The Indigenous History of El Salvador

The Tao of Chalatenango: Path of the Great Ones

The founding lineages of the Maya, Olmec/Lenca, and Zapotecs began their shared jaguar culture on Isla Tigre, Honduras, and then moved to four islands in the area of the current country of El Salvador. Starting in about 8200 BCE the Olmec/Lenca ancestors lived on islands in Lago Olomeka, the Zapotec ancestors lived on islands near the mouth of the Lempa River, the Quiche ancestors lived on an island in Lago Coatepeque, and the Ch'orti' ancestors lived on an island in Lago Guija, with nearly half of the lake in the current country of Guatemala.

Each lineage needed to live apart because each island was too small to accommodate the entirety of the four lineages. They had to live on islands because their enemies, based at the Corinto cave, were afraid of water. So the four lineages were safe on islands. But they missed each other. The Ch'orti' and Olmec ancestors, for example, lived 180 kilometers from each other, as a crow flies. Only the Ch'orti's and Quiches were close enough to visit with frequency - 42 kilometers apart. A quick run.

The ancestors needed a place to meet. What happened during the meetings? I'm sure they shared lots of information about plants and animals, about new things cultivated, about tools and technology, about encounters with the Xibalbhans, about travels by land or sea. And perhaps it was a place where the youth came together and new young couples were made. Perhaps sometimes one group hosted the other three. But they wanted a place to meet where each one's path was about the same as the others'. They found that in current-day eastern Chalatenango.

They found a spot to meet on the Lempa River (click to enlarge the map) halfway between the Ch'orti's at one of the sources of the river and the Zapotecs at the mouth of the river, at a location near present-day Nombre de Jesus or San Antonio de la Cruz. They paddled or poled up or down the river. The Quiches walked north-northwest until they reached the Lempa, where they embarked in canoes, while the Olmec/Lenca ancestors walk northeast until they reach the Lempa or went to the ocean and went by boat to the Lempa and then up the Lempa. They had the longest journey.

This meeting place they called Ahrkahtahu: (in Ch'orti')

Ahr - time of, occasion
Kah - start, beginning
Tahu - meeting, coming together

The Zapotecs, as their language changed from the Ch'orti', began to call it Ahrkahtao or, as it is spelled today, Arcatao. Arcatao originally was located near where the Lempa River and the Sumpul River join. This would have been a more logical meeting spot than present-day Arcatao, located 12 kilometers north of the Lempa. And this agrees with the oral history of Arcatao which says that it used to be located at Eramón (or Iramón), a mountain near the confluence of the Sumpul and Lempa rivers. Either the meeting place was near the rivers at the base of Iramón or up on top of the mountain, in order to find a cooler place to meet.

Let's look at the Ch'orti' origin of Iramón:

Wihrih - fly
Mo' - parrot
Muahn - hawk

As was true with the word Cuxcatlan, the Zapotecs dropped the beginning 'w' sound in wihrih. Perhaps both mo' and muahn derive from an earlier mon syllable which simply meant a large bird. Both parrots and hawks might like to fly around the cliffs of Iramón but today a hawk would be a more likely sight. Iramón likely means "flying hawks" or perhaps parrots.

The oral history of Arcatao goes on to say that a priest came to Iramón and eventually convinced the people there to move down to the valley where Arcatao is now located. The people wouldn't move but soon found that the statue of their patron saint, St. Bartholomew, was missing. They searched and finally found him at the site of the present-day Arcatao. The people moved the saint statue back to their village but the next morning it was gone again. They found it at Arcatao. This repeated itself a few more times until finally the people moved to Arcatao, where they have lived since.

This story most likely dates to pre-Hispanic times and would involve either a Lenca or Ch'orti' priest, stealthily moving a statue of Ahwilix, Hacawitz, or Tohil in an effort to move the village to be the caretaker of the sacred hills surrounding Arcatao, one of the first sites where the ancestors found the sacred teosinte grass from which corn came from. This is known given the place name Teosinte near Arcatao.

When the Spanish heard the indigenous story of the statue being moved they must have thought of the statue of St. Bartholomew who is moved through the streets of Lipari, Italy, on the August 24 feast day. The legend goes that the statue got heavier and had to be dropped, thus saving the walls of the town from collapsing.

Previously I outlined Arcatao's history (English) and indigenous contact points (Spanish).

Tao came to mean "great" or "sacred" in Zapotec at the time of the arrival of the Spanish. Pitao is a prefix often placed before the names of their deities and Pitao is also called the "uncreated" and the "father of the gods". Piye-tao is one of the names of the Creator God of the Zapotec.

It is not a huge change from "meeting of the great ones" to simply "the great ones." This change probably happened in the post Classic era. During the pre-Classic and Classic times at Monte Alban, tao likely meant something like: "meeting place of the great ones who each traveled down the path to get there." This may have been the meaning shared with the world.

