The Ceramics of San Antonio, a Site on the Pacific Coastal Plain of Chinandega, Nicaragua

Summary

Since 2009, Florida Atlantic University has been carrying out archaeological survey and excavation in the Department of Chinandega, Nicaragua jointly with the Dirección de Patrimonio Cultural. Objectives of this research include establishing an artifact sequence and studying sociocultural processes such as the evolution of social complexity, interregional interaction, and migration. Found in 2009, the site of San Antonio is located between the cities of El Viejo and Chinandega. A single 2x2 m test pit and a 50 cm diameter shovel test were excavated at the site. In the summer of 2015, I studied the San Antonio ceramics using the Type: Variety mode system of classification. I found that the assemblage was dominated by Late Preclassic Usulután related groups and wares, including Izalco, Olocuitla, and Bolo; and Pinos Brown-black and Canchon Fine Incised; and Santa Tecla Red. The deposit exhibits cultural stratigraphy. Modest quantities of apparently later unslipped and red-slipped wares occur above the higher of two floors revealed in the excavation; below that floor and associated with a second, lower floor, the Late Preclassic deposit is uncontaminated with later materials. I interpret the site as containing a Uapala or Verbena-Arenal sphere occupation closely linked to contemporaneous cultures in El Salvador.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Cerámica sin Fronteras: Defining Cultural Phenomena at the Intersection of Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua

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