Nejapa: architecture in a Pre-Hispanic village southwest of Managua

Abstract

This document refers to a six-year synthesis of archaeological studies developed in the Nejapa region, municipality of Managua, Nicaragua. The systemicity of the studies allowed to understand how the spaces and the constructive system of the houses that make up the remains of a small pre-Hispanic village that settled on the shores of the Laguna de Nejapa were structured, which is culturally linked to Chorotegas groups. Among other things, new and substantial data were obtained to better understand the way of life developed by the inhabitants who occupied this space in times before the arrival of European colonizers in the present national territory. In the pre-Hispanic village of Nejapa, thirteen possible houses have been identified, around a small central square, built on stones and earth. Only two of these structures have been intervened through an extension of archaeological excavations, which has allowed them to be known and corroborated by some data that are reflected in historical documents of travelers and chroniclers to the moment of the conquest of our America.