In 1849, the Washington Expedition, a military reconnaissance under the direction of Lt. James Simpson, surveyed Navajo lands. As the party traveled west from Santa Fe, Pueblo Pintado (Spanish for "painted village") was the first Chacoan site they encountered. Carravahal, a Mexican guide with the expedition named the site. Pueblo people on the expedition called it Pueblo de Montezuma. This Chacoan site was also known as Pueblo de los Ratones, or "village of the mice,” Pueblo Colorado, or “red village,” and Pueblo Grande, or “large village.” Its Navajo name is Kin teel, or “wide house.”

16 miles east of Pueblo Bonito at 6,520 feet elevation. Pueblo Pintado is the easternmost
of the Chacoan great houses (monumental public buildings) in the immediate Chaco Canyon area.

About Chaco Culture National Historical Park
Today the massive buildings of the Ancestral Puebloan people still testify to the organizational and engineering abilities not seen anywhere else in the American Southwest. For a deeper contact with the canyon that was central to thousands of people between 850 and 1250 CE, explore Chaco through guided tours, hiking and biking trails, evening campfire talks, and night sky programs.

Chaco Culture NHP is located in New Mexico's scenic four corners region. Your journey into Chaco Canyon will take you through private tribal lands. Please be respectful of our tribal neighbors and their livestock and leave no trace of your journey on their lands.