The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Una Historia Indígena de Arcatao, El Salvador

Arcatao queda en la esquina noreste de Chalatenango, El Salvador, fronterizo con Honduras. Es un lugar caliente, con una abundancia de agua, suelos buenos, y una belleza natural que no fue perdido por los indígenas antepasados.

Hay señales que Arcatao tiene una larga historia indígena. Voy a hablar de cinco tiempos de probable historia indígena:

• La hibridización de maiz de la hierba teosinte, de 7,900 AEC (Antes de la Era Común) hasta 2,000 AEC.
• Los viajes de los Lencas de Lago Olomega hasta Copan (ahora Honduras), pasando por Arcatao, de 2,300 AEC hasta 830 EC (Era Común)
• Los refugiados mayas del volcán Ilopango por 420 EC
• La federación de 60 pueblos Lencas, incluso Arcatao, entre 830 EC y 1525 EC
• La resistencia lenca a la ocupación español entre 1525 y 1550 EC

Nombre de Arcatao

Un clave del origen del nombre Arcatao es la letra ‘r’ que es un poco raro – no existe en nahuatl, ni la mayoria del las lenguas mayas. Solo existe en lenca y maya ch’orti’. Entonces, no es posible que es un nombre pipil (nahuatl) y asi, no significa ‘cueva de serpiente’, propuesta como significado pipil. De los dos posibles orígenes, tiene forma que parece lenca y el lugar tenía mas contacto con los lencas que con cualquier otro grupo. El idioma lenca está cerca de desaparecer. Si se rescata el idioma es posible que se rescata el significado del nombre Arcatao. De los frases conocidos, el único que suena es tana, que significa ‘milpa’ y suena un poquito con el fin de Arcatao.

Arcatao y la Hibridización de Maiz

Los científicos han localizado un ejemplo muy temprano de maiz con fecha de 6700 BCE en el suroeste de México. Tambien se sabe que el maiz viene de la hierba teosinte de tipo balsas, nombrado por el Rio Balsas donde hoy pertenece teosinte balsas. Aunque después se seguia hibridizando maiz con otros tipos de teosinte, como teosinte guatemalteco, es el teosinte balsas que es clave al origen de maiz.

Apariciones del Nombre Teosinte 
Pero qué raro que no hay aparición del nombre teosinte en el area del Rio Balsas. Basado en un estudio por este autor, se determinó que hay 10 apariciones del nombre Teosinte en Mesoamérica. Algunos son rios, otras montañas, otros pueblos. Dos quedan en la costa oeste de México cerca de Puerto Vallarta. Los demás ocho quedan cerca del punto trinacional entre El Salvador, Guatemala, y Honduras, incluso tres en el departamento de Chalatenango.

Yo creo que las ocho apariciones de teosinte indican donde se cultivó maiz desde teosinte por primera vez. Según mi entendimiento del Popol Vuh, el libro sagrado de la maya, habla de un jardín que parece simbolizar la invención de maiz. Además, el cuento tiene lo que parece un indicador de fecha, basado en el calendario de conteo largo de la planeta marte. Tal fecha es 7900 BEC.

En la era de 7900 BEC, la clima fue mas fresca, algunos siglos después del fin de la última Edad de Hielo. Por miles de años durante la Edad de Hielo, diferente plantas crecian en Centroamérica. Yo creo que una de estas plantas fue el teosinte balsas. Cuando la clima se calientó entre 7900 BEC y 5000 BEC el teosinte balsas se migró hacía el suroeste de México. En Centroamérica, como México, teosinte balsas crecía en las altitudes medias, entre 500 y 1,000 metros sobre nivel del mar – lugares como Chalatenango.

Los lugares de experimentación de cultivos como maiz fueron las islas cercanas – Isla Teopán de Lago Coatepeque y Isla Teotipa de Lago Güija. Los cultivos en las islas fueron seguro de la amenaza de los animales y de los enemigos de tal gente – antepasados de la maya.  Del nombre de las islas y de un estudio del idioma ch’orti’, se entera que el nombre Teosinte quiere decir “isla de plantas en rayas”.

Toda esta explicación quiere decir que los antepasados de la maya visitaron a Arcatao o el pueblo vecino de Teosinte con frecuencia para recoger la hierba teosinte para seguir hibridizando el maiz. Si es cierto que el maiz se cultivó por primera vez en un lago de cráter en el oeste de El Salvador, como creyen los Lencas, las visitas a Arcatao hubieran podido comenzado muy temprano, alli por 7900 BEC. Al contrario, si es cierto que el maiz se cultivó por primera vez en la región del Rio Balsas, Mexico, las visitas a Arcatao para recoger teosinte comenzar mas tarde. Fue en los cerros como La Cañada que el teosinte balsas hubiera podido crecido. Por miles de años se seguía hibridizando maiz con teosinte para perfectarlo.

