13.9830°N, 89.1670°W.
Cihuatan is an Early Postclassic urban center in central El Salvador, occupied between approximately 900 and 1200 CE. The city was founded in the wake of the Maya Classic collapse and shows strong cultural ties to central Mexico — including ceramic forms derived from the Mazapan style of the Toltec sphere — suggesting either Pipil migrants from central Mexico or extensive trade and political contact with the Toltec heartland. The city covers approximately 3 square kilometres and is dominated by a great ceremonial center including a stepped pyramid 13 metres high, twin pyramid platforms, two ballcourts, and elite residential compounds. Construction is of stone, adobe, and earth fill with stucco facing. The site was burned and abandoned in a violent destruction event around 1200 CE, sealing the final occupation surface beneath collapse debris. Stanley Boggs, William Fowler, and Paul Amaroli have conducted long-term research.
The principal pyramid still stands above the surrounding sugarcane fields.