Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Archaeology of the Colonial Period Gulf of Fonseca, El Salvador

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Under the supervision of Dr. Rosemary A. Joyce, Esteban Gomez will analyze data gathered during his archaeological excavation of Conchagua Vieja, an indigenous village site on the island of Conchaguita, in the Gulf of Fonseca, El Salvador. Based on ethnohistorical research, Conchagua Vieja was inhabited by Lenca-speaking peoples at the time of Spanish contact in 1524. Excavations at Conchagua Vieja will examine the changing nature of household level organization and external relations in response to the stress of social, political, and economic reorganization initiated by Spanish contact and colonial administration. Moments of culture contact, colonialism and missionization often disrupt access to resources, affect the nature and organization of household economic production, and alter the social practices that maintain intra-community social cohesion. To examine these changes archaeologically, detailed studies of activity areas at the household level will be undertaken to reveal past subsistence practices, production and processing, exchange, and links to wider regional and interregional spheres. Since food processing and consumption encompass so many of the activities one would expect to occur in residential areas, the determination of subsistence-related activities and activity areas is critical. To evaluate the organization of activity areas, this project will focus on architecture, portable artifacts and occupational debris, as well as examine micro-residues of plants and animals, and chemical signatures of activity areas. The goal is to observe the basic organizational principles of people in action. Archival documents and ethnohistoric accounts will be incorporated to provide a separate line of evidence to evaluate culture change and continuity at Conchagua Vieja, in particular, and to define the changes in economic and political structures that structured the residents' daily lives. Data gathered from excavations, laboratory analyses, and historical documentation will form the basis for a multi-scalar approach to examine social interaction at various levels: integration of households at the community level; economic networks within the Gulf of Fonseca region; and economic linkages with communities in other regions. Explaining higher order processes must begin with an understanding of local communities and patterns of domestic organization. Research at Conchagua Vieja will make a significant contribution to archaeological knowledge of economic networks in the Gulf of Fonseca, an under-studied region that was critical to inter-regional exchange both before and during colonization, and to the region's participation in broader networks of exchange and communication along the Pacific Coast and other regions of Central America. Beyond research questions of interest to social scientists, the project will have a broader impact by enhancing the level of public understanding of science at the local scale. In the Gulf of Fonseca, public outreach associated with the project will focus on the modern town of Conchaguita, and the Casa de Cultura of La Union, Department of La Union, El Salvador. The Casa de Cultura program is a federally sponsored initiative that aims to inform the general public of El Salvador's regional histories. Outreach efforts consist of school visits and lectures on archaeological research. Research at Conchagua Vieja will also provide field and laboratory training for undergraduate students at the Universidad Tecnologica of San Salvador, and will develop a collaborative research environment between U.S. researchers and Salvadoran institutions.