After several days of coming together the four lineages left Arcatao and canoed and/or walked back to their four islands. To this day Arcatao is a great place to meet, a place to come together to plan the new world.

Bariloche: Part of the 12,000 BCE Monte Verde Culture

Bariloche, Argentina, is a charming city in the beautiful southern Andes, especially popular as winter sports destination. Bariloche is a very old destination, dating back about 14,000 years. Its roots are connected to Chile and the Pacific Ocean.

The First Peoples from Asia arrived along the coast of Chile in about 12,500 BCE and settled at a site now called Monte Verde. Based on a study of the place names around Monte Verde, as well as other early South American sites, I determined that the place names are in a proto-Ch’orti’ (Maya) language. The language that the First Peoples spoke in Asia before leaving for the Americas was proto-Ch’orti’. Later, one group of these proto-Ch’orti’ speakers arrived at present-day El Salvador and become trapped in the Gruta del Espíritu Santo before escaping and founding the Maya-Lenca nations.

Proto-Ch’orti’ was the language the First Peoples spoke when they visited and camped out at Bariloche. There is an obvious clue that this area was settled or visited by the same people who were at Monte Verde: the common presence of the word component “huapi”. The Monte Verde site is on the Chinchihuapi Creek and Bariloche is along Nahuel Huapi Lake. “Huapi”, spelled “wahpi” in the Wisdom Ch’orti’-English dictionary, means “continue” or “keep on” in Ch’orti’. [Click to enlarge map.]

I will examine Bariloche along with four place names around it: Nahuel Huapi Lake; Dina Huapi, a town along the lake several miles northeast of Bariloche; Con Con, a small place halfway between Bariloche and Dina Huapi; and Nirihau, a small place a few miles east of Bariloche. I’ll take a look at the meaning of each of these place names using Ch'orti' meanings.

Bariloche

Bar: weight, heaviness (also bares means “make heavy”)
Lochi: arc, bow, bend, flex, fold

Bariloche means something like “heavy fold” and probably refers to the mountain folds that form peninsulas and islands in Nahuel Huapi Lake.

Nahuel Huapi Lake

Na’: round bowl
   or naht – distant
Wehr – rip, tear (the ‘r’ and the ‘l’ were equivalent at that time)
   or wet – companion, neighbor
Wahpi – continue, keep on

The most likely meaning is “Continuous (long) rip in the bowl” which would be referring to the long tear that the lake seems to make in the mountains. An alternate meaning is “keep distant from companions” which would refer to the distance between companions at Monte Verde and the lake.

Dina Huapi

T’in – inner side of arch, concave bend
Wahpi – continue, keep on

This is not completely clear, but appears to be “continuous concave bend”, which could be a reference to the banks of the lake much of which are lined with high hills.

Con Con

Kohn – small stream

A double kohn would be a very small stream.

Nirihau (also spelled Nirihuau)

Niri – cure
Ha’ – water
Wa’ – being

The most likely meaning is “curing water”. Nirihau is located at the source of a stream that flows in to the lake. Thus, it would be referring to the quality of the water at the Nirihau spring. If, instead, the original place name is Nirihuau, then the meaning would be “being cured”, which is quite similar to former meaning.

There are more place names surrounding Bariloche to be explored but this small sample should make it clear that Bariloche was part of the Monte Verde cultural complex in the 12,500 to 10,500 BCE period. I know that many of the names in the area also might have significance in Mapudungun (Mapuche), but they may have adopted meanings to existing place names.

One branch of the Monte Verde culture might have remained in southern Chile and the Bariloche area of Argentina, but it is clear that the main settlement - the one that maintained the Ch'orti' language line, at least, moved in about 10,500 BCE. Next I’ll explore the various migrations of the Monte Verde First People, starting, surprisingly, with the far north of the continent.

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.

The Settlement of Copan from Southeastern El Salvador

Copan is one of the most important Classic Maya sites, the center of a kingdom from the 5th century CE (AD) until the 9th century CE. Archeologists have determined that Copan's elite were Ch'orti' Maya, but it was a multi-cultural site with many ethnic enclaves. One of those enclaves was the Poton Lenca, with their most important base at Quelepa, El Salvador.

According to Poton tradition, when Copan collapsed soon after 822 CE, the Poton royalty at Copan returned to El Salvador and settled at Sesori, currently in northern San Miguel department. From Sesori they created a Lenca federation with at least 60 affiliated villages. The modern Poton royalty trace their lineage directly from the Sesori leadership.

Before Copan was a Maya kingdom, it was a river valley with at least 1800 years of human settlement. Archeologists have determined, mainly by examining ceramics, that this early settlement of Copan was not Maya but Lenca. See, for example, Cameron L. McNeil, "The Environmental Record of Human Populations and Migrations in the Copan Valley, Honduras," in The Ch'orti' Maya Area Past and Present (Metz, McNeil, and Hull).

