ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Joya de Cerén

Joya de Cerén is a super special place that was discovered in El Salvador. It used to be a little village where people lived a long time ago, but it was buried under ash from a volcano eruption almost 2,000 years ago.

One day, some really smart people were looking for old things in El Salvador and they found the village underneath the ground! They were able to see how people lived a long time ago by looking at the things they had left behind, like their houses, pots, and tools.

It's kind of like digging up a time capsule - you know how you might make a time capsule in school and put a bunch of stuff inside, and then dig it up later and see what you put in there? The researchers found a time capsule of the village under the ground, and it helped them learn a lot about how people lived a long time ago.

The best part is, the village was so well-preserved under the ash that everything looks almost like it did when people used to live there. It's a really important archaeological site that helps us understand history, and it's also a really cool place to visit and imagine what life was like so long ago.