The Forgotten Area: The Archaeology of Morazán, El Salvador

Summary

The archaeology of the department of Morazán, in northeastern El Salvador, is poorly known. Several sites there were included in national site lists compiled in the 1920s and 1940s, and a small survey was conducted in the 1950s, but only one site, the Gruta del Espiritu Santo, has been thoroughly documented. Multiple reasons explain the dearth of archaeological research. Much of the worst fighting during the 1980s and 1990s civil war occurred in Morazán, which is also one of the poorest and most remote areas of El Salvador. The precolumbian Lenca and Ulua sites there tend to be smaller and less spectacular than many sites elsewhere in El Salvador. In 2015, Peace Corps began a project to document archaeological sites in Morazán and to survey a portion of the department to assist a larger tourism development project. We documented precolumbian sites including obsidian scatters and Lenca and Ulua settlements and hilltop fortresses. XRF sourcing of obsidian recovered from various settings suggests connections to Guatemala and Honduras. Historic and colonial sites include settlements, churches, and sites related to indigo and coffee, important colonial industries. Other sites consist of civil war battle locations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• After the Volcano Erupted: Papers in Honor of Dr. Payson Sheets (Part 1)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage