Structurally Speaking; Architecture of El Rayo and the Greater Nicoya Region

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.

Located on the shore of Lake Nicaragua, El Rayo is a unique archaeological site, enriched with a large material base and many examples of human burial practices. Dating from the Late Bagaces Period (500-800 CE) to the Sapoa Period (800-1300 CE), El Rayo’s stone architectural features cover both major timeframes, indicating a significant occupation of the site, and the importance of the site to the communities which would have inhabited the region. While a great deal of attention has been paid to the burial elements of the site, the functionality of the architecture has been overlooked. El Rayo displays a range of architectural variation. In hopes of bridging the gap, this paper examines the structures excavated at El Rayo, concluding with comparisons to other sites in the Greater Nicoya region.

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25150