Los Viajes de las Lencas de Lago Olomega hasta Copan, Pasando por Arcatao

Se sabe que Copán, el sitio famoso de la Maya en el occidente de Honduras, fue poblado por la maya por el año 100 CE mas o menos. Pero antes, mucho mas antes, fue poblado por la Lenca. El primer asentimiento lenca fue entre 2300 BCE y 1400 BCE. Por esa época el enfoque de las Lenca, llamados Potones, fue el Lago Olomega (Olomeka) en el sureste de El Salvador, y los Lencas hicieron el viaje entre Olomega y Copan. Ya por 800 BCE el enfoque se trasladó a Quelepa, siempre en el oriente de El Salvador. Por lo menos 1,500 años los Lencas hacian el viaje entre el oriente de El Salvador y Copan.

En el año 420 CE hubo la explosión del volcán Ilopango, una de las erupciones mas grandes del mundo de los últimos 2,000 años. Cientos, si no miles, murieron. La ceniza volcánica sopló al occidente y al norte. Tanta ceniza cayó por todos los sitios – Chalchuapa, San Andres, etc. – que no fue posible vivir en el occidente de El Salvador por 100 años. Una parte de los “refugiados” ch’olan llegaron a Copán. Ellos habían tenido relaciones amistosas con las Lenca de Quelepa y Tehuácan. Invitaron a los Lencas a mandar una delegación real a vivir en Copán. Y fue entonces que los viajes del oriente de El Salvador y Copán comenzaron de nuevo.

No se sabe sin duda que la ruta Copán-Quelepa pasó por Arcatao. Como sabemos donde ficó la ruta? Por los caminos de hoy dia, por evitar los rios o al cruzar los rios donde sea posible, por seguir los rios o al seguir las crestas, por donde hay pueblos históricos, y por donde hay recursos naturales. Seguramente quedaron al este y al norte del Rio Lempa. Hay dos pueblos de los lenca potón al este de Arcatao. Los tres parecen ser parte de la ruta: Guasquin, Mapulaca, Arcatao. Tal vez se entró Arcatao por Quipure and Gualcimaca y salió por lado de Zazalapa.

La ruta Copán-Quelepa explica la presencia de las piedras dibujadas cerca de Arcatao. Una queda por el otro lado del cerro La Cañada y el otro queda arriba de Zazalapa. Por las descripciones, parecen ser lenca o lenca-olmeca.

Tambien se anota por la mapa que desde entonces, Arcatao ha sido lugar fronterizo. Primero, siendo en la frontera entre la tierra de la Lempa y las montañas el norte. Segundo, Arcatao queda dentro del area de lengua poton lenca, de pueblos potones, pero al pasar Zazalapa, ya habian menos pueblos y la gente habló otro tipo de lenca.

Los refugiados mayas del volcán Ilopango por 420 EC

Como ya se mencionó, en el año 420 EC, mas o menos, el volcán Ilopango entró en erupción, desplazando miles de personas de Chalchuapa, San Andres y el valle Zapotitán, y otros lugares. Alguna gente fue a la ahora Guatemala, otros a Copán y otros lugares de Honduras. Pero los arqueólogos han determinados que algunos quedaron muy cerca y fueron al norte o noreste cruzando el Rio Lempa al llegar al hoy Chalatenango.

No se sabe si llegaron hasta Arcatao. Pero, cuando se considera la importancia de Arcatao, parece que sí, un grupo de los maya cholan (Ch’orti’) hubiera llegado y quedado 100 años o mas, hasta que pudieron vivir de nuevo en los valles volcánicos, como el Zapotitán. Asi que Arcatao hubiera podido servido como retroguardia para los ch’orti’ de los volcanes y terremotos. Ademas, con todos los viajantes lencas pasando por la ruta Copán-Quelepa, seguramente algunos lenca poblaron a Arcatao tambien. Asi que tal vez se hizo un pueblo bicultural.

La Federación de Pueblos Lencas, 830 EC

Por más de 400 años Copán fue uno de los centros mayas mas importante y seguramente el mas importante en el sureste de mesoamérica. Pero al año 830 EC mas o menos, la reina de Copán falló. Los representantes de los lenca en Copán se trasladó a El Salvador por la Ruta Copán-Quelepa y se concentró en Sesori, según la tradición oral de los lenca. La gente del barrio lenca seguramente dispersaron a varios centros lencas incluso en el paracentral y oriente de El Salvador. Estos últimos pasaron por Arcatao en la ruta a Sesori y Quelepa. Llegraron a lugares donde ya había pueblo lenca en el norte y oriente de lo que ahora se llama El Salvador.

Por 900 EC, o dentro de 100 años de la llegada del liderazgo lenca de Copán, los lencas formaron un red o una federación de pueblos lencas. Según la tradición oral que sobrevivió el tiempo y la ocupación española, la federación consistió en mas de 60 pueblos en los departamentos de hoy dia La Unión, San Miguel, Morazán, Usulután, Cabañas, y Chalatenango, y dos en el departamento de hoy de Honduras de Lempira. (Vea http://mayangovernments.org/main/page_the_royal_house.html)

Pueblos en la Red Lenca de 900 EC

Los pueblos se concentraron en lo que hoy es Morazán y el centro de San Miguel. De Quelepa y Sesori organizaron la red. Hicieron convivencias una vez por año, donde llegaron el liderazgo, como directivas, de cada pueblo. Tambien hubo un gran mercado de todo tipo de productos. Llegaron familias, todos. Hubieron bailes en la noche. La convivencia se llamaba guanacaste. Esto viene de guanaco, palabra que quiere decir ‘hermandad’ en potón lenca vieja. El guanacaste es el consejo de la hermandad. Cada vez se realizó el guanacaste en diferente pueblo. Seguramente se hizo el guanacaste en Arcatao de vez en cuando.