The two most likely dates for the settlement of the Copan valley are 2300 BCE (Before Common Era) or 1400 BCE, according to McNeil. Pollen grain has been dated to 2300 BCE that is either corn or teosinte grass. If it is teosinte it could have been either naturally ocurring or cultivated, since teosinte was cultivated by early Mesoamerican cultures to hybridize with corn. Of the ceramic shards found in the valley, the oldest possible date is 1400 BCE. The encountered ceramics that have been dated at between 1400 BCE to 100 CE indicate a non-Maya presence with the closest affinity to the El Salvador Pacific Coast (Lenca) or Olmec (consistent with a Lenca presence).

The 2300 BCE date seems more likely - the encountered seeds could be wild teosinte but it seems like quite a coincidence. The 2300 BCE date is about 300 years before the time of the major expansion for both the Maya and the Lenca out of their homelands in El Salvador to northern Honduras, Belize, northern Guatemala, and the Chiapas/western Guatemala Pacific coast. At the time of 2300 BCE, the Lenca were primarily centered in southeastern El Salvador, at Lago Olomeka (now Olomega) and nearby villages like Tihuilotal. If Copan was settled in 2300 BCE it would have been by the Lenca from the Lago Olomeka area of southeastern El Salvador.

If, instead, Copan was settled in 1400 BCE or soon thereafter, it would have been equally clear a Lenca settlement, given the type of ceramic that has been found there. By 1400 BCE the Lenca had an Atlantic coast settlement near the mouth of the Ulua River at Travesia. They might have had settlements in the Comayagua Valley and around Lago Yojoa as well. But even if some of the settlement push to Copan came from one of these Honduran sites, the major cultural and political push would have been from southeastern El Salvador, either from Quelepa or Lago Olomeka, since this area remained at this time the center of the Lenca people. Given the ceramic record at Copan, it seems that there was contact between Copan and southeastern El Salvador throughout the pre-Classic period.

The Maya arrived in about 100 CE to Copan. While it is more commonly thought that this first presence was Ch'olan from nearby, my belief is that it was a Kanjobal migration directly from Teotihuacan. This would help explain the bat symbolism common at Copan. Bat is the totem of the Kanjobal, who came out of the bat room of the cave with the Quiche, unlike the Ch'olan and Lenca ancestors who came out of the jaguar room. Then with the Ilopango eruption in about 420 CE causing all of western El Salvador to be uninhabitable for at least 100 years, a large migration of Ch'olan people arrived at Copan. Most likely both to assist his Ch'olan cousins but also seeing the opportunity to extend Tikal's influence, K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' led a migration from Tikal to Copan. Under his direction the first dated monument was built in 427 CE, marking the beginning of the Copan high civilization. It is likely that at this time or soon thereafter, the Lenca were welcomed back to Copan since the Ch'olan migrants from western El Salvador were very friendly with the Lenca.

When the Maya created the tremendous Copan kingdom there was a Lenca enclave at Copan. This enclave would have maintained contact with all the Lenca centers in Honduras and El Salvador, including Quelepa. Thus from 2300 BCE or 1400 BCE until the time of Copan's collapse in about 830 CE - that is, for over 2,200 years - the Lenca people travelled between southeastern El Salvador and Copan, with only a small break from about 100 CE to 430 CE.

What route did the Lenca follow? It is possible that they used the length of the Lempa River to travel by canoe at least half the distance of the journey. This might have happened on the downstream journey from Copan to Olomeka, but given the Lempa's current it is unlikely a river journey was used going upstream. Most of the time they likely traveled by foot. The map details what I think is a likely route. The route avoids major rivers, for example, by staying east and north of the Lempa. The route also passes through some villages later well known as Lenca centers, such as Sesori and Arcatao.

In fact, the Quelepa - Copan trail is the best explanation for the concentration of Lenca villages in eastern Chalatenango, far from the main concentrations of Lenca villages in far eastern El Salvador. Six of the 60 named Lenca villages from 900 CE are in Chalatenango, with only a handful between those and the eastern ones beginning with Sesori.

By beginning to explore the possible routes between major trade centers we gain clues to the origin of many places along the way.

Twin Sites: Chalchuapa and San Andres

As of yet, El Salvador has three important archeological sites: Cihuatán, for being a large multi-cultural city in the same end-of-Classic time frame as Chichen Itza; Joyas de Cerén, for its mid-Classic farming village locked in time by the covering of lava; and Chalchuapa, for being one of the most important Pacific Coast sites during the pre-Classic period. Of course, there still remains much research to be done at the four islands - Teopán, Teotipa, Olomega, and Monte Cristo - occupied by the Mesoamerican peoples for thousands of years before the beginning of the Mayan pre-Classic period.

