The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Domesticated Parrots and Big Cats

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.

Tulan Zuyua - Isla Tigre

Triple Star of 8208 BCE - Mars, Jupiter, and Venus
Tulan Zuyua "Inhabit Sacred Foundation"
Beginning of the Jaguar Spirituality

"They got word of a citadel. They went there. And this is the name of the mountain where they went, Jaguar Quitze, Jaguar Night, Not Right Now, Dark Jaguar, and the Tams and Ilocs: Tulan Zuyua, Seven Pehk, Seven Siwan, is the name of the citadel." -- Popol Vuh

From eastern El Salvador, perhaps from Tihuilotal, the Maya scouted around for a place to live. It had to be an island in order to be safe from their arch enemy, the Xibalbhans, who were based at Corinto Cave and maybe at Tecapa volcano as well. The Xibalbhans were generally afraid of water. So the Maya found the islands in the Gulf of Fonseca, especially Isla Tigre, the biggest and tallest of the islands and the one with the near perfect volcano. [click to enlarge]

The Maya lived along the base of the volcano. In Ch'orti', Tulan Zuyua means:

Tulan (turan): "be in a place, inhabit a locality, sit down"

Suy: "base, support, foundation"

Uh: "good, sacred, moral"

Or, "inhabit sacred foundation", with foundation referring primarily to the base or foundation of the volcano. The Maya lived here from about 8600 BCE to about 8200 BCE. As did the ancestors of the Zapotecs, Olmecs, Lencas, Chibchabs, and the people of the Misulmalpan languages.

Historical evidence for this presence comes in the meaning of the name Honduras in Ch'orti':

On - before, prior, ancient
Turan - be in a place, inhabit a locality

Honduras means "prior inhabitation". This is not refering to the current Ch'orti' area around Copan. Historically Honduras referred to eastern Honduras, the part that would include Isla Tigre. Before moving to western El Salvador, the Ch'orti' had lived in Onturan, Honduras.

The Mayan ancestors built a structure on top of the volcano. Two of the walls are still visible while the other two appear buried under soil. Here's the long wall:

The short wall connects in a right angle to the long wall. They both have rock piles about two feet tall.

The Popol Vuh says that the jaguar spirituality was begun on Tulan Zuyua - Isla Tigre. We also know that from the current name of the island. I did hear one story on the island that it was called Isla Tigre after the pirate Sir Francis Drake who ravaged the island with a fury and anger like a tiger for a few months. I don't find that story convincing, especially since it ignores the indigenous history which tends to be the primary source of place names. Further proof of jaguar spirituality being the source of the name Isla Tigre is a picture of a jaguar carved in relief on a large rock halfway up the volcano, facing east. [click to enlarge] The rock was cut around the jaguar so that it retains the original contour of the rock.

The most striking evidence for the presence of the Maya on Tulan Zuyua - Isla Tigre - is the Tiguilotada rock. (click to enlarge) This rock is located on the east side of the island just off the main circumferential road - probably the old trail around the island 10,000 years ago. The rock is protected by barb wire fence. The rock most likely was located at the seashore at that time, located in a similar way as the sailing stones at Toluca Beach about 10-15 meters above the current sea level. The ocean would have risen above this stone soon after 8200 BCE from the Ice Age melt and it would have remained submerged until perhaps 0 CE (AD) when the rising Central American coast on the Caribbean plate would have lifted the rock out of the water. That is one reason that the rock does not appear very weathered.

This stone is referred to as the tree stone, che'ab'aj, which would be te'tun, in Ch'orti'. Te' can also be translated as branch or stick. Calling this "stick stone" makes sense when you see this stone - many lines or sticks on the stone. The stela at the classical Mayan sites were called te'tun by the classical Maya, indicating that they were harking back to the Tiguilotada stone when they made the stela at the various sites.

The seven or eight markings near the top pointing nearly straight east are a big clue that this rock is an astronomical artifact. But the biggest clue that it is astronomical is the second name associated with the island in the Popol Vuh: 7 pehk, 7 siwan. Let's start with siwan.

si - number, line of objects (in Ch'orti')
wa'an - rising, standing, straight

So seven siwa'an refers to seven rising line of objects. The objects they would have been most interested in were the five visible planets - Mercury to Saturn, the moon and the sun. Using the Solex software developed by Italian professor Aldo Vitagliano, I began searching for a "rising line of objects" event, checking Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions before sunrise, something that happens about once every 20 years. I began my search in 8700 BCE, knowing that this was approximately the time that the Maya moved to the island based on the Mars retrograde long count calendar.

