Modern-World Archaeology at Ciudad Vieja, El Salvador

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Transformation of Historical Archaeology: Papers in Honor of Charles E Orser, Jr" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Founded in 1525, rapidly abandoned, and refounded in 1528, the first villa of San Salvador had a resident indigenous population many times greater than its Spanish population. Abandoned 1545-60, its brief occupation spans the crucial years of the Conquest period in Central America. The well-preserved ruins of this town, known today as the archaeological site of Ciudad Vieja, afford a rare opportunity for archaeological study of the dynamics of early Spanish-Indian cultural interaction. Modern-world archaeological research conducted at the site under my direction since 1996 emphasizes Orser’s haunts, the foundation, and structures in spatial and architectural study of the town, viewing it as an urban landscape to examine mutualistic  interaction of the different social groups of the town. The townscape formed the spatial matrix within which its inhabitants embodied the habitus of social and physical relations of their lives, structuring social encounters through the production and reproduction of social relationships.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• The Transformation of Historical Archaeology: Papers in Honor of Charles E Orser, Jr

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 181