While the archeological record so far gives an initial date of between 1500 and 1200 BC for Chalchuapa and an initial data of about 900 BC for San Andrés, I believe that the start date should be closer to 1800 BC and that they were built at the same time. The main argument for the date is that given the close proximity of development of the Ch'orti Maya with the other Mesoamerican peoples - the Lenca/Olmecs and the Zapotecs - prior to 1800 BC, it would be strange for the latter to begin monument building at Pacific coast sites further northwest 300 to 600 years prior to the Ch'orti. In addition it would be logical that the Ch'ortis would have started these sites soon after establishing their Atlantic base at Santa Rita, Belize.

The placement of Chalchuapa and San Andrés seems to indicate that they were built at the same time. The sites are 34.6 kilometers apart. The midpoint of the line connecting the two sites (see map; click to enlarge) is precisely at the lip of Lago Coatepeque. The builders of the two sites would have been living either on Teopán island, along the lakeshore, or near the accessible northern lip of the crater lake (at Siete Principes or Konko/El Congo), since that was the center of Ch'orti' development once the Quiche were forced to vacate the site.

Building the two sites equidistant from the northern lip of the lake would have given the sites symbolic importance. In addition, the line between Chalchuapa and San Andrés is 36 degrees south of a straight east-west line. This is almost exactly the angle of the sun in the sky on the winter solstice (Dec. 21) at this latitude (35 degrees south or 55 degrees above the southern horizon at noon).

Most of the archeological research at San Andrés has been limited to the building that took place during the Classic period. Very little is known what the site looked like during the pre-Classic period. Evidence has been found of habitation by 900 BC but given the limited research, it is quite possible that evidence for an earlier date could appear.

Like all sites in western or central El Salvador, San Andrés was abandoned for at least 200 years following the Ilopango eruption of 200 to 250 AD. When it was reestablished, it was a regional center that included the new better-known site of Joyas de Cerén. At lease seven structures were built including two main pyramids and a palace. The Salvadoran Cultural Ministry maintains a museum at the San Andrés site.

Chalchuapa consists of five main plazas spread over six square kilometers. At times the site is called by one or more of the plaza names: Tazumal, Casa Blanca, Pampe, El Trapiche, and Las Victorias. There are at least 58 large earthen mounds surrounding these five plazas. El Trapiche plaza includes several large Olmec-style carvings. Stela at this plaza indicate that writing was practiced here during the late pre-Classic period. Tazumal Plaza appears to have been developed during the mid-to-late Classic Period. The site was likely Ch'orti Maya throughout the pre-Classic and Classic periods, but then Pokoman Maya settled here before the arrival of the Spanish.

Even though it was not as large as El Mirador or Kaminaljuyu, better known pre-Classic Mayan sites, there are a number of indications that Chalchuapa was the most important site during the pre-Classic period. One is that its abandonment after the Ilopango eruption coincides with the collapse of the Pacific Coast predominance during the pre-Classic period. Two is that it seems to have maintained the closest relationship with the Olmec area of Mexico - this is not surprising given the cultures former close geographic relationship in El Salvador. Third is that many of the pre-classic pottery advances seem to have take place in Chalchuapa. The polychrome pottery which appears to have been a lead-in to the Classic period is found extensively at Chalchuapa.

I believe that Chalchuapa played two more very important roles. Not only did it play a role in coordinating Maya relationships with the Olmecs, it did the same thing with the Chavin and Paracas civilizations in Peru, as well as peoples in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and Columbia. These trade relations were extremely important for the Mayas.

I would also maintain that throughout the pre-Classic period, unlike the Classic period, there was one recognized, maximum spiritual leader or council among the Ch'orti, and that leader or council was consistently located at Chalchuapa. Even the great center of El Mirador relied on Chalchuapa for its spiritual direction. But after the unpredicted and unexplained Ilopango eruption of 200-250 AD, the spiritual leaders of Chalchuapa, and El Mirador with it, lost their legitimacy. The Classic period, on the other hand, would be marked by many competing claims for spiritual and political legitimacy.

The Maya and Lenca Establish Atlantic Bases

The Quiche Mayas were forced to leave El Salvador in about 2300 BC and by 2000 BC the Ch'orti Mayas at Lago Güija and Lago Coatepeque were anxious to expand beyond their El Salvador home. The Ch'ortis, like the neighboring Lencas and Tehuacanos (Zapotecs), had been sailing the Pacific Ocean for over a thousand years.

But an Atlantic ocean base was needed in order to better explore the four corners of the world. The Ch'ortis had been trading with local people in northern Belize already and it was an easy decision to send an expansion group north to the Corozal Bay, to the site known as Santa Rita. A few hundred years later they sent a much larger expansion group north which began to build the El Mirador site and soon many other sites in the area. Those who went north mixed with the local population and soon the Yucatec or Maya language began to develop. [Click to enlarge the map.]

The Lencas based at Lago Olomega in southeast El Salvador had the same need. They simply went straight north and followed the Ulua River to the coast. There they founded the site of Travesia and from that base explored the Atlantic Ocean extensively. This was the beginning of separation of the El Salvador Lenca language and Honduran Lenca language.

