Playa de los Muertos

Playa de los Muertos (Beach of the Dead) is an archaeological site from the Middle Formative period and is located on the Honduras north coast, in the Ulua valley, however it has "had a continuous history going back as early as any sedentary society yet documented in Mesoamerica". Thought to at one time have been a village, Playa de los Muertos is primarily known through its burials and ceramics. Archaeologists have identified a strong Aztec and Mayan influence on the early inhabitants at Playa de los Muertos, however it is considered a distinct culture. The site is most notable for its finely made ceramic figurines, famously excavated by Dorothy Popenoe. These figurines, in particular those depicting the female form, have helped archaeologists interpret gender roles at the site. Archaeologists believe that people at Playa de los Muertos likely participated in long-distance trade networks which reach from Guatemala to the Gulf Coast Olmec centers.

The name "Playas de los Muertos" literally translated means "beaches of the dead" in Spanish.

Located on the Caribbean coast of northwest Honduras, the archaeological cemetery site of Playas de los Muertos is located on the Ulua River. It is also located 10 km from the archaeological site of Puertos Escondido which is located on a small tributary of the Chamelecón River, one of two tropical rivers that form the lower Ulua Valley on the Caribbean coast of Honduras.

George Byron Gordon first excavated the archaeological site of Playa de los Muertos from 1895 to 1897. Gordon conducted these excavations while touring Central America doing various excavations at sites across the continent. The information collected from Gordon's excavations gave important insight to the stratigraphic relationships between the various culture groups in the area. Particularly the analysis of pottery sherds helped in finding these relationships.

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