Archaeological Adventures in El Salvador: A few Museo Fotos for you! (David J. Guzman Museo, San Salvador)

We went to the national museum in San Salvador a few times this trip. There we met with many officials and made sure that the government and local archaeologists were updated on our research, as well as our future plans. The is the museum to which we accession all of our artifacts when we are excavating. The museum has a special Joya de Ceren area that is well looked after and very restricted in access.

On one of these museum trips we made sure to take time to look around again. Within the last year they opened an area that shows the religions of El Salvador and information about Maya and Pipil religions. Those photos came out a bit strange given the red lighting in the room.

Enjoy a look at just some of the artifact and remember that as archaeologists we are much more interested in the information artifacts can tell us about the past than in the objects themselves!

Statue of Dr. David J. Guzman

Called the Virgin of Tazumal (no one seems to know why the stelea is called this)

Petroglyphs found in El Salvador

A Maguay Plant Cast from Ceren

Obsidian knives and blades

Various artifacts including Jade axes (upper left) and various ceramic vessels

Pole fence cast from Ceren

Mano and Metate (top) and two mortar and pestles (bottom)

Ceramic Vessel

Jaguar Marker

Jaguar with person in the mouth

(Huehueteotl- very old deity in Mesoamerica)

New Deity descriptions from the site

Tlaloc- Mesoamerican deity of rain/water

Quetzalcoatl- Mesoamerican deity known from many sites throughout Meso.

Jaguar Head

Lithic Escentric (9 similar ones were found in Honduras at the site of Copan- Payson will be the first to do a detailed study of these this coming fall. The skill with which these have been made continues to amaze archaeologists. It is thought was was a staff of office that might have been held by a ruler to symbolize their power. It has been interpreted as a ruler with a possible headdress and/or ancestors around this person.

Large ceramic vessel- the spikes are thought to represent a young ceiba tree (the ceiba tree is very important in Maya cosmology)

Toy with wheels- The Maya are not known to have used the wheel for anything other than toys

Ceramic Typology (Preclassic Period)

Display of a Preclassic Burial (There are very different ideas about excavating the dead from country to country. In general in Central America the display and excavation of human burials are very common and accepted by many communities- this is a much more contested practice in the United States for example)