Sin duda mas pueblos lencas fueron agregados a la red entre 900 y 1528 EC. Se anota que la mayoria de estos pueblos lencas existen hasta hoy dia. Todos ahora tienen por lo menos 1,100 años.

Es un poco sorprendente la concentracion de pueblos en Chalatenango, bien lejos de los demás pueblos. El primer razón por los pueblos alli es que la ruta Copán-Quelepa pasó por el area, resultando en Guasquin, Mapulaca, y Arcatao. El segundo razón es la llegada de los maya quiche entre 830 y 850 CE de Mexico para establecer Cihuatán, cerca del pueblo de hoy dia Aguilares. Fue casi a la vez de la caída de Copán la llegada del liderazgo lenca de vuelta a El Salvador.

Además de Cihuatán, los quiches establecieron casi una docena de pueblos y templos, algunos en la orilla norte del Rio Lempa, y uno hasta el pueblo de Chalatenango, cual nombre es quiche. Los lenca y los quiche tuvieron buenas relaciones. Los quiche invitaron los lencas a vivir con ellos y asi que hubo un barrio lenca en Cihuatán, según los arqueólogos. Parece que el mismo pasó en Chalatenango por la presencia de un pueblo lenca en el mismo lugar, Silaiquin. Es posible que Silaiquin fue formado por la llegada de familias de Arcatao a Chalatenango. Los quiches huyeron de El Salvador por mas o menos
930 EC después de un ataque mortal de un desconocido enemigo.

Los demás pueblos lencas en Chalatenango son Potonico, Cancasque, Guancora, y Manaquil, el último lo mas cerca de Arcatao. Manaquil y Arcatao tiene una historia compartida de mas o menos 1,000 años.

La colonización y la resistencia lenca a la ocupación española entre 1525 y 1550 EC

El primer español a mandar el territorio de Arcatao fue Miguel Diaz, basado en los archivos de los españoles. Los archivos dicen que en 1548 Miguel Diaz controló el pueblo de Arcatao y el pueblo de Xalocinagua, que queda en la zona costera. (Vea Capítulo 5, “San Salvador” en Guatemala Villages of the 16th Century por Dan Stanislawski.)

Ya en 1548 Arcatao tenía una producción elevado. Los pueblos indígenas de Arcatao y sus alrededores pagaron un tributo anual de 600 libras de algodón, 50 pares de cutaras, y 80 pares de alpargata. También pagaron en mano de obra el servicio de cuatro pastores. Sin duda los pares de alpargata refieren a un calzado hecho de zacate u otra planta. Posiblemente los pares de cutara tambien son un tipo de sandalia.

Es probable que el algodón fue cultivado en Arcatao antes que llegaron los españoles, como es nativo a El Salvador y la región. Hubiera sido difícil introducir un nuevo cultivo en tan pocos años, otro razón por pensar que algodón ya fue establecido en los tiempos indígenas, asi como la tela, camisas y ropa de algodón, y hasta los bordados. En los primeros años de la colonia como en los tiempos indígenas Arcatao fue un fuente de ropa y calzado para la región.

El informe de 1548 tambien dice que Arcatao fue en guerra antes y el Miguel Diaz no pudo ocupar el lugar. Eso quiere decir que Arcatao fue un centro de resistencia de los Lencas contra la ocupación española. La resistencia lenca se arrancó por la gran princesa-guerrillera Antu Silan Ulapa cuando los espanoles trataron de entrar el oriente de El Salvador. Después la resistencia fue dirigida por Lempira hasta el último batalle en el cerro Cerquín en Erandique, Honduras. Arcatao queda apenas 30 kilometros al suroeste del Cerro Cerquín. Asi que parece muy posible que Lempira pasó una parte de la guerra en Arcatao.

Asi que Arcatao tiene una historia muy interesante y muy destacada. Seguro que hay mucho mas por recuperar todavia.

Journey to the Ch'orti' Center

Last week I traveled to the center of the current-day Ch'orti' Maya speaking world, Jocotán, Guatamala, on the road between Chiquimula and Copán, Honduras. I went on a quest which was primarily linguistic - in search of the meaning of the word teosinte or at least the phrase teo.

I believe I know the meaning of teo (island), but I went searching for confirmation. Eight of the 10 known place name uses of the word teosinte are located within 50 miles of the El Salvador - Honduras - Guatemala tri-border point - prime Ch'orti' area. And the only other place name uses of the phrase teo within that region are both on islands. 

First I went to Radio Ch'orti', one block from my room at the only hotel in town. The radio station quickly redirected me to the Académica de las Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala and the Comunidad Linguística Ch'orti'. After a little time there, I ended up speaking with José García. He let me know that neither teo nor teosinte exist in Ch'orti'. He encouraged me to learn Ch'orti' and I told him that someday I might be back to do that.

