El Salvador 2,400 Years Ago

A Bigger Role A set of 2,400-year-old ceramic puppets discovered on top of a pyramid in El Salvador is reshaping how archeologists view the region’s ancient past. In 2022, archeologists unearthed five rare figurines at the San Isidro site in what is now western El Salvador, dating from around 400 BCE. The ceramic figures – four women and one man – are believed to have played a central role in ritual performances, possibly reenacting “readily decodable events, mythical or real,” the researchers explained in their new study. “This finding is only the second such a group found in situ, and the first to feature a male figure,” lead author Jan Szymański, an archeologist at the University of Warsaw, said in a statement. Three of the puppets – measuring nearly one foot tall – have articulated heads and expressive faces that seem to shift with the viewer’s perspective. “Seen from above they appear almost grinning, but when looked at from the level angle they turn angry or disdainful, to become scared when seen from below,” Szymański explained. “This is a conscious design, perhaps meant to enhance the gamut of ritual performances the puppets could have been used in.” Though first assumed to be grave goods, the absence of human remains and the placement of the figurines atop a prominent pyramid led researchers to believe they were meant for public rituals. The researchers also recovered other figurine fragments, including parts that may depict a birth scene. They explained that these puppets closely resemble others found in Guatemala and are accompanied by jade pendants typical of cultures in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama – suggesting that the site’s elites were part of a wider cultural and trade network. Once believed to be culturally isolated, El Salvador was long considered a peripheral player in ancient Central America because of its volatile geography and limited archaeological record. Volcanic eruptions, such as the catastrophic Ilopango blast around 400 CE, buried many ancient settlements and erased much of their artifacts. Large-scale excavations have also been difficult because of the region’s high population density today, according to Live Science. However, the recent discoveries challenge those assumptions and hint that El Salvador may have been far more connected to its Central American neighbors than previously thought. “This discovery contradicts the prevailing notion about El Salvador’s cultural backwardness or isolation in ancient times,” added Szymański. “It reveals the existence of vibrant and far-reaching communities capable of exchanging ideas with remarkably distant places.” Share this story