I found the event in 8208 BCE (-8207 astronomical) which almost matches the end date (8200) of my estimation of their departure from the island. The Popol Vuh associates the astronomical event with the departure from the island. On October 31 and November 1 of that year five objects are in conjunction - Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, with Mercury just visible before sunset, and of course the sun rising. The seven rising objects. Most impressive of all is a near complete conjunction, both latitude and longitude, of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, from October 27 to October 31. This would have produced a spectacular "triple star" object for these five mornings.

Further matching the rock with this astronomical event is the order of the objects from south to north. The moon was the most south in latitude, then Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. The triple conjunction planets are obvious on the stone - the tallest, strongest cuts. The sun line is a bit awkward, indicated by its angle pointing back towards the south slightly even given its position to the left of the other lines. This awkwardness reflects the obvious fact that the sun was not present in the sky when the others were visible. While technically south of Mars in latitude, visually Mercury was straight below the Mars-Jupiter conjunction. By placing the Mercury line between Mars and Jupiter it links it to those planets and the triple star. It gives Mercury the role of communicating the news of the triple conjunction to the sun, who it was going to meet. The other lines on the Tiguilotada stone are the planets that were visible on that early morning sky, each quickly etched in place, perhaps later finished.

The Popol Vuh: "They observed a continuous fast. It was enough that they watch intently for the dawning, that they watch closely for the rising of the sun, taking turns at watching for the great star named sun carrier. This one came first before the sun when the sun was born, the newly risen sun carrier. And there, always, they were facing the east, when they were there in the place Tulan Zuyua. Their gods came from there."

The word translated as sun carrier is Iqoq'ij, which means in Ch'orti' "dividing the atmosphere in two." It seems to be referring to a planet(s) appearing in both the morning and evening sky. Scholars believe this is a reference to Venus, but I wonder if it was a reference to Mercury or perhaps to both Venus and Mercury since they both "divide the atmosphere in two."

The Maya would have noticed Venus and Mars in the morning sky prior to the previous new moon. Then Saturn and Jupiter joined the morning sky. Finally retrograde Mercury became visible. On October 10 and 11 a beautiful alignment of the five planets took place, with each planet five to six degrees away from the next and the latitudes aligned so that the five formed a nearly perfect line slightly diagonal. Each day the planets neared closer together, with Saturn eventually being the highest in the sky. 

Of the triple planet conjunction, Venus and Mars came together first on late Oct. 27 at 19 Cancer, 32 minutes apart in latitude. Jupiter was 2 degrees lower in the sky. Venus and Jupiter conjuncted on the afternoon of Oct. 29 at 21 Cancer, separated by only 21 minutes in latitude. Mars was only 45 minutes above the other two. The triple planet conjunction would have been its most impressive on the morning of Oct. 30. The Mars-Jupiter conjunction occurred just after midnight on the morning of Oct. 31, 16 minutes in latitude apart. Venus was 1 degree 16 minutes below the two.

A couple other astrological notes: Pluto was nearly exactly opposite the triple star conjunction at 22:55 Capricorn. The asteroid Vesta was also part of the larger conjunction at 18:4 Cancer. And on early morning of Nov. 1 the Sun was at 8:57 Virgo.

To help visualize this triple star event I prepared a day-by-day graphic with Solex. The sun is at the right as a reference point even though it would have been below the horizon. Down in the sky, to the east, would be to the right in the graphics. However, to place the east on the right I had to flip the latitudes so that south is up and north is down. For example, on Oct. 31, the moon is to the south of the planets not north. [click to enlarge]

The sky continued to be very interesting for months. At the end of November, the moon moved by the four planets lined up on Nov. 17. On January 29 of the next year, there is nearly a triple conjunction of Venus, Mercury and the Moon. And on Feb. 6 Venus and Mercury form a double star, while the other three planets continue to be lined up higher in the sky.

People in every part of the world would have seen this planet formation of 8208 BCE. At least one group recorded it so we could rediscover it.

This may have been the start of the Haab' calendar which forms a solar year of 18 weeks of 20 days each, plus five (or six) extra days. The five extra days would have been to celebrate the five days of the Venus-Jupiter-Mars triple star. And the New Year would have been November 1, the day of the stone-making, and the start of the dry season in Central America. Hab means "discontinued" or "abandoned" in Ch'orti', so it was an early calendar that did not stand the test of time.

