New Views on the Ancient City of Cihuatán

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since half a century ago, it has been recognized that the Early Postclassic in the territory of western El Salvador represents a sweeping departure from its Classic period antecedents, as seen in the type site of Cihuatán. Its nature has been variously described as generically Mexican, or central Mexican and Gulf Coast, and even more specifically, as Toltec. Mass migration and integration with the Postclassic Mesoamerican world system have both been given as explanations for this "mexicanization". Recent investigations at Cihuatán and affiliated sites have provided new information serving to enrich the discussion of the origins and the sociopolitical organization of this Early Postclassic city and its realm. Study of a terminal context has provided a new view of how and when occupation abruptly ceased at Cihuatán. The foregoing also has implications for the interpretation of Cihuatán as ancestral to the historic Pipil.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Reconstructing the Political Organization of Pre-Columbian Nicaragua

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25912