Editing Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico (section)

==Geography==
The community is in northeastern McKinley County, bordered by [[San Juan County, New Mexico|San Juan]] and [[Sandoval County, New Mexico|Sandoval]] counties to the north. It is served by Navajo Route 9, which leads southwest {{convert|14|mi}} to [[Whitehorse, New Mexico|Whitehorse]] and southeast {{convert|25|mi}} to [[Torreon, Sandoval County, New Mexico|Torreon]]. [[Gallup, New Mexico|Gallup]], the McKinley [[county seat]], is {{convert|96|mi}} by road to the southwest, while [[Cuba, New Mexico|Cuba]], with the post office that serves Pueblo Pintado, is {{convert|53|mi}} to the east.

According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the Pueblo Pintado CDP has a total area of {{convert|31.0|sqmi}}, all land.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2024"/> The community is in the valley of [[Chaco Wash]], which runs through [[Chaco Canyon]] {{convert|15|mi}} to the northwest and eventually joins the [[San Juan River (Colorado River tributary)|San Juan River]] near [[Shiprock, New Mexico|Shiprock]].

===Pueblo Pintado Great House===
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The ruins of an [[Ancestral Puebloan]] Great House stand {{convert|1|mi}} northwest of the center of the community and {{convert|16|mi}} east of [[Pueblo Bonito]], as part of the [[Chaco Canyon]] area. The name ''Pueblo Pintado'' is Spanish for "painted village", named by a guide during an 1849 expedition. The great house is estimated to have had 90 rooms and 14 to 16 [[kiva]]s; there is a great kiva to the south with an interior diameter of {{convert|58|ft}}. [[Dendrochronology|Tree ring dating]] puts the construction of Pueblo Pintado at 1060-1061 AD, during the height of the [[Chacoan]] construction period. The great house is now part of [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park]].