It is a little disappointing that I still have not confirmed the meaning of the very important word teosinte, the grass that is the predecessor to corn. But it is not surprising since it has not been used in hybridizing corn for hundreds, and more likely, thousands, of years by the Ch'orti'. In addition, the current Ch'orti' area is devoid of islands so it is not surprising that they may have lost the original word for island. The search will continue in Mexico, with the linguistic cousins of the Ch'orti': the Ch'ol, the Chontal, the Tzeltal, and the Tzotzil.

José also gave me a list of the 20 tzolkin day sign names in Ch'orti'. Apparently these are not necessarily the original classic-era Choltian names, but rather Ch'orti' translations of the current day sign names in either Quiche' or Yucatec. As such they are likely closer to the original names than the Quiche' or Yucatec names but still might be off. I will introduce them through this blog, but still mention what I think may have been the original day sign names.

Possible First Dates for Cultivation of Corn, Cacao, Squash and Chilis

From the four Salvadoran islands, Olomega in San Miguel, Teokan at the mouth of the Lempa River (now under the ocean), Teopán in Lago Coatepeque (Tam Makchan), and Teotipa in Lago Güija, the proto-Mesoamerican people began to experiment with cultivating wild edible plants. This experimentation took place on islands since their gardens were much safer from animals as well as from their human enemies, the Xibalban lords, who were afraid of water. The Xibalbans did not wish to be outdone by their rivals.

The first gardens were planted on the four islands after they moved off of Tulan Zuyua, or Isla Tigre, between 8300 BC and 7900 BC. This would signify that the Mayans and other Mesoamerican people have been living continuously in agricultural villages for about 10,000 years, much longer than previously thought.

The most important item in the garden was corn. Corn was developed from repeated plantings of Balsas teosinte. Anthropologists have found corn present in southwest Mexico from about 6700 BC, in the area where Balsas teosinte now grows. However, during the ice age that ended in about 8300 BC the climate was several degrees cooler in Central America than present day. The range of Balsas teosinte likely extended all the way to El Salvador, where it would have flourished in elevations between 500 and 1500 meters, such as in the hills of Chalatenango.

The Popol Vuh appears to give a Mars long count date for the first sprouting of corn as One Artisan (One Manix). Manix literally means ‘work with earth’. Symbolically it would be fitting that the invention of the corn would be celebrated with its one day sign. The Popol Vuh is quite specific that women were responsible for the invention of corn and this daysign is also associated with the Quiche, since it morphs into Mazatl (deer) in Aztec. The deer is the totem of the Quiche. The Mars long count date of One Artisan corresponds to about 7900 BC. So, my hypothesis: Quiche women hybridized corn from Balsas teosinte about 9,900 years ago on Teopán island in Lago Coatepeque, El Salvador. This is consistent with the Lenca memory of the first cultivation of corn.

The proto-Mayans-Mesoamericans may have waited several hundred years while improving upon the hybridization, before sharing corn with anyone else. The map shows [click to enlarge] the locations of Balsas and Guatemalan teosinte grass that were utilized by the Mayans on Teotipa and Teopán islands to continuously hybridize with the nascent corn. (These sources are identified based on the location of 'Teosinte' place names.)

The Mesoamerican people shared the seed corn with people living in or near the Gruta Guerrero, close to the Guerrero-Morelos-Mexico border, before 6700 BC. Corn also reached Panama no later than 5500 BC. By 5000 BC it was sufficiently hot in Central America, so that the range of Balsas teosinte would likely have been limited to its current area in western Mexico. But by that time, corn was already successfully hybridized.

Another crop associated with the 7900 BC One Manix date in the Popol Vuh is cacao. This is consistent with the Lenca who call themselves the people of corn and chocolate. The Popol Vuh makes it clear that they harvesting honey by this time as well.

The Popol Vuh also seems to associate several crops and products with the Mars long-count date Seven Hunahpu (Sutz') or 7500 BC: squash, chili peppers, rubber, and gourds. Squash appears to be associated with the “Blood River” area, which would be present-day coastal La Libertad and La Paz.

While the present day Usulután ocean flats would have been distant from the ocean until about 5500 BC, there might well have been other ocean flats from which to farm salt prior to that.

The Mayan people can trace their lineage to two of the four ‘civilized’ islands, but who else shares in this early cultural history of corn, cacao, honey, and squash?

How Corn Was Hybridized by the Early Maya in Central America

Biologists have been studying the development of corn in Mexico and Central America and have recently discovered that corn was originally hybridized from the Balsas teosinte that is found at mid-range elevations - 500 to 1,5000 meters - in western Mexico, mainly from western Guerrero north to Jalisco. In addition, the earliest traces of corn were dated back to 6700 BC in this area. [Click to enlarge map.]

