Mysterious “dolls” found at the top of an ancient pyramid that causes scholars to scratch their heads

When thinking about ancient civilizations in Latin America, some different sites often come to mind. The Aztec can be easily depicted in the center of Mexico, Maya in the Yousan Peninsula, and the ina in Peru and Ecuador easily. But what about the rest of Central America? The ancient heritage in the region – outside the Mayan regions of Mexico, Billis and Guatemala – has not often estimated.

The first archaeologists in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were attracted to the ruins of the Mayan and other high civilizations in Mexico and South America. Meanwhile, many archaeological sites were looted in Central America Huqueros (“The grave thieves”). However, modern archaeologists have been working in recent decades to give the rest of the Central America the attention they deserve.

It is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras, the Central America Al Salvador is known to travelers for her amazing volcanoes. However, just like her neighbors, El Salvador has a rich cultural heritage in addition to its natural beauty.

Recently, a team of archaeologists from Warsaw University in Poland has discovered a mysterious in Tal in El Salvador, which provides a rare look at the wonderful culture in the region for 2400 years.

Archaeologists have discovered mysterious ceramic dolls

These dolls came “no connected chains”

San Issidro is an archaeological site in the west of El Salvador. Radio measurement dates of artifacts that were recovered in San Issidro indicate that the site was running during the intermediate period of late in Central America – somewhere around 410-380 BC According to the University of WarsawSan Isidro is more likely to be a large regional center on the southeastern border of Central America, and the Western margin of Central America. “

During the summer of 2022, a team of archaeologists from Warsaw University revealed a series of amazing artifacts from the top of the hill (the largest structure on the site) known as Cerrito 1 (“Cento“The little hill” means in Spanish.

After a few years of careful analysis and discovery, the discovery was Posted in March 2025 in the magazine Ancient times Written by Jean Szymański and Gabriela Prejs, both of whom are faculty members of archaeology at Warsaw University.

In American archaeology, the “hill” is an artificial structure, education or dirt works, created from layers of land or stone, such as Hill monks in Cahaukia in Illinois.

The team found five statues of human ceramic. Three statues were larger and made of creamy paste, while the other two were smaller and made of orange dough.

The three large sculptures are separate, with a socket -like association to secure them on their bodies. The heads of the larger statues also contain small holes in the upper part of them, which SZYMAńSKI and Prejs are believed to allow chains to pass through the head. Any chains may have originally included with the statues that have been a long -term decomposition.

The authors interpreted the statues as dolls, and wrote:

The size of the larger statues, along with the ability to move their heads, inevitably raises analogy with modern games dolls […] The statues may have served a set of purposes, effectively, Marionite or dolls in re -legislation of some scenes.

While the statues were broken in several places for thousands of years that they were on the ground, archaeologists believed that they were originally able to stand alone.

Al Salvador dolls were directed in a sacred direction

The dolls are found indicating the “world of death”

There is often a disturbing thing about the statues discovered in old sites. Perhaps this is because they fall into “Wadi Gharib” in their similarity with living human beings. Sometimes, this is due to the fact that artistic tastes change over time, and they do not look at modern eyes (such as The recent “strange” Obaid statues in Kuwait). The statues can look “nervous” when their cultural context is considered.

Through precisely excavation and documents, archaeologists registered the exact position of both El Salvador statues as they were discovered in Cerrito 1. It seems that all the five statues were originally standing in the face of the West, although some have turned in the situation over time due to the roots of the Polhour tree that grow over the site.

They understood Sizymański and Prejs are the importance of statues facing the West and explained that “in the universe in Central America, mostly known through the Maya culture, the West is linked to night and the world of death.”

“In the universe of Central America, often known through the Maya culture, the West is linked to night and the world of death.”

Archaeologists believe that the statues are directed towards the “world of death” can indicate that the site was used for funerary purposes.

While no burial has been recovered from Saint Issidoro yet, it is possible that any human being buried on the site may have disintegrated over time (the hot climate and moisture in Central America is terrible to maintain organic matter). The authors also suggested that the site may be a coffin.

Cenotap is a memorial for one person or a group of people buried elsewhere.

Dolls hint in society in the old Salvador

Archaeologists have found dolls, but what about brides?

While archaeologists study the artifacts extensively, their goal is to not understand the artifacts themselves, but people who made artifacts (“people, not utensils!” As the proverb says among anthropologists). Sizymański and Prejs posed this question in the paper, pointing to:

“Understanding the activity that included the burial of a row of statues is likely to bring us closer to revealing the main matters such as” brides ” – early societies in Western Salvador, the nature of their internal organization, leadership and customs.

Archaeologists believe that the statues were deposited on Cerrito 1 where the hill has been expanded. In the Americas before Colombia, the hills were believed to have been expanded from time to time by adding additional layers of the ground.

It seems that ritual activity and construction of huge architecture such as Cerrito 1 indicates a level of social hierarchical sequence in San Issidoro, and the authors believe that depositing dolls of discrimination at the top of the hill was to commemorate the deceased leader.

However, while the hill and dolls are evidence of a degree of social hierarchical sequence in the culture that lived in Saint Issidoro 2,400 years ago, archaeologists who explore the site did not see indications of a “divine ruler”.

The authors argued that “an increasing group of evidence indicates that, even in subsequent periods, the southern margin of Central America, especially the central northern valleys in Honduras, remained relatively equality, or at least avoid the extremist social class.”

Difficulty in Saint Issidoro is more than just curiosity. The site provides important evidence for archaeologists to understand a border area of ​​Central American culture during the important formative time in the pre -period.

Rituals and construction of the hill in San Issidoro will continue in all different regions of Central America in the following centuries, at the end of it at its peak in packages and The subsequent collapse of the classic Maya cities that appeared to be abandoned.

finally, Al Salvador may be known among travelers for being a beautiful beach holiday destinationBut it is much more; It is an integral cultural region in the development of American civilizations before Columbus.