Shadows of War, Shadows of Peace: Sites from El Salvador’s Civil War

Summary

The Salvadoran civil war, fought from 1980 to 1992, devastated the country and left 75,000 to 100,000 people dead. Much of the worst fighting was in the northeastern department of Morazán. Numerous battles were fought there, where several terrible civilian massacres occurred as well. Through most of the war, northern Morazán was a primary stronghold of the FMLN guerillas. The poster examines two civil war sites in northern Morazán. The first, Cerro Pelón - the northern spur of Cerro Gigante, was one of three neighboring mountains involved in numerous battles, especially in the early 1980s. Features there include foxholes, trenches, an air raid shelter, a fortification wall, and a bomb crater. The second site is related to the disarmament of the FMLN following the signing of the Chapultepec Peace Agreement in January 1992. Shipping containers monitored by U.N. observers, as well as by representatives of both sides, were used to deposit arms prior to their being decommissioned. The study integrates interview data and historical resources with the archaeological remains to elucidate the nature of the war and the succeeding peace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17053