Who Were Those Classic Period Immigrants into the Zapotitán Valley, El Salvador?

New ceramic compositional evidence has come to light that bears on the relationships among the cream paste ceramics of southeastern Mesoamerica. This evidence, which derives from instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and microprobe analysis, suggests that Ivory ware, a Late and Terminal Formative diagnostic found in southern Guatemala, is chemically similar not to other Guatemalan light firing pottery, but to Formative and Classic period cream paste wares from western El Salvador and Honduras. El Salvador is the clearest region of overlap between the Late Formative (Ivory Usulután) and Classic (Chilanga, Gualpopa, and Copador) representatives of this chemically homogeneous cream paste tradition, and therefore we argue that the source zone for all of them lies somewhere in western El Salvador and not in Honduras or Guatemala. This inference contradicts (1) our own earlier hypothesis that Ivory ware originated somewhere in the Guatemalan highlands and (2) the hypothesis that cream paste Copador originated in the Copán Valley. If this inference is correct, then (1) the importance of ceramic circulation in the Late and Terminal Formative Providencia and Miraflores interaction spheres has been underestimated and (2) during the Classic period, Copán absorbed the productive capacity of western El Salvador (represented in this case by cream paste polychrome pottery) to a greater extent than has been appreciated previously.

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MANIOC CULTIVATION AT CEREN, EL SALVADOR: OCCASIONAL KITCHEN GARDEN PLANT OR STAPLE CROP?

Ancient Mesoamerica ◽

10.1017/s0956536111000034 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Payson Sheets ◽

Christine Dixon ◽

Monica Guerra ◽

Adam Blanford

Keyword(s):

El Salvador ◽

Drought Resistance ◽

Classic Period ◽

Ancient Maya ◽

Late Archaic ◽

Kitchen Garden ◽

Kitchen Gardens ◽

Ancient Times ◽

Garden Plant ◽

Staple Crop

AbstractMany scholars have thought the Classic period Maya did not cultivate the root crop manioc, while others have suggested it may have been an occasional cultigen in kitchen gardens. For many decades there was no reliable evidence that the ancient Maya cultivated manioc, but in the 1990s manioc pollen from the late Archaic was found in Belize, and somewhat older pollen was found in Tabasco. At about the same time of those discoveries, research within the Ceren village, El Salvador, encountered occasional scattered manioc plants that had grown in mounded ridges in kitchen gardens. These finds adjacent to households indicated manioc was not a staple crop, and vastly inferior to maize and beans in food volume produced. However, 2007 research in an agricultural area 200 m south of the Ceren village encountered intensive formal manioc planting beds. If manioc was widely cultivated in ancient times, its impressive productivity, ease of cultivation even in poor soils, and drought resistance suggest it might have been a staple crop helping to support dense Maya populations in the southeast periphery and elsewhere.

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Volcanism, Ecology and Culture: A Reassessment of the Volcán Ilopango TBJ Eruption in the Southern Maya Realm

Latin American Antiquity ◽

10.2307/971755 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 25-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 67

Author(s):

Robert A. Dull ◽

John R. Southon ◽

Payson Sheets

Keyword(s):

El Salvador ◽

Large Scale ◽

Classic Period ◽

Seventh Century ◽

Cultural Economic ◽

Calendar Date ◽

Population Crash ◽

Volcanic Events ◽

Early Classic Period ◽

Biophysical Effects

The Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ) eruption of the Ilopango caldera in central El Salvador was one of the largest Holocene volcanic events in Central America, and its ecological and cultural impacts were felt throughout El Salvador and adjoining areas of Guatemala and Honduras. Early radiocarbon measurements established a ca. A. D. 260 ± 114 calendar date for the eruption. However, a reevaluation of the original 14C dates, in addition to new AMS 14C assays, shows that the TBJ eruption occurred at least a century and a half later than originally estimated. The revised 14C composite supports an Early Classic Period calendar date for the eruption: 1 sigma = A. D. 421(429)526; 2 sigma = A. D. 408(429)536. A review of archaeological settlement, ceramic, and radiocarbon evidence from sites throughout the area of greatest devastation reveals a large-scale demographic collapse following the event. We believe that the population crash was caused both by the biophysical effects of the eruption and by the resulting disarticulation of the "Miraflores" cultural-economic sphere. The affected areas of El Salvador and south-eastern Guatemala did not completely recover until the seventh century A. D.

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Tessier 3 Cleft in a Pre-Hispanic Anthropomorphic Figurine in El Salvador, Central America

The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal ◽

10.1597/15-260 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 54 (2) ◽

pp. 227-230 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ramon Manuel Aleman ◽

Maria Guadalupe Martinez

Keyword(s):

El Salvador ◽

Central America ◽

Classification System ◽

Classic Period ◽

Numerical Classification ◽

Upper Lip ◽

Medial Canthus ◽

Facial Cleft ◽

Facial Clefts

In 1976, Paul Tessier provided a numerical classification system for rare facial clefts, numbered from 0 to 14. The Tessier 3 cleft is a rare facial cleft extending from the philtrum of the upper lip through the wing of the nostril, and reaches the medial canthus of the eye. The aim of this document was to describe a pre-Hispanic anthropomorphic figurine dating from the classic period (200 A.D.–900 A.D.), which has a Tessier 3 cleft. We also discuss the documented pre-Hispanic beliefs about facial clefts.

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Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x13009862 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (01) ◽

pp. 76-101

Author(s):

PETER M. SANCHEZ

Keyword(s):

Collective Action ◽

El Salvador ◽

Liberation Theology ◽

Contentious Politics ◽

Religious Leaders ◽

Political Movement ◽

Parish Priest ◽

Historical Moment ◽

Resource Mobilisation ◽

The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

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The Genesis and Internal Dynamics of El Salvador's People's Revolutionary Army, 1970–1976

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x13009850 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (01) ◽

pp. 102-129

Author(s):

ALBERTO MARTÍN ÁLVAREZ ◽

EUDALD CORTINA ORERO

Keyword(s):

Latin America ◽

El Salvador ◽

Early Years ◽

Left Wing ◽

Internal Dynamics ◽

Internal Coherence ◽

The 1960S

AbstractUsing interviews with former militants and previously unpublished documents, this article traces the genesis and internal dynamics of the Ejército Revolucionario del Pueblo (People's Revolutionary Army, ERP) in El Salvador during the early years of its existence (1970–6). This period was marked by the inability of the ERP to maintain internal coherence or any consensus on revolutionary strategy, which led to a series of splits and internal fights over control of the organisation. The evidence marshalled in this case study sheds new light on the origins of the armed Salvadorean Left and thus contributes to a wider understanding of the processes of formation and internal dynamics of armed left-wing groups that emerged from the 1960s onwards in Latin America.

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