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."
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