Post by UKarchaeology on Nov 11, 2015 18:42:46 GMT
University of Colorado, Boulder and National Science Foundation—Continuing research at a Maya village in El Salvador—frozen in time by a blanket of volcanic ash from 1,400 years ago—shows farming families who lived there went about their daily lives with virtually no strong-arming by the elite royalty lording over the valley.
Instead, archaeological evidence indicates significant interactions at the village of Ceren took place among families, village elders, craftspeople and specialty maintenance workers. This research comes from a new University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) study, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Ceren is the best-preserved ancient Maya village in all of Latin America. In A.D. 660, the village was blasted by toxic gas, pummeled by lava bombs and then choked by a 17-foot layer of ash falling over several days after the Loma Caldera volcano, less than half a mile away, erupted.
Full story: popular-archaeology.com/issue/fall-2015/article/remarkably-preserved-ancient-maya-village-reveals-daily-life