Returning to seven pehk, seven siwan. Pehk means shouts, calls, or greetings. Greetings may be most appropriate in this context. Seven greetings facing the east to the seven rising objects: Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Sun. Soon after greeting the seven rising objects the Maya planned their next move off the island.

Like many dual names in the Popol Vuh, one has a second meaning as the date carrier. In this case it is seven pehk, which is a near rhyme with seven pak', which is a date in the  260 day calendar (known as Aj in Quiche and Ben in Yucatec). In the Mars retrograde long-count calendar the date Seven Pak' is 8200 BCE, which is a near exact match for the 8208 BCE date (halfway between 1 Ahaw and 1 Manik').

The Popol Vuh says: "And here is the dawning and showing of the Sun, Moon, and stars. And Balam Quitze (Kinche'), Balam Akbar, Maix, and Balam Ik were overjoyed when they saw the sun carrier. It came up first. It looked brilliant when it came up, since it was ahead of the sun. After that they unwrapped their copal incense, which came from the east, and there was triumph in their hearts when they unwrapped it. They gave their heartfelt thanks with three kinds at once:

• Mixtam Copal is the name of the copal brought by Balam Kinche'.
• Cauiztan Copal is the name of the copal brought by Balam Akbar.
• K'ab'awil Copal, next, is the name of the copal brought by Maix.

The three of them had their copal, and this is what they burned as they incensed the direction of the rising sun. They were crying sweetly as they shook their burning copal, the precious copal."

One copal incense for each of the three planets of the triple star: Venus, Jupiter, and Mars. It's not clear if the types of copal each matched a planet. Mixtam means "inner bark" so it was some type of bark that was burned. K'ab'awil Copal refers to a sap or resin. And cauiztan: Ka means "beginning", Witz means "mountain" - uitz is pronounced witz. Tan is powder or poltice. As already discussed the beginning mountain is hacawitz, which is the Tecapa volcano, in the Usulutan department of El Salvador. The plant they encountered at Tecapa was tobacco, which they later finely chopped and dried to make into a powder-like incense and used for spiritual purposes.

How did they get tobacco on Isla Tigre? Which brings us to the Xibalbha lord who showed up dressed like a bat. That's a story for the next blog post.

Baby raft, day of rest began during years of wandering

8800-8700 BCE: Tobacco, Back Packs, Artificial Lagoons, and the 20-Day Calendar

Earlier I have written about how the sailing people came from South America to El Salvador, were captured by an opposing group of humans and taken to the Corinto cave, escaped from the cave and wandered around eastern El Salvador for many years until they found a citadel which was Tiger Island in the Gulf of Fonseca, Honduras. It is clear from the Popol Vuh that none of original four leaders lived to see the move to Tiger Island. With this post I will add some detail to the period of the escape and up until the move to Tiger Island, based on my trip one month ago. This part of my research is ongoing.

As I have mentioned, the two biggest pieces of evidence that the four sailing families were captured and soon escaped from the Corinto cave are that three of the four sailing leaders seemed to gain the jaguar moniker while being held captive in the jaguar room of the cave and that one of the four leaders - I believe Maix (Not Ready Yet) since his name implies he is the youngest - partnered with Xbakiyalo (Egret Woman) whose name implies she was a tall foreign woman associated with Xibalba. Without having been captured there would have been little opportunity for Maix to partner with Xbakiyalo.

When the sailing people escaped the Corinto cave they ran to the west toward the Torola River (click to enlarge). In the photo they would have been coming from the right, through the area known as Calavera (Skull) and once they reached the river they would have followed it to the left.

From the place names and location of Nuevo Edén de San Juán (New Eden of St. John) and the village Jardín (Garden), it seems likely that the sailing people followed the Torola River (to the right in the photo) as far as they could to the west until it entered the Lempa River (Jardin of Nuevo Eden) (just left of center in photo). This would have been a 60 kilometer journey with little rest. Eden or eten means "the cleared area" in Ch'orti' Maya. It seems likely that these places would not have received the names Eden and Jardín unless they maintained local history of being an important origination place in addition to likely having the indigenous name of Eten (one of the first clearings/campsites).

