Cihuatan (2011)

By Paul Amaroli (2011)

The Cihuatán Project is sponsored by the Fundación Nacional de Arqueología de El Salvador, FUNDAR (Karen Bruhns and Paul Amaroli, co-directors).  More information, including project reports, can be found at our two websites: www.fundar.org.sv andwww.cihuatan.org.  In addition to extending excavation permits, the government of El Salvador contributes to the project with workers and other resources under the aegis of the Dirección Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural (headed by Ramón Rivas) within the Secretaría de Cultura (under Héctor Samour). FUNDAR also co-manages the Cihuatán Archaeological Park in conjunction with the same government agency.  The Cihuatán Project has conducted investigations and conservation work at the site since 1999.

Figure 1: Aerial view of Cihuatan ceremonial center

The Ancient City of Cihuatán

With an extension of three square kilometers, Cihuatán was, by any definition, a city and is one of the country’s largest archaeological sites. It was founded in roughly AD 900-950, close to the concluding years of the Maya Collapse, and formed the capital of a new polity which dominated the western half of the territory of El Salvador where a number of affiliated sites have been identified.  Cihuatán and its domain flourished but briefly and collapsed by about AD 1100.  The collapse in this case is evidenced by a city-wide conflagration in Cihuatán and apparently also at many (or all?) of its subsidiary communities, followed by enduring abandonment (not a single case of reoccupation is presently known).  Arrow and lance points scattered in the burned debris of buildings strongly suggest that warfare was involved.  This ended the Cihuatán Phase. 

Figure 2: Plan view of Cihuatan

The Cihuatán Phase and its Origins

This phase, with Cihuatán as its type site, was defined by Wolfgang Haberland in 1960 (a later investigator proposed to rename this as the “Guazapa Phase”; while over the course of time we have used both terms, we now give due recognition to Haberland’s precedence).  Though local roots can be noted in the Cihuatán Phase, it has long been recognized, and is further substantiated by new work, that it also exhibits many traits new to southeastern Mesoamerica whose origins are apparently diverse, including central Mexico and the Gulf Coast. 

One prominent past explanation for these fascinating connections is that Cihuatán was literally established by the Toltecs and that its monumental center is a copy of that of Tula, Hidalgo.  This assertion, however, fails to find any support from modern studies conducted at both Cihuatán and at Tula.  For example, the Cihuatán Phase ceramic complex bears no direct relationship with Tula’s Tollan Phase ceramics aside from generic Early Postclassic modes.  And while the layout of Cihuatán’s monumental center was clearly built according to the new canons so widely spread throughout Mesoamerica at this time, even a cursory comparison shows no direct similarity to that of Tula.  It would seem that the pervasive internationalism of the Early Postclassic was alone responsible for several of the traits formerly labeled as “Mexican” or “Toltec” which are seen in the architecture and ceramics of Cihuatán.

But while we may safely discard the notion that Cihuatán was a Toltec colony, there are in fact impressive points of comparison between Cihuatán and contemporary central and southern Mexico.  The architecture of the city’s royal palace is directly comparable to central Mexican tecpan.  Often bearing striking scenes allusive to war and sacrifice, local Banderas Polychrome is the most abundant decorated ceramic found in Cihuatán’s palace and is closely related in its design and iconography to the (later) Mixteca-Puebla style polychromes of Cholula.  The Gulf Coast may have been the conceptual source for wheeled figurines, and large modeled ceramic representations of gods new to the area of Cihuatán, such as Tláloc and Xipe Tótec (sometimes as life-sized statues).  The founding leaders of Cihuatán may have included individuals from those regions.

Figure 3: Banderas Polychrome vessel

Figure 4: Tlaloc effigy

Figure 5: Mold and impression of life-size skeletal face

Our Current Fieldwork

The current (2011) season of the Cihuatán Project is focusing on two activities with the participation of students from the archaeology major at the Universidad Tecnológica de El Salvador (UTEC):

1. Documentation and conservation of Structure P-9

Over the years, the Cihuatán Project has done “mop-up” work at several structures at Cihuatán which were excavated in the 1970s but left exposed and, in most cases, were also left unreported.  Three decades or more of torrential rainy seasons caused severe erosion in these structures, threatening the loss of unrecorded features and even of the structures themselves.  We have carried out the documentation and conservation of part of the main pyramid (Str. P-7, excavated by Antonio Sol in 1929), a platform forming part of the North Ball Court (Str. P-5, also excavated by Antonio Sol), a small temple platform (Str. P-12, excavated by Earl Lubensky in 1978), and the North Wall (exposed by Gloria Hernández in 1975).  This season we are doing the same for Str. P-9 (excavated by William Fowler in 1978).  Str. P-9 is a square platform with four stairways, one on each side.  It is located in the main plaza of the ancient city.  Platforms of this general type exist in the plazas of many Postclassic cities in Mesoamerica, and early versions are found at Teotihuacan.  Of uncertain use, they are often referred to as adoratorios or as dance platforms.

Figure 6: Structure P-9

2. Further work in the royal palace of Cihuatán

The monumental core of Cihuatán covers some 35 hectares.  At its heart a very large platform, called the Acropolis, was built at the city’s highest point.  Survey and mapping work revealed surface indications of a substantial building containing large patios which suggested early on that this might be the location of an extensive elite residence.  Excavations conducted since 2004 support the identification of what we interpret to be the royal palace of Cihuatán.  Only about 5% of the structure has been excavated, but within this small sample we have found an impluvium, abundant evidence of a flat roof (azotea) supported by adobe brick walls and columns, part of a central patio, and a very large L-shaped area which we have provisionally named the Great Hall.  Many broken hollow ceramic almenas have been found along the edges of the collapsed roof, with a distribution indicating that these decorative elements were spaced about 1.5 meters apart along the building’s facade.  Large discs crafted of soft talpuja (lightly consolidated volcanic ash apparently cast in molds) were also used to decorate the palace’s façade. In its general characteristics, Cihuatán’s royal palace may be directly compared with the tecpan of central Mexico.  This is certainly the most distant example presently known of a tecpan, and since it dates to the Early Postclassic, is also among the earliest.
During this season, we have continued the documentation of the Great Hall, continued with the ceramic and other artifact analysis of materials from the Acropolis Palace and Great Hall, and are preparing for more extensive excavation when the rains cease in late October/early November.

Figure 7: Aerial view of Acropolis excavations

Figure 8: Palace excavations

Figure 9: Almena from palace