Joya de Ceren: The American Pompeii

At some point in the seventh century, the San Salvador volcano erupted, and buried the nearby village of Joya de Ceren in ash and sticky mud. Because the ash was cool when it came into contact with the village, it preservedit remarkably for over a milennia. The village of Joya de Ceren sometimes called the American Pompeii, has been excavated since the 1980s, and has given usa major glimpse into the lives of the common person living in Mesoamerica at the time.