The data collected from the long history of archaeobotanical research at Cerén suggests that these ancient rural agriculturalists practiced sustainable land management strategies and incorporated a diverse assemblage of tree species into their daily practices.
Additionally, various fruit trees were cultivated within the village center, as evidenced by limb, trunk and fruit impressions preserved as plaster casts.
Wood charcoal recovered via flotation samples taken throughout the archaeological site reveal the surrounding ecosystems that Cerén villagers would have exploited to regularly obtain their wood resources. While Cerén has unusually good preservation of earthen-made household structures, gardens, and extensive outfields growing maize, manioc, and numerous weedy species, this article will review the collection of anthracological remains recovered from excavations at the site since 1978. The Late Classic Maya village of Joya de Cerén's extraordinary preservation caused by the Loma Caldera volcanic eruption around 650 CE allows for a unique opportunity to understand what plant species ancient Mesoamerican farmers utilized in their daily lives for food consumption, medicinal applications, fuel, and construction purposes. The study reveals that the ancient sacbe supplied an easy, dry, and efficient mode of transportation of goods among Cerén’s agricultural fields. Recovered plant remains reveal trends associated with each cultural context as well as distance from the site center, and offer an essentially economic perspective of Maya sacbeob. sagittalis seeds, Physalis angulata seeds, and abundant charcoal remains. cotyledons, Amaranthaceae seeds, Fimbristylis dichotoma achenes, Mollugo verticillata seeds, Portulaca oleracea seeds, Crotalaria cf. acmella achenes, Zea mays cob fragments, Phaseolus sp. Prominently represented in these samples are Spilanthes cf. Three main categories of plant remains emerged from the data: annual crops, weedy species, and tree species. Through careful paleoethnobotanical analysis, more than 140,000 carbonized seeds, achenes, charcoal specimens, and other plant parts that were present on the cultural activity surfaces at Cerén when Loma Caldera erupted were recovered. The project systematically collected 62 macrobotanical samples and 160 flotation samples processed in a water flotation tank. Because the plant remains found in association with this sacbe were well preserved, a rare occurrence in Mesoamerica, the data recovered from Cerén are quite significant to the study of Maya plant use activities as well as Maya causeways. Plant remains were retrieved from the sacbe surface, adjacent drainage canals, and agricultural fields on either side of the sacbe. Paleoethnobotanical research conducted during the 2013 field season at the Classic Maya archaeological site Joya de Cerén in El Salvador focused on the analysis of plant remains found on the surface and associated features of a Late Classic period sacbe (causeway) that were well protected beneath tephra deposited by the volcanic eruption of Loma Caldera around AD 650.