Important in the photo (click to enlarge) is the guanacaste tree in the mid-foreground, showing that it is likely native to the area. This is known as conacaste by the Maya. It means "breaking off from the cave tree" or "breaking off the cave tree". I believe it is the former meaning and supports the idea that the sailing people had just left the Corinto Cave. Nuevo Edén de San Juán is a very hot area and the presence of a large shade tree like this would have been very welcome to the despondent sailing people. It is still known as the tree of life among the Lenca people and some Maya closer to El Salvador. Perhaps they tried the seeds of the guanacaste and became sick - they can only be eaten after being boiled. Flowers, left, Jardín de Nuevo Edén.

It was while they were are at Nuevo Edén de San Juán that the sailing people found out an important characteristic of the hunter people from the cave. Eventually the hunter people found their location and the sailing people retreated with all their children into the Lempa River. As sailing people they knew how to swim. The hunter people pursued but could not swim and were swept up into the river downstream. Others quickly left. The sailing people had a new name for the hunter people - Xibalbha - "those who are afraid of water."

But it was very hard for the families to do this with young children. I think that this was the place that the first gift was given, Auilix. Ah-wir-ix (or ah-wil-ix) has a double meaning in Ch'orti': "the on-the-go wing" and "the woman's wing". Both describe what I think Auilix was - a mini raft that was used to transport babies and small children in the water when the sailing people were being pursued by the hunter people. The woman probably grabbed on to the wilix while in the water, both for support and to watch the baby, making the wilix look like a woman's wing. And it could be carried on the back like a backpack. Perhaps the first backpack. No doubt the wilix saved many lives. They may have had a saying like, "Tomorrow's men and women were saved by the women with the wing that extended from their side."

The translation of Jardin confirms that the wilix originated at Nuevo Edén de San Juán. Har ("weaving") + tihin ("clinging object"). Hartihin is "clinging to a weaving" or lattice, ah wilix. The verb "cling" gives a sense of desperation and helps one imagine escaping the Xibalba just in time into the river with the weaving to support one and one's children. Thousands of years later when the Spanish arrived they heard a name that sounded just like Jardin and gave the caserio that name. There is little else there that would justify the name.

While they were at Nuevo Edén de San Juán and subsequent wondering they ate whatever they could find. The Popol Vuh mentions that they ate the larva of the yellow jacket, wasp, and bee. They probably also found honey.

The sailing people needed to find better security than the Lempa River. For much of the year it was too shallow to be a deterrent to the hunters. They probably sent scouts out looking for any other body of water. The closest ones are the Laguna de Alegría (Usulutan) and the lagoons near Santa Clara (San Vicente), across the Lempa River. Apparently they went to the Laguna de Alegría in the Tecapa volcano. It is a hot spring fed crater lake - nice for bathing and washing but not so good for drinking. Tecapa is about 40 kilometers south of Nuevo Edén de San Juán.

Considering Tecapa: te' means "plant" and kap means "clench in teeth" and kapar means "suck" in Ch'orti'. This seems to indicate that this is the area that the Mayan-Olmec ancestors found tobacco. Both of the Mayan gods Hacawitz and Tohil seem to be associated with tobacco or smoking in the Popol Vuh. I believe that the Tecapa volcano is Hacawitz. This is borne out by its name: hak means "beginning" but a double meaning is ha'hk', which means "gasp" or "suck". K'ah is "happiness" or "content" and witz is "mountain". So Hacawitz means "happy beginning mountain" but also "happy sucking mountain" - a reference to tobacco. The happy mountain explains the names of the Laguna de Alegría (joy)(left) and the nearby town of Alegría. No doubt tobacco brought pleasure. More than pleasure, tobacco smoke was used to commune with the spirit world. But one also paid a price.

Perhaps people abused the tobacco plant. It seems soon after finding tobacco they instituted the Tohil god. Toh means "payment made" and hil means "rest or remainder". It is clear from the Popol Vuh that it is associated with tobacco. There are several references to Tohil giving fire. And it says that Tohil demanded suckling from the side and under the arm. I believe this is a reference to the coughing that comes from the smoke and the cancer that can be caused by tobacco.

Given that one of the 20 day signs is named after Tohil - Tojma'r in Ch'orti' and Tok in Quiche, what Tohil seems to mean is that people gave their 19 days of hard work, and then on the 20th day they brought the remainder of their labor - the blood of animals that they killed - to give to Tohil and in return they received tobacco to be used only on that day. The Ch'orti' word for rest, as in relax, has the same root as hil, suggesting that the Tohil day was also a day of rest. In this sense the payment made was the 19 days of labor and the reward was a day of rest.

Both Hacawitz and Tohil were represented by stones. No doubt that the Hacawitz stone looked like a volcano. But it likely was shaped like a flat-topped volcano like Tecapa pictured above.

