June 17, 2009 A University of Colorado at Boulder team has
uncovered an ancient and previously unknown Maya agricultural
system -- a large manioc field intensively cultivated as a
staple crop that was buried and exquisitely preserved under a
blanket of ash by a volcanic eruption in present-day El Salvador
1,400 years ago. Evidence shows the manioc field -- at least
one-third the size of a football field -- was harvested just
days before the eruption of the Loma Caldera volcano near San
Salvador in roughly A.D. 600, said CU-Boulder anthropology
Professor Payson Sheets, who is directing excavations at the
ancient village of Ceren. The cultivated field of manioc was
discovered adjacent to Ceren, which was buried under 17 feet of
ash and is considered the best preserved ancient farming village
in all of Latin America. The ancient planting beds of the
carbohydrate-rich tuber are the first and only evidence of an
intensive manioc cultivation system at any New World archaeology
site, said Sheets. While two isolated