New archaeological finds in El Salvador

An article at Travelio.net describes new archaeological finds in El Salvador. These discoveries were made by French archeologists:

One of the most remarkable findings was in Morazan, where they found a site with Maya motifs, when it had been previously believed that the Maya civilisation hadn’t extended beyond the Lempa River. In the same site, they found the remains of a fortress which probably predated the arrival of the Spanish, and had only been briefly mentioned in documents in the 1940s.

At La Union, they found a rock carving of a snake which had great similarities with the Jaguar Disc at the Maya site of Cara Sucia in Ahuachapan (El Salvador), found at the end of the 20th century. This illustrates the movement and possible commercial routes followed by the pre-hispanic peoples, and may indicate that the Lempa River wasn’t a static border and may have shifted through the times.

The investigators were also particularly interested in pottery found as this will help them date the sites more accurately and establish whether their ancient inhabitants had contact with other cultures.

According to experts, eastern El Salvador was a kind of crossroads for different civilisations, and that can be appreciated in its rock art which features elements from different places.

El Salvador has a number of archeological sites where scientists are learning the history of the ancient peoples who called the country their home. These sites include:

• Ceren
• San Andres
• Cihuatan
• Tazumal

You can also learn a great deal and see artifacts from these and other sites at the National Museum of Anthropology in San Salvador.