Joya de Cerén Archaeological Site

A sudden eruption of the Laguna Caldera volcano buried the Maya farming village of Joya de Cerén around AD 600 under metres of ash — and, as at Pompeii, catastrophe became preservation. Houses, storerooms, a sweat bath and planted fields survive exactly as their inhabitants abandoned them, offering an unmatched picture of everyday rural life in ancient Central America. El Salvador's only World Heritage Site was inscribed by UNESCO in 1993.