The Volcano That Went Boom: Payson Sheets’ Contributions to Understanding the Tierra Joven Blanca Eruption of the Ilopango Caldera, El Salvador

Summary

Payson Sheets’ seminal work on the Tierra Joven Blanca (TBJ) eruption of the Ilopango Caldera, El Salvador was one of the first projects to address the impact of large-scale disasters in Mesoamerica. The on-going research on this eruption has been important for understanding the event as well as developing method and theory for reconstructing the cultural impact(s) of sudden massive stresses. While originally dated to AD 290±110, the TBJ eruption has been re-dated to the mid 5-6th century and its scale increased to a VEI 6+. As a result, Sheets and colleagues propose that the eruption was not a simply a local phenomenon but may be casually linked to the world-wide AD 536 climatological event. This paper explores the role Dr. Sheets has played in understanding the differential development of resilience and vulnerability both within and between societies specifically related to the TBJ eruption of the Ilopango Caldera.

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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