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ISSN 1989-4104 |
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ISSN 1989-4104 |
 1.03 MBKaren Olsen Bruhns & Paúl E. Amaroli Bertolucci • español
Abstract. Round temples in Mesoamerica have been commonly ascribed to Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the God of Wind and Air, on the basis of conquest period chronicles referring to such buildings. Round structures have been rarely reported on the southeastern frontier of Mesoamerica and none has previously been adequately documented or published. A recently excavated round structure at the Early Postclassic site of Cihuatán in western El Salvador raises questions concerning its possible use. The platform, unfinished at the time Cihuatán was burned and abandoned, could have been intended to be either a temple to Ehécatl or a gladiatorial platform for sacrifices to Xipe Tótec, two Mexican deities whose presence in El Salvador is attested to by archaeological evidence from other sites.
Keywords: round temples, Early Postclassic, Cihuatán, Mesoamerica.
Karen Olsen Bruhns (kbruhns@sfsu.edu) received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967. An Emerita Professor of Anthropology at San Francisco State University, she has directed field projects in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Ecuador. She is the author of Ancient South America (Cambridge 1994), Women in Ancient America (University of Oklahoma Press, 1999, with Karen Stothert) and Faking Ancient America (Left Coast Press, in press, with Nancy L. Kelker), 3 monographs and over 70 papers on various aspects of Mesoamerican and northern Andean archaeology, gender, cultural property issues and cultural heritage management. She is co-director of the Cihuatán/Las Marías Archaeological Project with the Fundación Nacional de Arqueología de El Salvador (FUNDAR).
Paúl E. Amaroli B. is an ABD from Vanderbilt University and staff archaeologist for FUNDAR where he is co-director of the Cihuatán Project. FUNDAR develops, improves, and manages the archaeological parks of El Salvador as well as consulting with civic and governmental groups about heritage preservations issues. He has more than 20 years’ involvement with Salvadoran archaeology working with the Salvadoran government, on US governmental contracts, NGO projects, and consultancies and has taught at a number of universities in El Salvador. He is the author of numerous papers and reports on various aspects of Salvadoran archaeology.
How to cite this publication:
Bruhns, K. O. & P. E. Amaroli. 2009. An Early Postclassic Round Structure at Cihuatán, El Salvador. Arqueología Iberoamericana 2: 35-45. http://www.laiesken.net/arqueologia/archivo/2009/02/3_en. Publication date: 19-06-2009.
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