The relationship between the Tojma'r day sign and Tohil the god implies that the pre-Maya were using a 20 day calendar no later than this date and possibly it was instituted at Tecapa. This seems likely since a 20-day calendar is generally not in use in South America, where the sailing people had come from only a few months or years before. The change to a 13-day calendar rotating within 20 day signs over the course of  260 days (tzolkin) seems to have come later.

The Popol Vuh: "And then Hacawitz was placed at the top of a great pyramid. Hacawitz is the name of the mountain today, and it became their citadel." Unlike Tedlock, I read kaqja (k'ahk'kah) to mean volcano not pyramid. It is "fire, light, heat" and "beginning". So more precisely it was the beginning volcano -- the first place that they lived in El Salvador for more than a couple years.

After many years the Mayan-Olmec ancestors left Hacawitz-Tecapa. One possibility is that the hunters - the Xibalbha lords - overran Tecapa, seeking the tobacco. The Popol Vuh says that the "tribes" (Xibalbans) took up Tohil (tobacco). There is a reference to a later battle taking place at Hacawitz. I think that the Mayan-Olmec ancestors may have gone to the shore of Olomega Lake (meka = "carry in one's arms"). Olomega, above, is 45 kilometers southeast of Tecapa. It is the only sizeable lake anywhere near Tecapa.

I believe that it was about this time that the Mayan-Olmec ancestors went to dig out and damn the Laguna de Jocotal, in an effort to create another body of water where they would be safe from the Xibalba lords who were afraid of water. Jocotal (left) is located 20 kilometers directly west of Olomega, a distance that could be covered in one day. Jocotal: hokot' = excavated, hollowed out; tal = arrival, place, or, ahl (ahr) = time, occasion. (Ch'orti') So Jocotal either means "arrival to the hollowed out place" or "time of the hollowing out". The former meaning leaves a question whether Jocotal is a natural lagoon while the latter meaning is clear that it is made by humans. I think this is the place referred to as Great Hollow (Nim xol) in the Popol Vuh which is mentioned as being visited both before and after the time living at Tulan. It would have been on the trail to the west (now more or less the Carretera del Literal).

One other place that I think the Mayan-Olmec-Zapotec ancestors lived at or visited before going to Tulan is Tihuilotal, a small village today about 10 kilometers east of Olomega. It might have been the only good source of clean, year-round drinking water (well, right) within easy walking distance from Olomega. It has a year-round spring still used today for washing and drinking water and a nearby natural bathing hole (see below) that also has water year-round according to local people. I believe that this is the bathing place in the Popol Vuh that the three gods (or bearers of the gods) go to where the two Xibalban maidens try to seduce them.

There are two other clues that Tihuilotal may have been special this early in history. Even though it is a rather plain and ordinary small village, it has a very special place for the Lenca and is a place where the Lenca royal house(s) has lived. For example, it is the place that the Lenca crown princess Antu Silan Ulap retreated to after she became pregnant while leading the Lenca resistance to the Spanish from 1525 to 1529. She turned over the leadership of the resistance to Lempira and stayed in Tihuilotal to raise her baby.

The second clue comes from Tulan itself, Isla Tigre in the Gulf of Fonseca. There is a village directly on the east shore of the island called Tiguilotada, the most likely place for the first settlement on the island. The name seems to have been borrowed from Tihuilotal. Tiguilotada means "origin land in the flattened (cleared) forest" while Tihuilotal means "arrive to slack spring source," referring to the natural springs at Tihuilotal.

How many years did the sailing people spend in eastern El Salvador before moving to Isla Tigre? Because the original leaders did not live to be part of the move to Tulan/Isla Tigre, I would say a minimum of 40 years. However I don't think it was more than 200 years. Since I believe the escape from the Corinto cave took place in 8800 BCE based on the Mars retrograde long-count calendar, this would place the move to Tulan between 8760 BCE and 8600 BCE (+/- 300). The Popol Vuh clearly associates Tulan with the cold, the mini Ice Age that lasted from about 9000 BCE to 8500 BCE. So I don't think the move to Tulan was any later than 8600 BCE.

