Joya de Ceren

Joya de Ceren is an ancient site of El Salvador located in the vicinity of San Juan Opico and Las Flores, in the department of La Libertad, in the central-western region of El Salvador.

Joya de Cerén is an archaeological site located at the Canton Joya de Cerén, in the Department of La Libertad in El Salvador. The property has an extension of 3,200 ha.

The archaeological site contains the remains of a pre-hispanic farming village that was covered by a volcanic eruption in the seventh century AD.

Around AD 500, the central and western parts of the territory of the modern Republic of El Salvador were buried beneath thick layers of volcanic ash from the Ilopango volcano. The area was abandoned until the ash layer had weathered into fertile soil and the Joya de Cerén settlement was founded. Not long afterwards, it was destroyed by the eruption of the Loma Caldera. The site was discovered during the construction of grain-storage silos in 1976, when a clay-built structure was exposed by a bulldozer. Excavations were resumed in 1989 and been continuing since that time.

The circumstances of the volcanic event led to the remarkable preservation of architecture and the artefacts of ancient inhabitants in their original positions of storage and use, forming a time capsule of unprecedented scientific value that can be appreciated in present times.

San Andres

San Andres is a prehispanic Maya site of El Salvador, whose long occupation began around 900 a. C.

San Andrés is a small Maya site just off the Panamerican Highway (CA-1). It has been excavated several times and the main acropolis is cleared. Since FUNDAR began to adiminster the site in May, 2005, security has been heightened and many improvements made. The Acropolis and the Great Plaza and are now open to visitors. The Campana is so fragile that, unless we can put a steel stair like the one at Cihuatán in, it will have to be viewed only from the Plaza. Access to the ruins is controlled for visitor safety and is through the museum. The 17th century indigo processing facility has been 

excavated and is also open to visitors.

Casa Blanca

A partially restored pyramid at Casa Blanca

Casa Blanca is a pre-Columbian Maya archeological site in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. The site possesses severalpyramids dating to the Late Preclassic period (500 BC – AD 250) and the Classic period (AD 250–900). This ruin is part of the Chalchuapa archaeological zone and displays influences from the Olmecs and from Teotihuacan. It is closely related to the ruins of Tazumal and San Andrés. The government purchased the park in 1977 and it was given the name of the coffee plantation upon which it was situated. There are many pyramids at Casa Blanca but only two have been partially restored. Casa Blanca is located in the department of Santa Ana. Casa Blanca has been closed to the public and is undergoing restoration work; it has a site museum with exhibits that include Maya ceramics and other artifacts.

Tazumal

The Tazumal in El Salvador; It is located in the heart of Chalchuapa, Department of Santa Ana to eighty kilometers west of the capital.

Tazumal was one of the first major Salvadoran sites to be scientifically excavated, by Stanley H. Boggs, who started the first of several field seasons in 1943 (Boggs also excavated at San Andrés and Cihuatán). The site is surrounded by the modern city of Chalchuapa and, unfortunately, not much of the site was purchased for the archaeological park. What you see today is the large pyramid, with its many remodelings and additions, and the ball court, badly damaged by its many years as part of the city cemetery. The Tazumal park also contains the large Olmec rock carving from finca Las Victorias.