A Thousand Years after the Volcano Erupted: TBJ Deposits and Use at Ciudad Vieja, El Salvador

Summary

The impact of the eruption of Ilopango Volcano in the early sixth century A.D. has been a focus of Payson Sheets' research for more than four decades. The signature of this eruption is the distinctive "tierra blanca joven" (TBJ) layer found at sites in central and western El Salvador. Our excavations in 2013-15 at Ciudad Vieja, the archaeological remains of the Conquest-period town of San Salvador, have allowed us to identify a hitherto unknown site in the distribution of TBJ tephra. In some parts of the site, construction dating to 1528-1545 rests directly on eroded deposits of TBJ that fell about 1,000 years earlier. In other loci, redeposited TBJ was incorporated as part of the construction fill of architectural deposits, and it was an element in the construction of adobe and rammed earth walls. Modern brick makers in the region use TBJ as tempering material for fired clay bricks.

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)

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