The Atlantic Ocean currents would naturally carry the Ch'orti and Lenca rafts and reed boats north and east around Cuba and then northeast into the North Atlantic. Then a southward current would take them close to the Spanish or West Africa coast. The current from West Africa would take them directly back to Travesia or Santa Rita.

A significant group of Lencas moved about 250 kilometers west to the Mexico-Guatemala border region. Here they founded sites that came to be known as Izapa, Paso de la Amada, La Blanca, Ocos, and El Mesak. A few hundred years later Lencas from Travesia, Olomega, and the Izapa region moved to the Gulf coast area of Veracruz, Mexico, and founded the Olmec civilization. They took with them the name of Olomega (Olomeka) and much of what they learned in their travels of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The Tehuacanos, like the Lencas, trace lineage to Balam Akbar. They lived on one of the four original Mesoamerican island civilizations, Teocan, at the mouth of the Lempa River. One of the double meanings of Teocan is 'island of wild vegetation' or 'monte'. Anyone who has spent much time in that region, the Bajo Lempa, can understand why it would be called that. The 'Monte' descriptor in Spanish becomes a trace clue in guessing where they moved to. It appears they moved from Isla Montecristo to Monte Alto in southeast Guatemala, and soon would move to the Oaxaca Valley of Mexico to found San José Mogote and Monte Alban. There they would become known as the Zapotecs.

While all the expansion continued, the base of operations for the Mayas continued to be western El Salvador at the two new sites of Chalchuapa and San Andrés.

The Banishment of the Quiche from Coatepeque to Mexico

The first 3,000 years of the civilizing people of Mesoamerica were full of dramatic events: the escape from the ruthless rulers of the cave of Xibalba (Xibahkha in Ch’orti’); surviving the ravages of the wild with the help of three critical gifts from nature; the formation of a religion while on Isla Tigre in the Golfo de Fonseca; the dramatic death of One Hunahpu which led to their later liberation from Xibahkha; and the flood of 6400 BC which swept away one of the four island garden-villages.

But the second most important geo-political event of the last 5,000 years in Mesoamerica – second only to the arrival of the Spanish – was the banishment of the Quiche Maya in about 2200 BC. The Quiche Maya were always considered the lead among the four first civilizing nations. This is shown by their founder being called Manix, or worker of the earth – the first to embrace the vision of an agricultural way of life. In addition, the Quiches lived in the most beautiful of the four island homes – Coatepeque, or what they called Tammakchan.

By 2500 BC corn was getting much closer to it current size, from its start of just a few kernels. The leader of the Quiche was the most reliant on corn in his diet. Now we know that reliance on untreated corn can lead to pellagra and this is exactly what happened. Pellegra causes lesions on the skin, gauntness, mental illness, and death. But the other Mayan and Mesoamerican leaders didn’t know about pellagra.

Instead they remembered a story from their past, from their creation story, the Popol Vuh, that the famous Quiche leader, One Hunahpu, married an outsider, a Xibahkha woman. Her name was Xib’akiyalo. Surely it was this mixing of blood – the blood of the Xibahkhans, represented by the tapir, and the blood of the Quiches, represented by the serpent, that caused the disease – the lesions, the bleeding, the mental illness and the death.

Because they were considered a people of mixed race, which led to disease, the others decided that the Quiches must be sent away before any more inter-marrying happened. And the message of not inter-marrying must go out to all neighboring peoples. The Quiches were sent on balsa rafts as far as they could make it with their provisions of food and water. The Ch'ortis quickly moved into their Lago Coatepeque home and assumed role among the civilizing peoples.

The Quiches made it as far as an island along the coast of present-day Sinaloa, Mexico. [Click to enlarge map.] They named the island, Teocapan (now called Teacapan) for the island home they left, Teopan. The ka in the middle of Teacapan means 'to remember'. Thus, Teocapan means “remembering Teopan”. The made a spectacular home on this island and its memory survived in the stories of the Toltecs and the Aztecs.

The Quiches named the region after their totem, Maza (Deer), which is also the name of many early Quiche leaders. The present-day city of Mazatlán gets its name for the Quiche name of this region.

The Quiches were in Sinoloa before they split into lineage groups, so all those with Quiche lineage - the Kekchis, Uspantecs, Pokomams, Sacapultecs, Sipacapas, Tzutuhils, and Cakchiquels - share the Mexican experience.

The Quiche continued to hybridize corn at their new island home of Teocapan. They found a new location for Balsas teosinte grass in the mountains about 50 miles south. They named the place Teosinte and also named a place just off the coast Teosinte, so that they and the locals would remember how to get up to the highland teosinte.

