Place and time in activity area analysis: a study of elevated contexts used for artifact curation at the Ceren site, El Salvador.

Sin resume

From a Bulldozer Cut to a World Heritage Site

A Salvadoran bulldozer encountered some architecture and artifacts so well preserved that it was assumed to be recent. I examined the site in 1978 and dated the thatch roofing to 1400 BP. With collaborations of volcanologists, I have investigated the Maya village for 42 years. The eruption of Loma Caldera volcano preserved the village and its landscape extraordinarily. Food is still intact in ceramic vessels, earthen buildings are preserved, and plants are intact in gardens and fields, in spite of being in a tropical wet environment. I nominated the Cerén site to the UNESCO World Heritage list, and it was accepted, as it is the best preserved ancient village in the Americas. Every season we publish our results in English and in Spanish and make them widely available. Local high school students in the past two decades are giving reenactment public performances that are highly accurate about the precursors of phreatomagmatic eruptions, the eruptions themselves, and proper emergency behavior. The result is a widespread awareness and preparedness that is greater than I could achieve with a plethora of scientific publications. I suggest that volcanologists and archaeologists consider supporting similar performances in hazardous areas, to improve risk perception and salutary emergency behavior

Resumen de las investigaciones geofísicas y arqueológicas al sur de Joya de Cerén, 2007

El siguiente articulo describe detalladamente la investigación arqueológica realizadas al sur de la Joya de Cerén, tomando como referencia el proyecto Tikal realizado en 1960 donde se descubrió la población de los sitios arqueológicos mayas eran grandes y densas, como de 300 o 400 habitantes por cada kilómetro cuadrado. Anterior a esta investigación la mayoria de los arqueólogos pensaba que la densidad de la población de los sitios arqueológicos mayas era baja . Pensaban que poca gente había vivido en esos lugares porque se trataba más que todo de centros ceremoniales y además, se asumía que el sistema de agricultura adecuado para abastecer la alimentación de estas personas había sido la milpa, basada en el cultivo del maíz. Era obvio que las milpas no eran suficientes para abastecer de alimento a poblaciones como estas. Además de la milpa, probablemente, el cultivo y el método produjeron las calorías suficientes para esas poblaciones, aunque hasta hoy no hay una respuesta satisfactoria.

Radiocarbon and geologic evidence reveal Ilopango volcano as source of the colossal ‘mystery’ eruption of 539/40 CE

Highlights • Major eruption of Ilopango volcano, El Salvador occurred in the first half of the 6th century. • Ilopango eruption is consistent with ‘mystery’ eruption of 540 CE that caused global cooling. • Magnitude 7 event ranks as one of the 10 largest on Earth in past 7000 years. • Impacts on the Maya of Central America were severe, including estimated 100,000 + fatalities. Abstract Ilopango volcano (El Salvador) erupted violently during the Maya Classic Period (250–900 CE) in a densely-populated and intensively-cultivated region of the southern Maya realm, causing regional abandonment of an area covering more than 20,000 km2. However, neither the regional nor global impacts of the Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption in Mesoamerica have been well appraised due to limitations in available volcanological, chronological, and archaeological observations. Here we present new evidence of the age, magnitude and sulfur release of the TBJ eruption, establishing it as one of the two hitherto unidentified volcanic triggers of a period of stratospheric aerosol loading that profoundly impacted Northern Hemisphere climate and society between circa 536 and 550 CE. Our chronology is derived from 100 new radiocarbon measurements performed on three subfossil tree trunks enveloped in proximal TBJ pyroclastic deposits. We also reassess the eruption magnitude using terrestrial (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) and near-shore marine TBJ tephra deposit thickness measurements. Together, our new constraints on the age, eruption size (43.6 km3 Dense Rock Equivalent of magma, magnitude = 7.0) and sulfur yield (∼9–90 Tg), along with Ilopango's latitude (13.7° N), squarely frame the TBJ as the major climate-forcing eruption of 539 or 540 CE identified in bipolar ice cores and sourced to the tropics. In addition to deepening appreciation of the TBJ eruption's impacts in Mesoamerica, linking it to the major Northern Hemisphere climatic downturn of the mid-6th century CE offers another piece in the puzzle of understanding Eurasian history of the period

Place and time in activity area analysis: a study of elevated contexts used for artifact curation at the Ceren site, El Salvador

Hace 1.400 años una súbita erupción volcánica cubrió el sitio habitacional de Joya de Ceren (El Salvador) y sus campos de cultivo, proporcionando a la Arqueología una excelente oportunidad de estudiar, casi en su totalidad, la cultura material de una aldea campesina mesoamericana. El artículo se centra en el estudio de los variados contextos de almacenamiento que se dieron en este yacimiento único.1400 years ago the residential site of Joya de Ceren (El Salvador) was covered, together with its sorrounding cultivated fields, by a sudden eruption. This gives Archaeology an excellent opportunity to study the material culture of a Mesoamerican peasant village. This article explores the different storage contexts present in this site