Buried Village Structures

13.8232°N, 89.3682°W.

The Buried Village Structures at Joya de Cerén in the Zapotitán Valley of central El Salvador are the most completely preserved residential structures of the Maya world — a small village buried by volcanic ash from the eruption of the Loma Caldera vent around 600 CE and undisturbed until 1976. The houses, granaries, kitchens, sweat baths, and workshops are constructed of bahareque (interwoven cane plastered with mud) and adobe with thatched roofs, all preserved by the rapid burial under up to 5 metres of fine ash. Excavations by Payson Sheets and the University of Colorado from 1978 onward have exposed twelve structures along with planted manioc fields, cooking utensils still on hearths, and food in storage jars. No human remains have been recovered — the village evacuated.

The Buried Village Structures are a snapshot of an ordinary Maya farming village left in the exact state the people walked away from it.