The End of Pre-Columbian Pipil Civilization, Ciudad Vieja, El Salvador
With contributions by: Jeb J. Card, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University

Introduction

The research presented in the following pages was directed at advancing knowledge of the late pre-Columbian Nahuat-speaking Pipils of El Salvador with detailed analyses of the material culture of the conquest-period site of Ciudad Vieja, which a small number of Spanish residents shared with Pipils and other indigenous Mesoamericans. At the time of the Spanish conquest in 1524, the Pipils were the dominant indigenous culture of El Salvador, occupying about two-thirds of the territory of the modern republic (Fowler 1989, 1991b). Two major Pipil polities dominated the area: the small Izalcos kingdom in the west and the larger Cuscatlán kingdom in the central region. While the late pre-Columbian Pipils are well-known through ethnohistoric research (Fowler 1989), they are virtually unknown archaeologically. This lack of knowledge calls for increased archaeological research on the ancient Pipils during the Late Postclassic and Conquest periods.

More than 35 years ago, John Longyear (1966:145) stated in a survey article on the prehistoric archaeology of El Salvador, "the Postclassic period in central and western El Salvador is represented for the most part by a fairly large number of isolated, undocumented pottery and stone objects." Since these words were written, some advances have been made in our knowledge of the Early Postclassic (Bruhns 1980; Fowler 1981, 1989; Kelley 1988), but Late Postclassic Pipil culture remains largely unknown and poorly understood. Late Postclassic sites of the Pipil area have proven elusive. In many cases, they probably lie beneath modern settlements. In the Zapotitán Basin, a densely populated Pipil region where at least 14 Pipil settlements are known historically for the time of the conquest, Black (1983) found only five Late Postclassic sites in an extensive survey (cf. Sheets 1984:107). Since the Zapotitán Basin survey covered a 15% sample, the five sites could be extrapolated to a predictable 33 sites. In a survey of the region surrounding Antiguo Cuscatlán, supposedly the location of the ancient Pipil capital, Amaroli (1986) found scant Late Postclassic ceramic materials and no Late Postclassic structures or features. In the Paraíso Basin region of north-central El Salvador, the region surrounding Ciudad Vieja, Fowler and Earnest (1985) recorded no Late Postclassic sites. Andrews (1976) has noted a similar lack of Late Postclassic material for eastern El Salvador.

Fortunately, this gap in our knowledge of late pre-Columbian Pipil culture has now been partially filled. We have conducted full-scale, detailed analysis of the material culture of the site of Ciudad Vieja, the ruins of the first permanently occupied villa de San Salvador, located 10 km south of Suchitoto, El Salvador (Figure 1, shown above). Founded in 1528 and abandoned in 1545, the population of San Salvador was predominantly indigenous, composed mostly of pre-Columbian Pipils, Tlaxcaltecs, and other indigenous Mesoamericans. A small contingent of Spanish conquistadors accompanied by thousands of Tlaxcaltec and other Mexican auxiliary forces invaded the area in 1524.  Other non-Pipil Mesoamerican ethnic groups who participated included Tetzcocans, Huexotzincans, Tepeyacans, Mexicas, Mixtecs, Soconusco Nahuas, and Kaqchikel Mayas (Fowler 1989:135). The Spaniards founded the first villa of San Salvador in 1525, probably also at the site of Ciudad Vieja. The Pipils rebelled and drove out the Spaniards in 1526 (Barón Castro 1996:39-44). Pipil resistance waned by 1528, allowing the Spaniards and their indigenous allies to reenter and to found a more permanent settlement, the second villa of San Salvador (Barón Castro 1996:87-91, 197-202). This new town was built in an area to the north of Cuscatlán Pipil territory that apparently had little or no indigenous settlement at the time of the conquest (Fowler and Earnest 1985). It is reasonable to suppose that the region served as a buffer zone between the Pipils to the west and south and the Lencas to the east.

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