They often visited a place to the south, Matanchén, where they harvested mollusks. They quickly became great sailors, living along the coast. They formed new villages to south near Tecomán, in present day Colima, at a site called El Opeño, in Michoacán, and up high on the plateau in the Valley of Mexico at a site now called Tlatilco. At some of these sites they reunited with their old cousins, the Olmec/Lencas, and the Tehuacanos/Zapotecs. The Olmecs introduced them to their allies from West Africa who had joined them on the Gulf Coast. Some of them joined the Quiches to live at Tlatilco. The Tehuacanos taught the Quiche how to sail to Ecuador and Perú.

By about 1500 BC, one portion of the Quiche community moved back toward their homeland. They settled at present day Guatemala City at the site known as Kaminaljuyu. This probably became the Uspantec – Pokomam lineage. The arrival to Kaminaljuyu from Mexico likely gave rise to the name for the present country of Guatemala:

Wate - to come back, to return home
Ma - [negative prefix]
Lah - fatigue

Guatemala likely means "to come back home, not tired". I'm not convinced about the meaning of "mala" but "Guate" is clear - to return home.

Remembering the bad blood between them, the Ch’orti’s at Lago Güija, Lago Coatepeque, Chalchuapa, and San Andrés were threatened by the Quiche presence so close by. To outflank the Quiches, they moved a significant portion of their elite and population to the north to northern Belice and to northern Petén and began to build the site of El Mirador.

The competition and the tension between the Ch’orti’ and the Quiche was only just beginning and hundreds of years later became outright warfare. All this happened because of a lack of understand about mental illness and a misunderstanding over the cause of that mental illness. And the message of needing to maintain pure blood was also based on false information and therefore a false message.

What are the clues that early Mayan leaders suffered from pellagra, that the Quiche suffered the first and most, and that the Quiche were banished to northwest Mexico?

• The Quiches have an oral tradition of having spent at least several hundred years in Mexico and of all the Mayan languages Quiche has the most Nahuat influences. The Toltec and Aztec traditions also speak of having come from an island city on the northwest coast of Mexico.

• As I have already discussed, the first chapter of the Popol Vuh appears to have been written in order to explain how so many people, including the leaders suffered from disease: it was the fault of the gods. The gods failed when creating humans three times, creating humans that were gaunt (stick figures), spoke to animals, or were mentally ill. This is an attempt to change the theology to account for widespread disease and mental illness. This chapter explains that it is the fault of the gods that people became ill, sick, and died. The gods goofed up three times in their creation of humans; it is not the fault of your grandmother and your grandfather that they were mentally ill.

• The Quiche seem to have become confused over key points and names in their history. This may be a result of leaders who suffered from mental illness due to pellagra and became confused in the retelling of the Popol Vuh. Another possibility is that the Quiche leaders had forgotten and when they asked the Ch’ol / Ch’orti’ Maya for clarification, they were deliberately misled. The best example of this is the name of the Quiche leader among the first four civilizing leaders. The Popol Vuh says that his name is Majukutaj, which means ‘Not Right Now’ in Quiche. This is an unusual name given that the other three are Night Jaguar, Ik Jaguar, and Kitze Jaguar.
  
  If it were a different name, the tzolkin day-sign calendar offers us a clue what it might have been. The day sign Manik in Yucatec has a symbol of a grasping hand or a working hand. In Ch’orti’, this would be Manix or worker of the earth. The fact that it refers to the Quiche is shown by the Aztec name for this day sign, which is Mazatl or Deer. Many early Quiche leaders were called Deer and it appears to be their totem animal, most likely since very early they followed the deer and tried out various plants to see if they were useful or edible. Thus this sign might have been Masa Manix or Deer Worker-of-the-Earth. Somehow, in their confusion, this morphed into Majukutaj for the Quiche. Another clue that this happened comes from the Ch’orti’ where maix means ‘not right now’. This would suggest that the first step in the confusion was to change the name from Manix to Maix, retaining the meaning of maix.

• One of the more curious anomalies in the tzolkin, the 260-day calendar of 20 13-day weeks, is that the Quiche version has a different starting day than the more commonly used Yucatec version. The Yucatec version begins with the day Imix (Imox in Quiche) and ends with day Ahaw, also spelled Ahau (Junajpu in Quiche). The end day is all important since it is the last day of the year that gives its name to that year. The Quiche version starts six days later with Kej (Manik’ in Yucatec and Manix in Ch’orti’) and ends with Kame (Kimi in Yucatec and Cimin in Ch’orti’). I believe that this is also a legacy from the banishment of the Quiches. Manix was the first Quiche leader while Ahaw (chief) was the title used by the Ch’orti’ leader after the Quiches left.

• Another change in the day sign appears with the sign known as Hunahpu in Quiche and Ahau in Yucatec. Both of these mean ‘lord’. The original name for this day sign was probably Sutz’ or ‘bat’ since the Quiche lord came out of the bat room of the cave. The other three leaders came out of the jaguar room and there is a sign associated with jaguars. When the Quiches were banished from their homeland, the Ch’ol’-Ch’orti’ changed this day sign to Ahau or Ahaw. The best clue that this happened comes from the Aztez name for this day sign, Xochitl. From their base in northwest Mexico, the Quiche provided many root words or sounds for the Nahuat language. In this case Sutz’ (bat) morphed into Xochitl (flower). In addition the Mayan glyph for this day sign appears to the be face of a bat.

