As Good as it Sounds: Archaeology of Las Delicias, Managua, Nicaragua

Summary

In 2008, housing development on the shore of Lake Xolotlan in a suburb of Managua discovered

an extensive cemetery dating to the Late Tempisque period, ca. 1­300 CE. Dozens of individuals

were recovered, along with a rich array of grave goods. A new phase of development in 2014 has

been closely monitored by the Nicaraguan Institute of Culture. In July heavy machinery exposed a

number of additional skeletons and a team from the University of Calgary volunteered to assist in

the excavation and analysis of the remains. This paper presents results of archaeological and

osteological analyses of the recent finds, integrating them with those of the previous field season.

Of interest to participants in this symposium is the abundance of Usulutan­like negative resist

pottery, diagnostic of El Salvador and Honduras but including locally­manufactured varieties. The

wide distribution of this ceramic style implies extensive geographic interaction, while the general

wealth of the burials indicates complex social hierarchy. Ongoing stable isotope and ancient DNA

analyses of the remains promise important insights into the biological profile of the ancient

inhabitants of Las Delicias.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Trade, exchange, production and consumption in pre-Columbian and colonial Lower Central America (Panama Nicaragua and Costa Rica)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage