Mexican-influenced collonades across the front of the plaza. This influence is important because it ties the Chaco and Incan/Mayan architects and cultures together.