• The Popol Vuh discusses how the Mayan leaders of the previous age, One Monkey and One Artisan are overturned and the new leaders, Hunahpu and Ixbalamque take over. While some interpret this as a transition from a non-Mayan time with non-Mayan leaders to the Mayan age, I believe that it really is one set of Mayan leaders overturning another set. In this case One Monkey and One Artisan represent the Quiches who were overturned and Hunahpu and Ixbalamque represent the Ch’ortis who took over leadership. One Monkey and One Artisan appear to become mentally ill: they are called monkeys, they run around naked, and roam the woods. Even their grandmother cannot keep from laughing at them.

• As I already described in a previous post, the meaning of ix seems to have changed from ‘Mother Earth’ to ‘the disease’ with the advent of pellagra. Likewise, after this, imix described untreated – diseased – corn, while a new word for corn – nar – described the good, treated, corn that did not have the disease. The curing of corn is called nixtamalization – ridding the corn of ix.

• Finally, we have the clue of the names along the northwest coast of Mexico, as already discussed above, including Teacapán, Mazatlán, and Matanchén. There are also only two occurrences of the place name ‘Teosinte’, or some variants of that, in Mexico, and both are close to their Teacapán home.

El Salvador's Four Islands of Civilization

The beginnings of Mesoamerican civilization happened at Tulan Zuyua, Isla Tigre, in the Golfo de Fonseca. It was here that the four Mayan-Mesoamerican tribe leaders attained greatness by communicating with the gods at the center of the galaxy, with the aid of a tobacco smoke bath, one of the three gifts of the gods. But the tribe leaders sought to establish greatness on earth and to do that they knew that they needed to begin to work the earth.

Leading this effort was the Quiche Maya leader who was renamed Masa Manix. Masa or "Deer" for copying the deer in trying various leaves, fruits, nuts, and berries to see if they were edible. And Manix or "Work the earth" for having the vision of cultivating edible plants toward the end of establishing a way of life based on agriculture. But the tribes had to find sites that were on islands in order to keep their people, as well as their experimental gardens, safe from the Xibalban lords who were afraid of water. The tribes learned that they were safe in water during the escape from the cave, La Gruta del Espíritu Santo. Even the babies were safe when place on reed baskets in the water.

The four leaders and their tribal followers left Isla Tigre toward the north and then headed west into present-day El Salvador. The four leaders took the Dog star, Sirius, as a sign, and while fasting, watched the eastern horizon to see if Siruis was rising before the Sun. This would have placed their departure from Isla Tigre in the month of July. This also could be a reference for the Mars long-count date, of 4 Tzi or 4 Dog. That would be approximately 8050 BC (+/- 200 years). The Popol Vuh notes that the tradition of silently looking to the east began at this time to honor Tulan Zuyua, the place where the tribes first attained greatness. In the east they also left behind their Bat room brothers and the sisters, the Tams and the Ilocs.

One of the four leaders, Balam Akbar, and his tribe, stayed in the east. [Click to enlarge map.] They went to Isla Olomega on Lago Olomega, in the south of present-day San Miguel Department in El Salvador. This is who the Popol Vuh calls the "Olomans". This includes the "Greathouses": the Lencas, the Uluas, the Olmecs, and many more.

The other three tribes were very sad to leave the Olomecans behind. And the people were very hungry. According to the Popol Vuh, the Quiche leader sniffed his staff and wondered if even the wood could be consumed. At that moment the tribes approached the Lempa River, which was so wide it appeared to be a sea. Somehow the sea seemed to part and they were able to cross. It could be that they approached in a drought and the normal June and July rains had not occurred, allowing people to wade across the river. Or maybe they were able to cross on their rafts.

The tribe of Ik Balam went to an island at the mouth of the Lempa River, to a place called Teokan, or island of learning. At that time the ocean would have been at least 100 meters lower and the mouth of the river several miles further south. The island village that they established would have been flooded over between 8000 BC and 5000 BC during the period of global warming. In fact, it is likely that the village would have been re-established several times.

The Popol Vuh says that Ik Balam had no children. While that might be a literal statement, I think it is more likely that this tribe was wiped out, either by disease, by an attack from the Xibalbans, or, most likely, a flood as the ocean levels rose. In fact, my guess is that the early city of Teokan was destroyed in the Lake Agassiz flood of 6400 BC. Lake Agassiz was a huge lake on the North American continent which emptied much of its huge volume of glacial melt into the oceans in about 6400 BC. It is possible that this event caused a tsunami that impacted most coasts around the world, including El Salvador. The civilization of Teokan would have been destroyed and the Ik Balam tribe wiped out. Or maybe not - but more on that later. The Olomecans then resettled Teokan from Lago Olomega and renamed it Teok'an'an, or "island of ripe spring maize."

