Archaeologists have discovered rare, 2,400-year-old puppets in El Salvador that may have been used in public rituals to perform well-known events that were "mythical or real." The finding suggests that the people of El Salvador were more integrated into the wider Central American culture than previously thought, a new study finds.
Archaeologists found the five ceramic figurines, depicting four females and one male, on top of a large pyramidal structure in 2022. The unexpected find, reported in the journal Antiquity on Wednesday (March 5), initially appeared to be part of lavish burial offerings. But because the archaeologists found no human remains onsite, the puppets' location at the tallest pyramid at the site instead hints that they were used for public rituals, the archaeologists said.
