San Andrés

San Andrés (Campana San Andrés), the primary regional center for the Zapotitán Valley in central El Salvador during the Late Classic period (650–900 ce). The site is located west of San Salvador, in the eastern part of the Zapotitán Valley, along the upper Río Sucio drainage. San Andrés covers approximately six square miles and includes about sixty mounds. Over 200 mounds are clustered around the site center.

San Andrés was first settled in the Preclassic period (400 bce–250 ce). Little is known about this initial occupation. The Ilopango volcano, just east of San Salvador, erupted violently about 250 ce, depositing a thick layer of ash over the site that rendered the area uninhabitable.

During the Late Classic, San Andrés was reoccupied and reached its zenith in size and power. Stylistically it is most strongly associated with the major Maya center of Copán, in southwestern Honduras, and with Tazumal, in the Chalchuapa region of western El Salvador. Artifacts such as Copador polychrome ceramics, pyrite mirrors, and finely carved jadeite suggest connections with these major Maya centers. The architectural plan of San Andrés is comparable to that of Copán, especially in its plaza-acropolis arrangement. The balustraded stairways at San Andrés are reminiscent of those at Tazumal and Copán.

Mound construction is of two types: adobe block cores, with wall facings and floors covered with mortar, as at Tazumal, and talpetate masonry walls covered with mortar. San Andrés structures included terraced pyramidal temples, residences, and walled courts. The majority of construction took place during the Late Classic period.

Postclassic (900–1400 ce) occupation of San Andrés, evinced by artifacts such as Nicoya polychrome ceramics, was sparse. Thus, it appears that San Andrés was heavily occupied for only the brief span of the Late Classic period, then was largely abandoned.

See alsoArchaeology .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Maurice Ries, "First Season's Archaeological Work at Campana-San Andrés, El Salvador," in American Anthropologist 42 (1940): 712-713.

John M. Dimick, "Notes on Excavations at Campana-San Andrés, El Salvador," in Carnegie Institution of Washington Yearbook 40 (1941): 298-300.

Stanley H. Boggs, "Notas sobre las excavaciones en la hacienda 'San Andres,' departmento de La Libertad," in Tzumpame 3, no. 1 (1943): 104-126.

John M. Longyear III, "Archaeological Survey of El Salvador," in Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 4, Archaeological Frontiers and External Connections, edited by Gordon Ekholm and Gordon Willey (1966).

Additional Bibliography

Fowler, William R., and Stanley A. South. Arqueología histórica de la Villa de San Salvador, El Salvador: Informe de las excavaciones (1996–2003.) Columbia: South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2006.

Sheets, Payson D. Before the Volcano Erupted: The Ancient Cerén Village in Central America. Austin: University of Texas, 2002.

Sheets, Payson D. The Cerén Site: An Ancient Village Buried by Volcanic Ash in Central America. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2006.

                                       Kathryn Sampeck