Puerto Escondido
Puerto Escondido Hondurus · CR-372 Ulúa Valley
Early Formative to Terminal Classic 1600 BCE–900 CE, peak Early-Middle Formative 1400–400 BCE·Preclassic Maya-adjacent (Ulúa Valley Formative, Ocotillo/Playón ↔ Olmec-linked)·🇭🇳 Cortés Department, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
About
About Puerto Escondido
Early village CR-372 in Lower Ulúa Valley suburbs of San Pedro Sula with continuous occupation 1600 BCE–900 CE; yielded earliest cacao residue in Mesoamerica (1150 BCE) in pottery, Olmec-style figurines, and GPR-mapped residential platforms. Cornell-Berkeley field schools excavated residential structures with ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry 2007.
Why it mattersEarliest documented cacao domestication/use (1150 BCE) and early village formation in Honduras challenging Mesoamerican periphery model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01How cacao reached Ulúa Valley 400 years before Olmec heartland evidence
- 02Whether residential platforms tracked Formative population boom
Theories
- 01Ulúa Valley cacao corridor to Olmec Gulf via river exchange
- 02Early village aggregation driven by cacao ritual economy
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1600 BCE–900 CE (Early Formative to Terminal Classic; peak Formative 1400 BCE–400 CE)
- Period
- Early Formative to Terminal Classic 1600 BCE–900 CE, peak Early-Middle Formative 1400–400 BCE
- Culture
- Preclassic Maya-adjacent (Ulúa Valley Formative, Ocotillo/Playón ↔ Olmec-linked)
- Builders
- Preclassic Maya-adjacent
- Purpose
- Earliest village in Ulúa Valley with Olmec-style ceramic and earliest cacao use (1150 BCE), residential platform hamlet
- Excavation
- Excavated
c.1600 BCE–900 CE (Early Formative to Terminal Classic; peak Formative 1400 BCE–400 CE)
Initial construction
400 BCE
Major occupation / refurbishment
On the ground
Structures & features
15.4430° N · 87.9430° W · 25 m · 2 mapped features
Formative residential platform
house8×6 m plaster-floor house with cacao vessel cache
15.4440° N · 87.9420° WCacao vessel midden
middenMidden with 30 cacao-residue sherds 1150 BCE
15.4420° N · 87.9440° W