Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America

The archaeologic grade of Joya del Ceren, located in the kind Zapotitan Valley in the fertile ara of western El Salvador, is a unique and important find that has been compared to the ancient undone cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in Italy. Like Pompeii, Joya del Ceren was preserved low layers of volcanic ash in the harmful Loma Caldera eruption from the close Ilopango volcano well-nigh 600 AD. This eruption forced the sudden forsaking of the site by its inhabitants who were forced to ply their possessions behind.Dr Payson Sheets of the University of Colorado-Boulder has been leading the excavations of the site, and as this ancient country crossroads of the Maya is now being revealed, well-nigh(prenominal) important insights into the sign and community smell of the ancient Maya, as well as their economic, social, and apparitional activities are becoming dis preserve understood. In Dr. Sheets book, Before the Volcano Erupted The antique Ceren Village in Central t he States, an overview of the cognition gained by recent excavations is provided.The book opens with a discussion of volcanology, geophysics, and paleobotany. It is clear that the social movement of the nearby volcanic hills around the site presented two benefits and hazards to the ancient inhabitants. The volcano provided a stemma of hard stones for making manos and metates, its ancient eruptions deposited a fertile bed of ash for fruitful agriculture, nonwithstanding it also proved the demise of their village.What is so amazing is the fine affirm of preservation that the volcanic eruption gave to the somatic culture of the site. The expressions, complete with their thatched roofs (mice embarrassd) and painted walls, the attractively painted gourds and pottery vessels, whole and change with foodstuffs, liquid residues, utensils and other personal items, the trickery animate beings, and the clear demo of guile exertion are all on hand, facial expression untouched d espite their fourteen centuries of age. librate this remarkable statementThe numerous seasonally sensitive plants preserved at the site indicate the eruption probably occurred in August. Further, the positions and conditions of artifacts indicate the eruption probably occurred in the early evening, after dinner was served but before the dishes were washed, likely between 600 and 700 P. M. (Sheets) For all the fury and demolition that volcanoes can cause, much(prenominal)(prenominal) an outcome is yet a joy to historians and archaeologists, and should be to anyone unexpended nigh the lives of prehistoric hoi pollois.The focus of the explorations at Joya del Ceren is centered on category archaeology, with the household being defined as the home(prenominal) coresidential social and adaptive unit talk terms between the individual and the neighborhood. (Sheets) Part II of the book describes the four households excavated prior to publication, with 11 building having been comp letely excavated, and seven others part excavated. Professor Sheets summarizes the bend to date as followsFour buildings of house 1 commit been excavated, including a domicile (for sleeping, eating, and various twenty-four hours activities), a storehouse, a kitchen, and a ramada-style building that occasionally was used for chipped stone tool maintenance, among other functions ( expressions 1, 6, 11, and 5, respectively). Two buildings of Household 2 commence been excavated, the domicile and the storehouse (Structures 2 and 7). The kitchen has yet to be excavated, and we do not know if Structure 18 is a part of this household.Only a part of the kitchen of Household 3 is known (Structure 16). The storehouse of Household 4 has been excavated, and it is a storehouse and often clippings more (Structure 4). The maguey (Agave americana) garden conspiracy of the building produced fiber for about a cardinal households the leaves were depulped to liberate the fibers using Structure 4s northeast lemon yellower pole. (Sheets) The results of these excavations revealed a total deal about household and village life of the people of the Maya frontier circa 600 AD.We have an expanded view of what they ate (maize, beans, chiles, squash, manioc, maguey, cacao tree and guayaba among others), the wealth they possessed (over 70 vessels in household 1 alone), and their source of documentation (both subsistence farming and craft specialization). Indeed it is realistic to speculate that each household produced a certain type of finished craft for export trade deep down or beyond the village.Sheets describes how each household overproduced at least one craft or commodity and used that for exchange within the community and to obtain long-distance traded items that slackly were produced by specialists, such as obsidian tools, haematite pigments, and jade axes. (Sheets) It is shown how household 1 produced groundstone items such as manos and metates, and a tool called a donut stone. Household 2 likely served as a painted gourd factory, as evidenced by the posture of cinnabar paints and the use-wear on chipped stone tools open up at the site.In addition to the household structures, virtually other community buildings have been place. These include Structure 9, a large(p) excrete bath that could accommodate a dozen people , structure 10, considered to be a religious festival building of some kind, as evidenced by the presence of some sacred artifacts, such as a deer skull headdress, and an obsidian blade with traces of humankind blood. There is also a large community center or polite complex, perhaps used for local judicature functions or religious purposes or both. The religious buildings were painted white and are the alone white buildings found at the site.Some of the agricultural field of battles have been examined, and the results are genuinely interesting. For example, the rows for maize were ridged, and some areas show where port ions of the turn have already been harvested and the ground replanted with the secondment crop for the year. Many species of plants are identified by plaster casting, including maize, beans, chiles, squash, manioc, maguey, various trees such as cacao and guayaba, and a figure of speech of palm and deciduous trees. (Sheets) The manioc field is known as the first evidence of the cultivation of this crop in the Americas.In a recent CU-Boulder word release article, Sheets tell we have long wondered what else the prehistoric Mayan people were growing and eating besides corn and beans, so finding this field was a jackpot of sorts for us. cassava starchs extraordinary productivity whitethorn help explain how the Classic Maya at huge sites like Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras supported such dense populations. The work at Joya del Ceren is far from over. The book explains how the archaeologists are using ground penetrating radio detection and ranging equipment to locate num erous other buildings for future day excavations.As time goes on, the riches of Joya del Ceren will continue to emerge from the ashes. Before the Volcano Erupted The antediluvian patriarch Ceren Village in Central America is a rather typical archeologic report, fairly dry for reading, but unspoiled of fascinating information if you take the time to pick through it. What is important is what the archeology of the site can teach us of the ancient people that lived there. The site must be an outstanding place to visit, for to determine such well-preserved artifacts would surely release the imagination.I would surely recommend the book to anyone interested in the Maya, in archaeology and invoice in general, or to anybody that is curious about the way that ordinary people from the retiring(a) may have lived their lives. Works Cited Sheets, Payson. CU-Boulder Archaeology Team Discovers First quaint Manioc Fields In Americas. CU-Boulder News. August 20, 2007. http//www. colorad o. edu/news/releases/2007/305. html Sheets, Payson (ed. ) Before the Volcano Erupted The Ancient Ceren Village in Central America. Boulder, Colorado. 2002