Two Opposing Groups of Neolithic Humans Met in El Salvador

Somewhere around 8800 BCE the two great human groups of the Americas - the super hunters of Northamerica and the sailors and plant specialists of Southamerica - met in El Salvador and began a confrontation that lasted for hundreds if not thousands of years. [click to enlarge map] This confrontation led to the great drama of the Xibalba lords in the Mayan sacred book Popol Vuh. Much of the confrontation of these two groups centered around the Corinto cave or rock shelter, mislabeled the Holy Spirit Cave, (click to enlarge), in northeast El Salvador.

I believe that the Popol Vuh accounts are generally more than symbolic, i.e. the Xibalba Cave really existed. Moreover, since the Mayan ancestors landed their sail rafts in El Salvador, El Salvador is the most logical place for the Xibalba Cave. Various place names, oral histories, and the paintings in the cave all support this idea. 

We begin with the name of the beach near where the Mayan ancestors landed - Amatal. As mentioned earlier, tal means "arrival". Ah-ma means liar or evil one in Ch'orti', so that Amatal means either "arrival to the evil one" or "arrival of the evil one". Since the Mayan ancestors arrived at nearby Toluca, evidenced by the sailing stones and the Mayan name of Toluca, "arrival of the evil one" only makes sense if the "evil one" was encountered by the pre-Maya a few kilometers from where they landed. This is possible but somewhat unlikely in the open spaces along the beach. I think "arrival to the evil one" is a more likely meaning for Amatal ("arrival to the land of the evil one").

The second name that supports the notion of a great confrontation in El Salvador between two groups is the local indigenous name for the cave, Suncuyo. Suncuyo is a Maya name, even though now this is a Kakawira (a Miskito language group) area with the Lenca nearby. Suncuyo appears to date back to a time when the Mayan, Lenca, and Chibchab languages were still close. Here's what it means in Ch'orti':

sun - foreigner
kur - points
yo'r - hole, perforation 

Suncuyo is "foreigner points in hole." What drama! The Corinto cave is covered by a mushroom-like granite cap (above, click to enlarge) which weathered away on two sides forming two caves or rock shelters. The perforation could refer to the edge above the cave where there is a 10 meter drop to the rock shelter floor. However I believe that Suncuyo is referring to another feature of the granite cap - a hole in the granite near the edge of the cap that ultimately opens up to the outside at the bottom (click to enlarge). I believe this is what the Popol Vuh refers to as the Razor House and was very instrumental in the battles between the two sides. When one goes through the hole they go from the upper world (layer) to the underworld (layer).

A third name which provides evidence of a conflict between two groups is the Lenca name for the cave: Ti Ketau Antawinikil (the cave of the human being). This is profound. The Lenca consider it the place where human beings came from. According to a Lenca elder, the name Antawinikil means “first man” or “first humans” in Lenca. The name Ti Ketau Antawinikil has a similar but intriguingly different meaning in Ch’orti’ Maya: “opening in possession of the [Anta] human being.” The strong possessive sense would seem out of place except that the translation of Anta appears to be “forest corn”, making the whole “opening in possession of the forest corn humans.” (A’n means “spring maize” and tah means “forest”.) This would then indicate that the cave belongs to the forest (wild) corn people as opposed to some other people – people who did not grow or gather corn (or teosinte) in the forest.

Who were the group of humans opposing the pre-Maya? First, it seems clear that they were hunters. There are at least two hunter paintings in the cave, unusual in Mayan caves or rock shelters. In the photo at right on can see the most prominent and dramatic paintings in the cave. [click to enlarge] At the bottom is the white outline of a hand centered within an indentation. It is the sign of the ruler of the cave. Directly above it in yellow is a clear depiction of a hunter. The hunter is carrying a spear or related object in his right hand. For a time, the hunters were the rulers of the cave. To the left is another painting that appears to be a hunter. [click to enlarge] It is highly likely that this hunter group came into the Americas from the north and were in Northamerica for some time.

Miguel Amaya, a Kakawira leader from nearby Cacaopera, says that the area from Cacaopera to Corinto [see map at top], especially along the Torola River, was an ancient hunting ground with numerous animal bones found, including one that local people believe was a mastodon. The mastodons could have been driven south and east by the Northamerican hunters.

The Popol Vuh reinforces the idea that the Xibalba cave was a cave of hunters by having one of the sections of the cave named the Jaguar room. I believe that the four families were held captive in the Jaguar area and that is how they gained their name as the Jaguar people. One of the four leaders, Maix (Not Ready Yet), is not named as a Jaguar in the Popol Vuh but his lineage, the Olmec and the Lenca, certainly share the Jaguar totem. I think the Jaguar area begins at the left in the photo and continues further to the left [click to enlarge]. The Bat area where the hunter leaders may have slept was just right of center.

