Just a few decades after the historic eruption, the Maya returned to build pyramids using the very materials ejected from the volcano.
Scientists have discovered that the Maya built the Campana Pyramid from volcanic rock fragments ejected during an eruption so powerful it cooled the Earth, Live Science reported on September 21.
The Campana Pyramid built by the Maya approximately 1,500 years ago. (Photo: Akira Ichikawa)
Around 539 AD, in what is now San Andrés, El Salvador, the Ilopango volcano erupted. This eruption, known as Tierra Blanca Joven (TBJ), is considered the largest volcanic event in Central America in the past 10,000 years. The volcano produced lava flows extending dozens of kilometers and expelled massive amounts of ash into the Central American atmosphere, causing a cooling effect in the Northern Hemisphere. Due to the destructive power of the volcano, scientists previously believed that many Maya settlements in the region might have been abandoned for centuries.
However, according to new analysis of the Campana Pyramid by Akira Ichikawa, an archaeologist at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB), the Maya returned much earlier and built this structure just a few decades after the eruption.
The new analysis also reveals that Maya builders incorporated blocks of stone and earth with volcanic tephra—fragments of rock and debris produced by volcanic eruptions. This is the first evidence showing that the Maya used volcanic tephra to construct pyramids. According to Ichikawa, this could reflect the spiritual significance of volcanoes in Maya culture.
The Campana Pyramid stands approximately 13 meters tall and is located 40 kilometers from the volcano. It was built on top of a platform that is 6 meters high, 80 meters long, and 55 meters wide. This platform also features four wide terraces and a large staircase at its center. It is the first public structure to emerge in San Andrés after the TBJ eruption.
Ichikawa used carbon samples taken from various building materials in the pyramid and dated them to between 545 and 570 AD. This indicates that the Maya returned and began constructing the pyramid much earlier than previously thought by scientists. The amount of volcanic tephra in the pyramid was also quite surprising, Ichikawa noted.
Scientists had previously found volcanic tephra in a sacbe (white road) of the Maya at Cerén. However, Campana is the first Maya pyramid discovered to utilize this material. With the road at Cerén, it is possible that the ancients believed that white ash volcanic tephra held significant religious or cosmic meaning due to its volcanic origin. Similarly, the material in the Campana Pyramid may also carry comparable importance.
