Kinishba Ruins
National Historic Landmark

Kinishba Ruins

Whiteriver, Gila County, Arizona
Listed
October 14, 1966
Type
District
Period
Listed
Ref No.
66000180

About this property

Kinishba Ruins is a 600-room Mogollon great house archaeological site in eastern Arizona and is administered by the White Mountain Apache Tribe. It is located on the present-day Fort Apache Indian Reservation, near the Apache community of Canyon Day. As it demonstrates a combination of both Mogollon and Ancestral Puebloan cultural traits, archaeologists consider it part of the historical lineage of both the Hopi and Zuni cultures. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark. Kinishba's elevation is about 5,000 feet (1,500 m). It lies above a pine-fringed alluvial valley, west of Fort Apache, near the White Mountain Apache Tribal community of Canyon Day. Long known to the Apache people of the region and alleged to have been visited by Conquistadors, the site was first written about in English in 1892, when pioneering archaeologist Adolph Bandelier described the ruins. In 1964, the NPS designated the site as a National Historic Landmark. It had long been abandoned and fallen into disrepair. The ruins received limited cleanup and restoration in 2005–2007. Scholars believe that Kinishba may have been the pueblo Chiciticale referred to in narratives of the 1540–41 Spanish expedition led by Francisco Vásquez de Coronado.

Location

Whiteriver, Gila County, Arizona

Categories

PREHISTORICARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Questions about this property

When was Kinishba Ruins listed on the National Register?

Kinishba Ruins was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 14, 1966.

What type of historic resource is Kinishba Ruins?

Kinishba Ruins is classified as a district in the National Register of Historic Places.

Is Kinishba Ruins a National Historic Landmark?

Yes. Kinishba Ruins has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.

What is the period of significance for Kinishba Ruins?

The period of significance for Kinishba Ruins is recorded as the listed era.

Can I research the history near Kinishba Ruins?

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