A second characteristic of the hunters seems to be their tall stature. The local legend states that the first people to inhabit the cave were giants. Local legends are usually based on some actual human experience that later turned into legend. This is especially true in a place with a very strong oral history tradition like Central America. The legend also states that there were three giant men and four giant women, perhaps indicating that there were generally more women than men among the hunters. A (probably) modern add-on to the legend states that the giants were from outer space.

The legend is reinforced by the presence of either natural or cultural cave features that appear to be very tall ghost-like people (left). This cave feature is near the exit of the cave on the west end. These cave features are perhaps seven or eight feet tall. To me they appeared to be a natural feature rather than cultural. Their style was also very different from all the other paintings, although that could be explained if the tall people made them.

Next to these "giant figures" are a series of many other "figures" along the west wall, where most of them are obviously natural rather than cultural (right, below). Whether or not the paintings are cultural should not determine the possibility that the hunters were much larger than the pre-Maya/pre-Olmec.

The other evidence for tall hunters is from the Popol Vuh, which states that the pre-Mayan/pre-Olmec leader One Hunahpu married a woman named Xb'aqiyalo, translated as Egret Woman. This refers to a foreign woman with tall legs. Apparently One Hunahpu married one of the tall women from the other group of humans. The Xb'aqiyalo name has a double meaning of Xibalba, the Mayan name for the people in the cave.

Other evidence for a tall opposing group of humans comes from local traditions and folklore. The Ch'orti's practice a dance in eastern Guatemala which involves two giants, one white, one black. The giants move around very slowly until finally the black giant (the Maya) slays the white giant (the Xibalba). The Dance of the Giants is documented in The Esotericism of the Popol Vuh by Raphael Girard. In the dance, the white giant represents Xibalba and the giants mentioned in the Popol Vuh, Vukup Cakix, Zipacná, and Caprakán. The black giant has a large headdress with a tall shaft. Two additional dance figures represent the Mayan twins, one has a sun identity and one the moon. The black giant then dances in battle against the moon twin. The twins cut each other up and when the black giant sees they are still alive says, "cut me up too." They do and he is killed. This is very similar to a story in the Popol Vuh.

Another bit of evidence for a group of tall opposing people comes from two more traditional dances involving giants in Nicaragua, an area where the pre-Olmec, pre-Lenca were present. In Leon it's the dance of the Gigantona (the giant woman). Her identity seems to be more that of a very tall colonial white woman, but it's possible this modern interpretation is covering up an indigenous gigantona story and dance that dates back to Xibalba. Further south in Diriamba there is the dance of El Gigante (the giant). His identity seems to be that of the giant in the biblical David and Goliath story, which is very similar to the moon twin vs black giant dance mentioned above. The dance also brings in the Moors vs. Christians dance found elsewhere in Central America. Both of these components of the dance may be based on older indigenous dances that date back to Xibalba.

Who made the paintings? My quick view of the cave indicated that white might be the bottom layer of paint in the cave. I believe that white was the color of paint used by the hunters and that all the other colors were used by the sailing people, the pre-Maya and pre-Olmec, once they had fully secured the cave at least a thousand years later. In addition to the white hand outlined above, the two figures in white are some of the only white painting. They appear to have headdresses that are like two feathers. White paint most likely came from calcium carbonate deposits which is often formed by marine sediments. It is possible it was found in the Gulf of Fonseca region which is about 50 kilometers the cave.

I believe that the colored paints - the browns, reds, oranges, and yellows - were all done by the sailing people. These colors all correspond to red ochre or iron oxide. There might be substitutes for one or two of these colors but probably not all four. The only identified iron oxide mine in the Americas before 1000 BCE is at Taltal, northern Chile. The sailing people may have come from there and it is highly likely that they maintained contact with Taltal by sail. I think that the colored paintings were done after the sailing people secured the cave a long time after the first encounter. However, I think its probable that these sailing people found a local source for iron oxide, since there is a high level of iron in the soil in eastern El Salvador and into Honduras. More research is needed on this question. For example, did these people discover and utilize the iron oxide at Agalteca, Honduras, 130 kilometers northwest of the cave? 

When did this encounter occur? I believe that this encounter dates to 8,680 BCE (+/- 200). This is based on the belief that the pre-Maya/pre-Olmec associated the tall hunters with one of the 20 Mayan day signs, the day sign Death. In addition, the Mayan-Olmec ancestors developed a long-count calendar based on the retrograde motion of Mars within the Milky Way.