By tracing the origin of the word teosinte, the precursor of corn, to the Chorti Maya area of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, by mapping all occurrences of it as a place name, and by determining that teo means 'island' in Chorti and teosinte means 'plants in rows on an island', I have been able to isolate two islands in the Chorti area that appear to be very early biological stations in a deliberate effort to perfect corn. These islands are Teopán (meaning 'Sprouting Island') in Lago Coatepeque, in western El Salvador, and Teotipa (meaning 'Food Island') in Lago Güija, which straddles the El Salvador-Guatemala border. Both lakes are within 20 kilometers of Chalchuapa, one of earliest known Mayan sites. Güija would be wihha in Chorti, meaning 'source of stream': a stream drains out of the lake joining the Lempa River.

I am guessing that the dates of the hybridization with teosinte were taking place between 4000 BC and 2000 BC. The start date could be earlier or later. The end date corresponds pretty closely with the date when biologists have determined that corn was approaching a level where it could support higher population densities.

It is no surprise that some of the earliest Mayan villages would be on islands. An island would isolate the experimental fields from most pests and many animals that could harm them. Islands also would have afforded early peoples a measure of safety from predators or enemies.

In addition, both La Venta and Teotihuacán, early civilization sites in Mexico, were built on islands, so there was a tendency for early Mesoamerican people to build on islands. Furthermore, in the case of Teotihuacán it is clear that the Maya were somehow involved in founding the city, given the prefix 'Teo', identifying it as an island. There is no other instance of a place name in Mexico starting with 'Teo' referring to an island. The Aztec god 'Teotl' and all other 'Teo' place names in Mexico were created in reverence for Teotihuacán.

From the two islands, the early Mayans or pre-Mayans identified various sources of teosinte in the area and named the places 'Teosinte' so that they and future generations would remember their location. While the teosinte grass in this area could not be converted into corn, it was, and still is, extremely useful to hybridize with corn plants. Persistent hybridization with teosinte grass was done to continue selecting desired traits, to make different varieties of corn, including popcorn, and to make the corn more disease resistant.

There still is a need to discuss how the two outlier place names of 'Teosinte' ended up in far western Jalisco (see the map), but to do that I will need to discuss the 260-day tzol'kin calendar more, as well as the Mayan sacred text, the Popol Vuh. And I will also take a closer look at both Lago Coatepeque (Lake Serpent Hill) and Lago Güija. Is it possible that western El Salvador was the founding place of all Mesoamerican civilizations, just as the Salvadoran historian Antonio Arocha suggested in El Salvador, La Antigua Patria Maya?

[Post Script: I now believe that the hybridization process may have begun as early as 8300 BC. Feb. 25, 2010]

Teosinte - This is no Fantasy Island

Lago Coatepeque in El Salvador is a very special place, where one seems suspended from time and space. And when studying indigenous history, any place called Serpent Hill is a subject of interest, given that the Chorti are the serpent people. The name was obviously nahuatalized by the Pipiles, but it is likely that the original meaning in Chorti was also Serpent Hill, or something similar. It is clearly in Chorti country, being so close to both Chalchuapa and San Andres. And this was one of the very first centers of Mayan civilization.

So glancing at the lake’s entry on wikipedia, something caught my eye – 'Isla Teopan' - on the map it said Isla del Cerro. The prefix ‘teo’ is extremely rare in El Salvador – there is the municipality of Teotepeque in La Libertad, but this was the only other example I had seen, other than ‘Teosinte’.

Let’s see – lakes … Lago Güija, 25 kilometers north, on the border with Guatemala. It also has an island – Isla Tipa. A little internet searching and this confirmed it! The key to so many riddles. Isla Tipa was also known as Isla Teotipa. Güija, like Coatapeque is in the mera-mera Chorti country, this was no nahuatalization like Teotepeque might be.

Teo means ‘island’ in Chorti' Maya. There it is. It wasn't in the Chorti' dictionary because there are no islands in the highland region where the Chorti's now live. So, Teotihuacán, means 'Island of Tihuacán' and was founded by people who spoke, or at least knew, some Chorti’ Maya. Wow!

Before getting too far ahead, let’s back up to Teosinte. Si’in means ‘many; extended in a series or row’ in Chorti'. The ending of teosinte was always the easiest – te is the generic word for plant in Chorti. So teosinte means “plants in rows on an island" or “island of cultivated plants”. Was this word describing an experimental biological station where the Chorti’s could perfect their hybridization of corn, beans, squash, tobacco, cacao, etc., in isolation from wild animals that would want to eat the plants? Also in isolation of pollens of other plant varieties, if they were aware of that.

That would mean that one of these islands in Lago Coatepeque or Lago Güija may have been the very center, the very first location of Mayan civilization. Or perhaps both. Isla Teopan means “Sprouting Island” or “Breaking Open Island” and that definitely fits the description. There are also an old Mayan temple and monolith on the island. The first Mayan temple and monolith?

But a case can be made for Isla Teotipa in Lago Güija as well. Ti is a conjunction meaning 'on' or 'within'. Today pa is usually the word for tortilla but originally was a generic term for 'food'. So Teotipa is “Food Island.” That couldn’t be any clearer. And then there are the other two islands on Lago Güija: Iguatepec and Cerro Tule. Perhaps teosinte means 'plants on islands in a row' and 'tule' does sound an awful lot like ... well, that will have to wait for another day. For now, I can say that all the 'teosinte' place names that I found were markers for the sources of wild teosinte that was used continuously to rehybridize with the emergent corn on one of more islands in western El Salvador.

