Joya de Ceren is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in El Salvador, known as the “Pompeii of the Americas”. It was a Mayan farming village that was buried in volcanic ash in 590 AD, preserving its way of life. Excavations have revealed over 70 structures, pottery, furniture, utensils, and preserved plants and foods, including cassava and cocoa, which was previously thought to be only for the elite.
Joya de Ceren is a preserved village in El Salvador. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been since 1993. The name simply means “Jewel of Ceren” and is one of El Salvador’s most popular tourist attractions.
Joya de Ceren was a Mayan village that was populated before European contact with the Americas. It was a relatively small farming village, located on the edge of the Mayan civilization. It was first settled in the 9th or 10th century BC and remained settled for more than a millennium. Around the middle of the 3rd century it was abandoned following the eruption of the Ilopango volcano, but by the beginning of the 5th century it was repopulated and flourished again.
In the year 590, another volcano, Loma Caldera, erupted and buried Joya de Ceren in fourteen layers of volcanic ash. Unlike some preserved sites, the residents of Joya de Ceren appear to have had enough warning of the Loma Caldera eruption that they could escape and were not preserved by ash. Their entire way of life, however, has been caught halfway, like an archaeological snapshot.
Joya de Ceren is often compared to Pompeii, and is sometimes called the Pompeii of the Americas. There are many similarities between the sites, both in the literal preservation of the villages, and in the archaeological importance of the finds, but there are also significant differences, and Joya de Ceren is a place in its own right.
Since its discovery in 1976, all kinds of things have been discovered in Joya de Ceren. More than seventy distinct structures have been excavated and countless pottery vessels, furniture and utensils have been discovered. Meals were also found, left unfinished by inhabitants apparently in a great hurry to get away from Joya de Ceren as soon as possible.
Perhaps some of the most interesting discoveries at Joya de Ceren have been those of preserved plants and foods. Cassava has been found grown in Joya de Ceren, which marks the earliest known example of its cultivation in the Americas.
Cocoa was also found in Joya de Ceren, in various pots in numerous houses. It is known that the Mayans regularly drank a drink made from cocoa, with a foamy foam. Cacao remains have been found in clay vessels at a number of Classic Maya sites throughout Central America and Mexico. For many years, however, it was assumed that cocoa was a drink reserved for the elite caste of priests and royalty. The cocoa plant is difficult to grow and its ritual use has led some to believe it is consumed. Its discovery at Joya de Ceren shows quite clearly that cocoa was in fact valued by all classes of Maya, at least in this remote village.
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