Live Science8%
Archaeologists find 2,800-year-old burial of person clutching sea turtle vessel in El Salvador 37%
By Kristina Killgrove15%
7/25/2026, 1:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Ambiguity (Equivocation), Confirmation Bias, and Unattributed Quote, with Hasty Generalization as the most egregious example at 16.6% saturation with 77 hits. Analysis detected 611 faulty-reasoning hits from 465 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.4% and a BS Rank of 37% (13,901 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 63.50% of the article peer group.
Archaeologists in El Salvador have uncovered the unusual burial of a face-down human skeleton that was interred along with a ceramic vessel shaped like a sea turtle nearly 3,000 years ago.
The burial may be from a pre-Maya civilization that practiced human sacrifice.
According to a translated statement from El Salvador's Ministry of Culture, the burial was found July 2 in Antiguo Cuscatlán, a suburb of San Salvador, during excavation work directed by Carlos Flores Manzano, an archaeologist and doctoral student at Yale University.
Although the skeleton has not been radiocarbon-dated yet, it was discovered underneath a layer of volcanic ash from an eruption of the Plan de la Laguna volcanic crater thought to date to between 850 and 830 B.C., during the Middle Preclassic period (roughly 1000 to 400 B.C.) in Mesoamerica.
During this period, societies in southeastern Mesoamerica were becoming more sedentary and developing more complex cultures, archaeologists have found.
But in addition to the archaeological remains of crop cultivation and painted ceramics discovered over the years in Antiguo Cuscatlán, experts have pointed to some burials as evidence of human sacrifice — and the newly uncovered burial may be similar.
In the late 1970s, archaeologist William R.
Fowler excavated at Chalchuapa, an ancient town east of Antiguo Cuscatlán with thousands of years' worth of history.
While digging in an area known as Structure E3-7, Fowler found 33 human skeletons — mostly adult males — that he interpreted as sacrifices of war captives due to signs that their feet and arms were bound.
According to the El Salvador Ministry of Culture's statement, the newly uncovered burial is likely not the only one in the area.
Archaeologists may eventually find a burial mound with several dozen skeletons, similar to what Fowler uncovered at Chalchuapa.
However, Fowler's interpretation of human sacrifice has been questioned in recent years, including by Flores Manzano in a 2020 study.
Instead of being linked to sacrifice, the unusual burial position might be related to an ancient understanding of the cosmos and underworld, Flores Manzano told Diario El Salvador.
If that's the case, the sea turtle ceramic vessel found near the skeleton's hand may be associated with Orion's Belt, which features in later Maya astronomy as part of a sacred journey.
The fragile burial was encased in plaster before being removed for further study.
Flores Manzano said the skeleton will now undergo chemical analysis so researchers can learn more about the individual's life, diet and possible cause of death.
He expects the analyses to take about a year, after which the results will be announced to the public.
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100%flagged-word coverageEl Salvador Ministry of Culture
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