The mars retrograde calendar is referenced within the Popol Vuh. For example: "And these are the lords over everything, each lord with a commission and a domain assigned by One and Seven Death." The format is that the first name refers to who - One Death, which would be the leader of the hunters, and the second name refers to when - Seven Death. The first time that Mars turned retrograde (in over 5,000 years) on the day sign Seven Death would have been about 8,680 BCE. Thus the pre-Maya associated Seven Death with the events that took place on the approximate date we know to be 8,680 BCE. Those events, based on Popol Vuh narratives, include their sail landing and subsequent capture by the tall hunters led by One Death.

It is also interesting that the Lenca name for the cave, mentioned above, can be understood in Ch’orti’. These are languages that diverged between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago, which would seem to indicate that the cave name dates to that same period before the two languages were divergent.

What the encounter consists of? Most of the information about the encounter comes from the Popol Vuh, which indicates that the hunters were very violent and that conflict lasted for a very long time. I believe that the sailing people were able to escape the cave after a few months and journeyed around for many years before settling in Isla Tigre, Honduras, and then to four islands in El Salvador. They went to islands because the hunter people were afraid of water, which is what Xibalba means: "those afraid of water". 

A major confrontation took place when One Hunaphuh (Ajchuk in Ch'orti') went to the cave at the time of Seven Hunaphuh. The Popol Vuh says: "One and Seven Hunapuh left, guided down the road by the messengers. And then they descended the road to Xibalba." One Hunapuh refers to one of the pre-Mayan leaders. Seven Hunapuh refers to the date 7,900 BCE in the Mars retrograde calendar, 800 years after the initial capture and escape. The Popol Vuh then says that the sons of One Hunapuh defeated Xibalba - the hunters - once and for all - killing them all. This might be literal that it was the sons but it could some later generation. My best guess is that by 7,400 BCE the Mayan-Olmec ancestors (the jaguar people) secured the cave. The pre-Olmec/Lenca people became the caretakers of the cave although much later the Kakawira people, who also shared the same history of being captured in the cave, came back from Nicaragua, became the caretakers of the cave, and took up the jaguar practice.

There is a second rock shelter on the opposite side of the granite cap, (right), called Torro (Bull) Cave by locals. It has similar rock paintings, although fewer. There were no bulls in the Americas at that time. The animal closest to the bull are the tapir (danta). The image of the tapir is associated with the Death day sign which is itself associated with Xibalba, so it is not surprising that the cave may refer to the tapir.

The relationship between the Lenca-Olmec ancestors and the hunters seems different than the relationship between the Maya ancestors and the hunters. I believe that this stems from the captivity. Maix, the Lenca-pre-Olmec leader, means "not ready yet," referring to his young age and the lack of confidence that he could lead the raft flotilla. I believe that Maix was the generic "hunapuh" leader that the Popol Vuh refers to as marrying Egret Woman, a tall hunter woman. The Lenca believe that the painting at left [click to enlarge] represents the first Lenca man and women. In the Lenca tradition the oral history is passed on woman to woman. Egret Woman began that oral tradition and she told a different history about the hunters than what the Maya youth would hear. The Lenca today say that their oral history states that they were always there in eastern El Salvador. That's because Egret Woman may have said, "We were here already when you sailing people came. We've always been here for as long as we can remember." As the Popol Vuh says, they are a people formed by the blood of the tapir and by the blood of the sea serpent.

Finally, going back to the sailing people who landed on the central El Salvador coast, how did they end up in the hunters' cave? Given the conflictive nature of their encounter, it is highly unlikely it was voluntary, which would indicate that they were captured. Later events seem to indicate that they were captured before they knew much of anything about the region now called El Salvador. So they were probably captured within 70 kilometers of Toluca Beach.

I believe that once they placed the four grandfather stones at Toluca Beach they moved east since the incline to the northwest and north is quite steep within a few kilometers. They may have made their first campsite at Nuevo Eden, five miles north of Comolapa International Airport and 15 to 17 kilometers east of the Toluca Beach site. Eden (eten) means "the clearing" in Ch'orti', with a connotation of human-made. In another 45 kilometers they would have reached the Lempa River. I believe that once they made rafts and poled their way across the river the Xibalba hunters lay in ambush on the other side. Captured, they were marched to a cave that their descendants would rename about 1,400 years later Suncuyor "foreigner in pointed hole."