Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America

Published by University of Texas Press 2002

Before the Volcano Erupted

The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America

Edited by: Payson D. Sheets

https://doi.org/10.7560/777613

Overview
Contents

About this book

On an August evening around AD 600, residents of the Cerén village in the Zapotitán Valley of what is now El Salvador were sitting down to their nightly meal when ground tremors and loud steam emissions warned of an impending volcanic eruption. The villagers fled, leaving their town to be buried under five meters of volcanic ash and forgotten until a bulldozer uncovered evidence of the extraordinarily preserved town in 1976. The most intact Precolumbian village in Latin America, Cerén has been called the "Pompeii of the New World."

This book presents complete and detailed reports of the excavations carried out at Cerén since 1978 by a multidisciplinary team of archaeologists, ethnographers, volcanologists, geophysicists, botanists, conservators, and others. The book is divided into sections that discuss the physical environment and resources, household structures and economy, special buildings and their uses, artifact analysis, and topical and theoretical issues.

As the authors present and analyze Cerén's houses and their goods, workshops, civic and religious buildings, kitchen gardens, planted fields, and garbage dumps, a new and much clearer picture of how commoners lived during the Maya Classic Period emerges. These findings constitute landmark contributions to the anthropology and archaeology of Central America.

Author / Editor information

Payson Sheets is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado.

Reviews

Overall, Before the Volcano Erupted will open the eyes of many Mesoamerican archaeologists to the magnitude of what they may normally be missing, and will stand as a widely cited benchmark for years to come. It is a must-buy for Mayanists, most Mesoamerican archaeologists and students of volcanic archaeology, but archaeologists in general will find it a phenomenally interesting read.

— The Holocene

The level of insight and reconstruction possible at Cerén is almost unparalleled in archaeology, certainly in the New World. . . . It’s a remarkable story.

— Paul Healy

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface: Payson Sheets Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Chapter 1 Introduction: Payson Sheets, with an Appendix by Brian R. McKee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part one Multidisciplinary Research
Chapter 2 Volcanology, Stratigraphy, and Effects on Structures C. Dan Miller Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
Chapter 3 Geophysical Exploration at Cerén Lawrence B. Conyers and Hartmut Spetzler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Chapter 4 Cerén Plant Resources: Abundance and Diversity David L. Lentz and Carlos R. Ramírez-Sosa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Part Two Household Archaeology
Chapter 5 Ancient Home and Garden: The View from Household 1 at Cerén Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett, Scott E. Simmons and David B. Tucker Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Chapter 6 Household 2 at Cerén: The Remains of an Agrarian and Craft-Oriented Corporate Group Brian R. McKee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	58
Chapter 7 Structure 16: The Kitchen of Household 3 Inga Calvin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
Chapter 8 Structure 4: A Storehouse-Workshop for Household 4 Andrea I. Gerstle and Payson Sheets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	74
Part three Special Buildings
Chapter 9 The Civic Complex Andrea I. Gerstle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Chapter 10 Structure 9: A Precolumbian Sweat Bath at Cerén Brian R. McKee Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
Chapter 11 Structure 10: Feasting and Village Festivals Linda A. Brown and Andrea I. Gerstle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Chapter 12 Divination at Cerén: The Evidence from Structure 12 Scott E. Simmons and Payson Sheets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	104
Part four Artifacts
chapter 13 Ceramics and Their Use at Cerén Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett and Ronald L. Bishop Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
chapter 14 The Chipped Stone Artifacts of Cerén Payson Sheets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
Chapter 15 Groundstone Artifacts in the Cerén Village Payson Sheets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
chapter 16 Household and Community Animal Use at Cerén Linda A. Brown Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
Chapter 17 Artifacts Made from Plant Materials Harriet F. Beaubien and Marilyn Beaudry-Corbett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Part five Topics and Issues of Cerén Research
Chapter 18 The Conservation Program at Cerén Harriet F. Beaubien Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Chapter 19 Household Production and Specialization at Cerén Payson Sheets and Scott E. Simmons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
chapter 20 Cultivating Biodiversity: Milpas, Gardens, and the Classic Period Landscape Payson Sheets and Michelle Woodward Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Chapter 21 Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Community of Joya de Cerén Carlos Benjamín Lara M. and Sarah B. Barber Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Chapter 22 Summary and Conclusions Payson Sheets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	197
Glossary Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221

Language: English
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 238

eBook

Published: January 1, 2010
ISBN: 9780292798786