Doctoral Dissertation Research:The Ceramics of Ciudad Vieja, El Salvador: Culture Contact and Social Adaptation in Mesoamerica

Tulane University, New Orleans LA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. E. Wyllys Andrews V, Jeb J. Card will analyze the ceramic artifacts from the Spanish colonial site of Ciudad Vieja, El Salvador. Ciudad Vieja, the original settlement of San Salvador, is located outside of the modern metropolis. Historical documents place the occupation between 1528 - 1545 A.D., a very short period of time in archaeological terms. Ciudad Vieja was an outpost of the Spanish Conquest, the process of unraveling and transforming three thousand years of Mesoamerican civilization. Documentary information, especially of indigenous culture, is minimal for these early years but suggests that many of the socioeconomic patterns of the Spanish colonies, and later Latin America, only begin to take familiar forms after Ciudad Vieja was abandoned. Typically, archaeological study of this early Conquest period is hampered by modern urbanization and lack of tight chronological control. Ciudad Vieja is a rare Conquest-period Spanish center accessible to archaeological study. Historical records focus on the literate and the powerful, but people of all ethnicities and walks of life at Ciudad Vieja used and discarded pottery, the most common artifact class at the site. The Ciudad Vieja project has recovered ceramic vessels from a wide range of contexts including households humble and opulent, blacksmith's workshops, military posts, and the town hall. The short occupation means that all of these areas were in use at roughly the same time, mirroring the once-living community. The vessels discarded in and around these areas are forensic evidence of the day-to-day activities of one generation of colonists and local inhabitants participating in the very foundations of globalization. Patterning in these activities will reveal the socioeconomic relationships that formed the basis of this multiethnic society. Analysis of ceramic vessel construction techniques will probe economic production and distribution within San Salvador. Cross-culturally, people communicate information about themselves through the tableware they use to host guests. A significant proportion of serving vessels used at Ciudad Vieja incorporated local and European design ideas, reflecting the cultural interplay within early colonial society. Analysis of the design and distribution of these vessels will determine the scale of indigenous status display in the face of invasion and forced acculturation. The proposed research will have a broader impact on several levels. Card will work with El Salvadoran students from the Universidad Tecnologica de El Salvador, who will gain a solid background in laboratory and computer-aided statistical analysis. The Salvadoran government is currently preparing Ciudad Vieja as an archaeological park for the education of the Salvadoran and international public, and the results of Card's research will help inform the presentation of the site. As part of the Ciudad Vieja project, Card has presented research results in American scientific meetings and in Spanish-language publications in El Salvador, and the results of this study will be published in Spanish and English, in a variety of formats including refereed journals. Card will also be responsible for the design and growth of the Ciudad Vieja web presence, opening up the project's research to a large audience.