BOULDER, COLORADO—Excavations under the direction of Payson Sheets of the University of Colorado, Boulder, continue at Cerén, a Maya village in El Salvador that was buried under 17 feet of volcanic ash in A.D. 660. Recent research suggests that the estimated 200 people who resided in the farming village lived with little influence from elites over their architecture, crop choices, religious activities, and economics. Among the 12 buildings that have been uncovered are living quarters, storehouses, workshops, kitchens, religious buildings, and a community sauna. Specialty items, including jade axes, have been found in most of the households. Sheets and his team think that the Cerén commoners may have traded with Maya elites in nearby towns for these objects. The team is also investigating a sacbe, or roadway made from packed ash, where they have found more than a dozen footprints to the south of the village. “More than half of the footprints were headed south away from the village, away from the danger. I think at least some of them were left by people fleeing the eruption,” Sheets said in a press release from the National Science Foundation. To read more about Cerén, go to "Off the Grid."
