Ceramic Sequences in El Salvador

Abstract

AbstractField trips in 1953-54 and 1958 and the checking of about 150 sites provide the background for these preliminary sequences. El Salvador is divided into three cultural regions. Western El Salvador is strongly linked with Guatemala and Mesoamerica while the eastern region is basically Central American. The central part of the country is heavily influenced by both of the other regions with the Mesoamerican component predominating. In the western sequence the Atiquizaya phase is connected with the Las Charcas or Providencia phases in the Guatemalan Highlands and the Cuyagualo phase with the Full Classic material at Copán. The latest complex in the western region, the Majahual phase, possibly flourished during the conquest period on the western shore. The central sequence begins with the Tovar complex about 700 B.C. and ends with the Cihuatan phase which demonstrates the Pipil domination of this region in later times. In eastern El Salvador, where archaeological knowledge begins with the footprints of La Rama at about 1500 B.C., several complexes with wares made in the Usulutan technique developed. The eastern sequence culminates in the Lower Lempa culture about A.D. 1000.