Corn itself, we know, originated in Mexico from Balsas teosinte, so there will be a need to revisit corn in 6700 BC or before. Then we can move on to Teotihuacán. But before that will be a stop on the northwest coast of Mexico.

From Teosinte to Corn, But Where did Teosinte Come From?

The Mayan, Lencan, and Pipil peoples that now populate much of El Salvador, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, were born of corn. The gods are associated with corn, including both the diseased corn (pellegra), associated with Ixbalamque, and the perfect corn, treated with ash or lime water, associated with Hunapa. And the first Mayan people were made were of perfect corn dough (masa).

Scientists now know that corn was hybridized from Balsas teosinte grass in southwestern Mexico by 6700 BC. The Guatemalan teosinte found in the highlands of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, is similar but was not used at first to hybridize corn.

But where did teosinte come from? When did the very early hunter-gatherers of Mesoamerica first learn that they could eat teosinte? And was it as revered by those early people as much as corn was for the Mayans, Lencas, and Pipiles?

Among many Mesoamerican people teosinte is associated with birds and it is possible that the plethora of bird gods is a collective memory of early peoples learning from birds to eat the teosinte kernels. Certainly teosinte would have been an important food substance at least until about 3000 BC when corn hybridization would have improved to the point where growing corn would have begun to replace gathering wild teosinte. Early peoples ground up teosinte and made it into a drink. It continues to be used by people in parts of Mexico and Guatemala as both a food product and to hybridize with corn to bring out certain qualities - such as resistance to disease.

One of the most surprising things about teosinte, is that nobody today calls it 'teosinte'. Anthropologists have not found any indigenous or Spanish speaking communities that call teosinte grass, 'teosinte'. Among the names used by the Chorti Mayas, for example, are ixim ka, wild corn. So where did the name come from? To help answer that, I have mapped the ten occurrences of the place name 'teosinte' or 'teocinte', 'teocintli'. [Click to enlarge]

Most of the occurrences of Teosinte are located in the Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador tri-border region. There is also one southeast of the area on this map in Nicaragua, Cerro Teosintal. Surprisingly, there are two place names of 'teosinte' many hundreds of miles away in Jalisco, just south of Puerto Vallarta. Many assume that the name teosinte comes from the nahua, teocintli. However, there is only one place with that name in Mexico. In addition, very few place names in the areas surrounding the eight Central American places are of nahua origin (pipil in the case of El Salvador).

This indicates that the name probably originated somewhere in the Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador region and that perhaps this was the first place that the very early indigenous, in the 12,000 to 7000 BC period, began gathering teosinte kernels. As such, teosinte must come from the proto Mesoamerican language that gave rise to the Mayan, Lencan, Chibchan, and other language groups. What is remarkable is that these place names still exist. That would mean that these places have been remembered for perhaps 10,000 years of continuous human settlement as sources of sustenance. So how did the name teosinte get to Puerto Vallarta? More on that another time.

I have been to the two Teosinte villages in central and eastern Chalatenango. In eastern Chalatenango, Teosinte is a village outside of Arcatao, in an area that was Lenca at the time of the Spanish occupation. There is a lot of wild grass growing in the hills above Arcatao, like La Cañada.

In central Chalatenango, Teosinte is a village northeast of Tejutla, in an area that was Chorti Maya in 1525 AD. It is a beautiful village. Teosinte, like Arcatao, is an organized community, part of CRIPDES, and a sister city to Arlington, Massachusetts. In 1991 I took a hike up into the hills above Teosinte and found wide expanses of wild grass. It may not have been 'teosinte' but for 10,000 years this has likely been a source of sustenance for the peoples of El Salvador. Considering its location so close to the Matamaras cave along the Sumpul River, this area should be investigated for signs of very early human activity, like the Corinto cave in eastern El Salvador.

The Popol Vuh, Theology in a Time of Disease

[Este mismo cuento en español.]

I have discussed how the early Chorti Mayans of coastal El Salvador and Guatemala discovered or highlighted the discovery of soaking corn in ash in about 1500 BC, and their promotion of this discovery led to one of the fastest civilization expansions in the history of the pre-modern world.

However, this expansion was only possible with an ideology or theology attached to it. By about 1700 BC, the Chortis were rapidly advancing due to improved agriculture from constantly improving corn and bean production through selective hybridization. In addition, their efficiency at fishing and ocean harvesting was greatly enhanced by their discovery of the 13 to 14 day tidal cycle, which led to the creation of the Tzol'kin calendar.

Finally, their correlation of eclipses with 52-day periods of slack tides and very poor fishing, allowed them to begin long trade journeys to central Mexico, the Veracruz coast, the Peten, and the Yucatan without missing out much on the best fishing. On these trade trips, the Chortis, the master agriculturalists, were always pushing the latest corn hybrid and encouraging more corn production. Corn seed from the most recent harvest was likely one of their major trade products on these trips.

