The Lost Village

More commonly known as the Lost Village, Ceren was a Classic Period village. Around 595 AD, the Loma Caldera volcano in north central El Salvador erupted with violence. The result was a mass of fiery ash and debris being spewed up to 16 feet deep and almost two miles long. The people living in Ceren, which was only one quarter of a mile from the center of the volcano, ran for their lives, leaving food on the dinner table as homes and fields were destroyed.

For over 1,400 years, this city lay forgotten, thus the name. However, in 1978, excavation was underway when a bulldozer accidentally opened the city, exposing everything perfectly preserved, as if people had simply walked away from the table. Experts are unable to determine the size of Ceren prior to the volcano eruption but through archaeological studies and excavations performed by the University of Colorado, we do know more about this civilization.

To date, excavations have shown that there was a civic building, sanctuary, four households, one sweat bath, and several agricultural fields. Interestingly, the very flash heat that preserved images at Herculaneum and Pompeii also left negative impressions of the agricultural crops. What these images show is that there were eight, 16-rows of corn, squash, manioc, beans, agave, and cotton. In addition, images also showed guava, cacao, and avocado orchids.

Many wonderful and interesting artifacts have been found to include wares used for cooking, storing food, and drinking chocolate. There has also been evidence uncovered relating to ceremonial and civic functions of the sweat bath, feast hall, and sanctuary. However, while all of these discovers are incredible, the people of Ceren are by far the most interesting. For instance, in one of the households, a number of things were discovered to include a cluster of four buildings, garden, and midden. Of these buildings, one was a home, two were made of daub and wattle construction, the roof was thatched, and the columns for supporting the roof at the four corners were adobe.

Inside one of the rooms, a raised bench was found along with two storage jars. In one of the jars, seeds were found and in the other jar, cotton fibers. Other finds included a spindle whorl, which suggested a spinning kit for thread. Another structure found in Ceren was a ramada with a roof but without walls. Then, a storehouse, which interestingly, was still full of storage jars, incensories, metates, hammer stones, and other tools that would have been used during that era, was still in tact. This storehouse still contained shelving, which was stocked with beans and other foods while chili peppers still hung from the rafters.

Although the people from Ceren, the lost village are long gone and the site has been abandoned for centuries, all of these findings have opened the door of opportunity, making this an excavators dream. Now being able to see this site with new technology has made Ceren one of the most incredible discoveries of our time.