Honduras: Parrots, Jaguars and Pumas Were Tamed by 8200 BCE
We have already discussed how the Mayan ancestors arrived by sail raft from South America in about 8900 BCE, leaving their sailing stones at Playa Toluca, El Salvador. Then they were captured by a group of tall hunters - those of the Clovis points - and taken to Corinto cave. They were able to escape and wandered around eastern El Salvador for maybe 100 years, discovering tobacco at Tecapa volcano. They also determined that the hunters were afraid of water so they were safe on islands, which led them to Isla Tigre, Honduras, where they began jaguar spirituality, and were witness to the amazing planetary alignment of September to November, 8207 BCE.
Joining the Maya on those early mornings watching the planets on the eastern shore of Isla Tigre were many animals:
"And then, when the sun came up, the animals, small and great, were happy. They all came up from the rivers and canyons; they waited on all the mountain peaks. Together they looked toward the place where the sun came out.
"So then the puma and jaguar cried out, but the first to cry out was a bird, the parrot by name. All the animals were truly happy. The eagle, the white vulture, small birds, great birds spread their wings, and the penitents and sacrificers knelt down." -- Popol Vuh
I believe that this is symbolic language revealing that these animals were domesticated on Isla Tigre. How else could these animals come out to watch the sky with the Maya? The phrase to cry out indicates the process of being domesticated, to cry out meaning to beg. This makes it clear that the parrot was the first to be domesticated. But the jaguar and puma also cry out, indicating that they were domesticated on Isla Tigre, giving another meaning to the name of the island.
The jaguar or ah-wa'ar in Ch'orti' means the onlooker or the bystander. This could describe many domesticated cats, although it is referring to the wild jaguar. It's not clear which puma is referred to here - the cougar or the jaguarundi - which means "extended jaguar". It is doubtful that any lines of the domesticated big cats from Mesoamerica live to this day but it might be interesting to test some DNA. We do know that Columbus was given a tame bobcat when he visited Mexico. Interestingly, this seems to means that wild cats were domesticated in the Americas before the Middle Eastern wildcat was domesticated in Turkey/Syria, providing our current day line of cats.
The other Ch'orti' name for jaguar is telling: b'ahram. This is pahr (lattice, weaving in and out) + am (spider). This shows that the Maya learned from the spider how to build a cage, a woven latttice, that would be strong enough.
When the Popol Vuh mentions eagles, vultures, small birds, and great birds spreading their wings I think this is a reference to their use in sacrifices. This is a separate thought from the jaguar and puma - I don't think that these birds were domesticated.
The red or scarlet macaw is the most common parrot in this part of Central America. Appropriately it is the national bird of Honduras. I think the scarlet macaw was the first animal to be domesticated in Honduras and the Americas. Supporting evidence comes from the name macaw. Breaking it down in Ch'orti':
mak - an enclosing, a covering
kah - beginning
So macaw means "beginning of the enclosing" or the first domestication. This supports my interpretation of the Popol Vuh above. In a related passage the Popol suggests that the bird's beak - the warning calls of the domesticated birds - saved the people from the jaguar, puma, rattlesnake, and pit viper.
The fact that the Popol Vuh mentions the domestication of animals within the context of the sighting of the seven rising objects demonstrates the importance of animal domestication in the conceptualization of Mayan culture and beginnings.
The Mayans have greatly contributed knowledge into the book of the world's history. I never knew they were also very keen and interested on animal study. Great blog. I must it is very informative.
Posted by: Florence Clark | 01/10/2013 at 11:07 AM
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Posted by: Fred Gill | 02/10/2016 at 12:52 AM