Yet, by 1500 BC or just before then, they faced a major crisis in the legitimacy of their leadership. That was because the very same Chorti elite, those who consumed the most corn, were becoming diseased. They became weak and they became lesioned, with bloody sores all over their bodies. Not only that, but the people in their communities and the people who they convinced to give up hunting and gathering and produce more corn were also becoming diseased. They didn't know yet about pellegra (also called pellagra), the disease caused by niacin deficiency common among those who rely on corn as a staple in the diet.

But due to this disease, throughout Mesoamerica people were rejecting Mayan leadership, rejecting corn and the agricultural lifestyle, and reverting to hunting and gathering. Neighboring peoples who relied on hunting were defeating the weakened Mayan and mocking their diseased leaders. No doubt, civilization was delayed by hundreds of years by pellegra. The Chortis had discovered what seemed to be a cure, but many did not believe them. That is, they did not believe until the Mayans developed a story, a narrative, that explained meaning and truth, despite the scourge of pellegra. This narrative is best described by the Popol Vuh, the sacred text relayed by the Quiche after the arrival of the Spanish.

The early chapters of the Popol Vuh read like a description of the symptoms of pellegra and in each case the conclusion is that the creator beings failed. That is, it wasn't the fault of the people who became diseased nor was it the fault of the Mayan leaders who promoted a new lifestyle. One chapter describes humans who were dry, with no sweat and no blood. Dry is also a word meaning extreme skinniness in Mesoamerica and weight loss and weakness is one symptom of pellegra. Another chapter describes the rain washing away the substance of the skin and organs of the humans - a symptom of pellegra is the wasting away of the skin.

Yet another chapter goes into horrid detail of symptoms of dementia, with the animals speaking back to the humans, even the corn grinding stones - the metates and manos - speaking back and saying that they would grind up those who usually did the grinding. Dementia is one of the advanced symptoms of pellegra.

The Popol Vuh explains that all of these attempts to create human beings failed. A new attempt to create humans was made and it was successful. In this way, the Mayan creation story is parallel to the Poton Lenca creation story of central and eastern El Salvador that I have already described. Ixbalanque, one of the hero twins (the other is Hunahpú) in the Popol Vuh, represents the diseased leader who had lesions all over his body.

By associating this hero, Ixbalanque, with the jaguar, the most powerful animal in the Mesoamerican ecosystems, but also an animal with spots (similar to lesions), the Mayans were legitimizing their diseased leadership. The jaguar people are the powerful people with the lesioned leadership. Many people had to die before the gods revealed the secret of corn soaking, thus the concept of sacrifice was incorporated into the cosmology.

Most importantly, the Popol Vuh reassures people that it is not the fault of the people in the first agricultural villages that they were hearing voices, that they were lesioned, that they were weak and dying. Nor is it the fault of the corn or the agricultural way of life. Rather, it was the fault of the creator beings. Now they had finally succeeded with a new being, a being made of corn dough, corn that has been cured of the disease by soaking it in ash. The narrative of the Popol Vuh helped to convince both the Chorti Maya villagers and neighboring peoples to trust the diseased Chorti leadership and to accept the strange new practice, sent by the gods, of soaking corn in ashes.

[PostScript, Jan. 27, 2010. To remember those who died in this epidemic and to give thanks for the one true answer to overcoming it, the Mayans put a touch of ash on their foreheads.]

Put the Lime in the Coco

Something revolutionary happened 3,500 years ago in the Americas. It led to an ALBA of sorts - a giant fair trade alliance. And it spread civilization quicker than almost any other event in human history.

In Mesoamerica 1500 BC there was only one location with village life with any signs toward civilization, along the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, and El Salvador, due to developing a counting and calendar system to track the high tides and allow for much greater fishing production. This advanced knowledge of the tides did little to grow a civilization since it was irrelevant to inland peoples and the tides along other parts of the coast did not follow the same pattern.

Yet, by 1400 BC, there were populated villages moving very quickly toward civilization in at least seven locations, in addition to the Pacific coast: northern Peten of Guatemala (Mirador), central Chiapas (Chiapa de Corzo), Olmec Gulf coast of Veracruz (San Lorenzo and Laguna de los Cerros), Oaxacan valley (San Jose Mogote), central Mexican valley (Tlapacoya and Tlatilco), Morelos Valley (Chalcatzingo), and northern Guerrero (Teopantecuanitlan).

This is also about the time that the Huastecan Mayan and Yucatecan Mayan language groups split off from the main line of Mayan languages. Another sign of quick dispersion of culture.

By 1500 BC, the peoples of Mexico and Central America had been growing squash for at least 5,500 years, corn for 5,000 years, and beans for 2,000 years. Corn was slowly evolving as it was continually hybridized to select the biggest cobs. But most people were still living in isolated groups, gaining much of their limited protein from fishing or hunting and gathering.

Scientists now know that corn produces a condition called 'pellegra', a type of malnutrition when people use corn as a staple crop. Pellegra was a major health concern in places like northern Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the American south - over 1,300 pellegra deaths were counted in South Carolina as recently as 1915. That is because unsoaked corn, by itself, has a noted lack of the B vitamin niacin and amino acids lysine and tryptophan. Pellegra causes confusion, weakness, dermatitis and skin lesions, insomnia, dementia, and death. All things that could keep a civilization from forming. Beans also have lysine and tryptophan and together with corn makes a complete protein, but this wasn't enough to overcome the niacin deficiency of corn.