The other two tribal leaders, Masa Manix and Balam Kitze settled their tribes on Lago Coatepeque (Tammakchan) and Lago Güija, respectively. These became the Quiche and Ch'orti' lineages, respectively, and all the Mayans can trace back their roots to these two tribes. Tammakchan means "deep inside the rainbow" and Güija means "source" or "navel". Lago Güija is one of the sources of the Lempa River, which has great symbolism considering that Teokan was at the mouth of the same river.

From the four islands the Mesoamerican tribes started the American continents agricultural revolution.

The Mesoamerican Great Escape of 8800 BC

The Mayan and Chibchan bands, as well as band leaders of other Mesoamerican lineages, were subjugated in La Gruta del Espíritu Santo near Corinto, El Salvador, by the Xibalba (xibahkha) lords. At some point they made an escape or guinda, as Salvadorans would call it. The Popol Vuh doesn't speak much about the actual escape from the cave, so much of what I write is a best guess based on the clues that we have from geography and the Popol Vuh.

In terms of a date, my best guess is 8800 BC, +/- 500 years, using the date 7 Cimin (Kame/Kimi) from the Mars retrograde long count calendar. To me the repeated use of the phrase "1 Cimin 7 Cimin" throughout Part 3 of the Popol Vuh (Tedlock revised edition) is a reference to the date of the escape from the cave, with the second name (7 Cimin) the date reference.

One can imagine that the escape took place at night and the clans escaped to the one spot that they knew the Xibalba lords would not follow them to: the impenetrable jungle, the Baja Profunda, several miles north of the cave and likely home, at that time, to jaguars and other wild creatures of the night. The Bradshaw Foundation describes this jungle as a result of the 2002 visit to the cave and the jungle and notes that there are petroglyphs similar to La Gruta cave there.

As day broke the clans ran as the Xibalbans lords threatened, going northwest, straight to the Torola River. With no other choice, they ran into the water. Those that submerged themselves were saved because the Xibalban lords did not pursue them. We know because xibahkha means, "those who are afraid of water." Where the Torola is met by Rio San Antonio there may be enough water to submerge oneself, at least in the rainy season.

From there the bands likely fled downstream to the west, in the river or along the bank, however they could go. They stopped when they reached the confluence of the Torola with the Rio Lempa. Here they made an encampment and any time that the Xibalban lords came near the whole community, with newly acquired swimming skills, could find safety in the Torola or Lempa River.

This is the location where I believe the Popol Vuh speaks of the Great Hollow (pg 157, Tedlock), which I think should be translated Great Canyon. The Rio Lempa is a Lenca name, for which I have not found a good dictionary. But I believe the base name in Chorti Maya would be Rum-pas, which would be "opening up" or "splitting of" the soil or land. The 'r' in Chorti became an 'l' in Lenca and other Mayan languages. The Rio Lempa certainly splits the land of El Salvador in two. 

The Popol Vuh also refers to this as one of the places of reeds. Here two place names provide evidence: The Rio Torola, where Torola is a type of reed and the Rio Jalala, where hararak is a type of cane grass and the 'r' would change to an 'l' in Lenca. The Rio Jalala starts near San Gerardo in northwest San Miguel department and joins the Torola just before it meets the Lempa. Click to enlarge map.

Finally, the first Spanish settlers to the area where quite aware of the importance of the area as a place of origin for the local indigenous, so much so that they named the municipality of this location, Nuevo Edén de San Juan. Even more to the point is the village of Jardín (Garden), near the confluence of the two rivers and two miles north of the municipality. Perhaps this marks the very spot of the guinda encampment of 8800 BC.

The Popol Vuh describes six clans being together in the escape, three from the jaguar room of the cave and three from the bat room. The three from jaguar room all became part of the larger proto-Mesoamerican people. But only one of the three from the bat room became part of the Mayan nation, the greater Quiche clan. At some point later on, the other two bat clans, the Tams and the Ilocs, according to the Popol Vuh, decided not to become Mayan. They preferred to remain mountain people, i.e. hunters and gatherers, rather than agriculturalists.

I believe that the Tams refer to the Talamanca people and all of the Chibchan language group which now spreads from southern Honduras to Columbia. And the Ilocs refer to the Miskitu, Sumu, Matagalpa, and Cacaopera people. The Popol Vuh refers to the 13 associated tribes of the Tams and the Ilocs.

How else does one explain the presence of the village of Cacaopera in El Salvador? Their nearest linguistic cousins would be over 100 miles away in central Nicaragua. Yet there is one lone village of this language group, five miles from the Corinto cave. All the others migrated east and south but this clan did not want to leave their homeland of 8800 BC. Some have mistakenly identified the Cacaoperans as Ulua, but Uluans, as we shall see, are much more closely related to the Lencas, i.e. part of the proto-Mesoamerican people.

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]