Soaking corn in ashes or in lime slake (calcium oxide) before cooking the corn releases the niacin when consumed and increases the lysine and tryptophan. How did the early Mesoamericans discover this? The very early corn had an extremely hard encasing, just like the grass it was hybridized from, teosinte. It could only be consumed by popping it or roasting it. In addition to releasing important nutritious elements, soaking corn in ashes or lime also breaks down the hard encasing of the corn kernels, making it possible to mash the corn to make it into masa, which could then be used to make atol, tamals, tortillas, and pupusas. One day, some uncooked corn kernels must have been left out in a gourd or ceramic container, some ashes accidently placed on top, and then it rained. In the morning, the family noticed very soft corn, perfect for mashing. Something that doesn't happen just with water soaking. And the tradition was born. Within a generation or two, the health benefits of the soaking would have also been noticed. Yes, tortillas are linked to higher civilization.

In the Nahuat language, this is called nixtamal, leading to the English word nixtamalization. Nixtamal probably comes from the Mayan - ix or ixim is corn in Mayan, and in Ch'orti Maya, grinding the soft corn is called muxi uixim. Corn mash, which is much easier after the nixtamal process, is a shared root word in all Mayan languages that separated at about 1500 BC. In addition, there are early Olmec drawings of tamals, which would be much easier to make after soaking the corn in ash- or lime-water. While the exact date is not known, I believe that it is such an important discovery that it would lead to a huge expansion in village life and population density. This leaves the most probable date of 1500 BC.

The First Milpa - Jared Diamond, Corn, and Mexico

Jared Diamond identifies at least five locations around the world as independently domesticating plants - including Southwest Asia, China, Mesoamerica, Andes upland and Amazon foothills, and the latest chronologically, the Eastern United States. The first four became sites of early advanced civilizations. The first of these was Southwest Asia, about 8500 BC, followed by China, in 7500 BC.

In Mesoamerica, it is the story of corn. Corn, or maize, and the corn field, milpa, are sacred in Mexico and Central America. The holy book, Popol Vuh, talks about the flesh of the first father and first mother being made from corn mush. For decades historians and scientists have debated the origin of corn. Now, thanks to advances in molecular biology and genetics, we are much closer to the answer: teosinte grass from Mexico.

There are two big surprises to the news announced in March 2009 - first, it was not just any teosinte, but Balsas teosinte, or Zea mays parviglumis. Surprisingly it was found in southwest Mexico in mid-level elevations, along the Balsas River which borders Guerrero, Michoacan, and Jalisco. Teosinte is a wild grass that has edible grains - a small, hard grain that must be smashed open with a rock. Guatemalan teosinte, or Zea luxurians, with optimal conditions in the highlands of Guatemala, northern El Salvador, and southern Honduras. But Balsas teosinte has optimal growing conditions in western Mexico.

The second surprise was the date - the site shows that corn was domesticated by at least 6700 BC, along with squash. The practice of cultivating corn spread quickly south - by 5500 BC to Panama and soon thereafter to Columbia and Ecuador. It made the move to the north, out of the sub-tropics, much more slowly, arriving in the southwestern US by 0 BC and to the Mississippi Valley by 1000 AD. By at least 3000 BC, beans (cooking beans) were also domesticated, and together with corn create a complete protein.

While squash and corn, and later beans, made their way south, at least three domesticated plants from South America made their way north: yuca (manioc), peanuts, and cacao.

It is at least worth mentioning that temperatures were slowing rising at 6700 BC, entering the warm period called the Holocene Climate Optimum. Temperatures rose much more dramatically in northern latitudes, but there was likely mild warming in the sub-tropics. The previous ice age had ended by at least 9000 BC, but it seems likely that from 9000 to 6700 BC, the range of Balsas teosinte was slowly drifting northwest from Central America toward the Guerrero-Jalisco coast. Since scientists did not find corn and teosinte together at the 6700 BC site, it is possible that corn actually was hybridized even earlier and that this hybridization could have happened further south along the Guatemala or El Salvador coast. There are hints that this might be true, but I save that for a later post.

Jared Diamond says that corn was very hard to domesticate from teosinte, leading to a 5,000 year head start for Southwest Asian cultures. He did not have the benefit of the 2009 announcement mentioned above, which proved a much earlier date. In fact, Mesoamericans were less than 2,000 years behind in plant domestication. It is true that it likely took several thousand years of hybridization to grow corn that produced thumb size cobs to corn that produced finger size cobs. Yet, there was another, more serious problem with corn that kept it from being the generator of advanced culture. When the Mayans of the Guatemalan/Salvadoran Pacific Coast solved this problem in about 1500 BC, civilization took off like wild fire in Mesoamerica. Any guesses? Next time...

[Post Script: I now believe that the hybridization process may have begun as early as 8300 BC and took place in El Salvador at the close of the last Ice Age. Feb. 25, 2010]