The Maya invented gunpowder in about 7740 BCE in order to remove the rocks and dirt which blocked the egress river of Guija Lake due to a landslide off a nearby volcano.
The Popol Vuh uses the name Hunahpu, a generic name for Maya leader, as the one who began the work with gunpowder explosives. This indicates that members of the leadership were involved in inventing gunpowder, but due to the danger of injury and death, the task of working and experimenting with gunpowder was delegated to a specific group of people within the community - those without families, represented by B'atz and Chuen, translated as One Monkey, One Artisan, by Tedlock. In Ch'orti' B'atz is "sterile" and Chuen is "orphan."
B'atz' is an indicator of the Mars retrograde date when the experiments of the Maya to find an explosive began. The tzolk'in day sign of B'atz' probably was named and designated on that occasion. 11 B'atz' began in 7756 BCE and ended in 7724 BCE. It would seem that the explosive experimentation began sometime between these dates.
It is hard to know if the first experiments took place on the site of the blocked egress of Lago Güija, in far northwestern El Salvador, where the Chol-Chorti Maya lineage had lived, or at experimental sites elsewhere. From the place names it is clear that the main place of experimentation was the current-day department of La Unión in eastern El Salvador, 180 kilometers southeast of Lago Güija. This suggests that it was the Olmeka lineage (and Lenca, Xinca, Mejica, and Purepecha), based at Lago Olomega, that became the experts, and least in part, at working with gunpowder. Lago Olomega is located about 25 kilometers from the nearest blasting site at Yayantique, based on place name meanings. Click map to enlarge.
Area of Gunpowder Experimentation, Lago Olomega and Corinto Cave
Yayantique is also known as Tejar de Yayantique and is te' har yah yan ti' ker in ancient Ch'orti' and means "altering and breaking open the swollen mouth of woven trees." There are no rivers in Yayantique but this could refer to a creek that runs north of the town and then curves south along the west side of town before sweeping west and north again as it leaves town. It also could refer to a heavily forested valley halfway between Yayantique and San Alejo to the east.
San Alejo is a Spanish name but the indigenous name for the village was Queiquin. This name is Ch'orti' and would have been ker ik' kin. This means "dividing sticks in the air." This seems to have an experiment with lighting the gunpowder up in the air, as opposed to under water. It also shows that the Maya called the gunpowder charges "sticks." This is in addition to the cigar references in the Popol Vuh. The Maya continued to experiment further north, nearing the Xibalba stronghold of Corinto cave, and into present-day Honduras.
To the north of San Alejo is the village and town of Tizate, along with a river of the same name. This is ti' sat te' in Ch'orti' and means "disappearance of trees at opening." This could refer to trees being removed with a gunpowder blast, as part of the practicing.
North of Tizate is the municipal seat of Yucuaiquin, visible on the south edge of the map above. [Click on map to enlarge.] In Ch'orti', Yucuaiquin is yuk wa' ik' kin or "being shaken from sticks in the air." This is one of the clearest references to gunpowder blasting and indicates that the gunpowder squad may have been too close to the blast. Certainly, a good deal of math was involved in estimating the length of the fuse and the time necessary to run away from the blast site. Today, 9700 years later, we would call that an algebraic equation.
The town of Bolivar, to the east, was named after the famous South American liberator Simón Bolivar. But within the municipality is the Talpetates creek. In Ch'orti' it is tal pet aht ehtz and means "observe the pouring arrival of the bath (pond)." While it is completely clear that gunpowder was used to open up a pond, the word "arrival" implies water coming that wasn't there prior. There are several more Talpetates place names in north La Union.
A few kilometers northeast of Bolivar is the village of Albornos, which is ahl bor nox or "the time of beads at a height." This refers to the cliffs at the edge of the village, visible in the upper part of the map at right, where the Maya placed gunpowder charges for practice.
Pasaquina is a municipal seat east of Bolivar. This name is Ch'orti' and is bahs sak kin ha' or "bundle of white sticks in water." Whatever covering was used, it appeared white or light-colored. The water referenced here is the Pasaquina River, whose source is a few kilometers south of Corinto.
The Maya also practiced with gunpowder on the Rio Goascoran, which forms much of El Salvador's eastern border with Honduras. Goascoran is k'o as kor ahn and means "practice freeing the current of bird beaks." K'o (bird beak) was also a way of saying cliffs or large rocks.
Rio Goascoran, By Kebs19 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
The picture at left is upstream, near the Honduran town of Caridad, and may have been one of the practice places.
Another likely blasting location in Honduras was at the present-day town of Aramecina, which is ahr lah mech in ha’, or "first time for hard covering in fatigued water." "Hard covering" is somewhat vague but whatever contained the explosive charges - gourds or pods - would have needed to be hard out of necessity. The Aramecina River, a branch of the Goascoran, flows through the town.
West across the border from Aramecina is the Güeripe River and, upstream a little, the town of Güeripe, which is wehr ri per or "beside collapsed rip". This might not be referring to gunpowder blasting, but there is a good chance that it is. Further upstream this river is called the Polorós and the municipal seat is called Polorós or by a Spanish name, Lajitas. Polorós in Ch'orti' is pol hor os or "bead fitting in the crest." Crest could be an expression for a rock sticking up out of the water or, more likely, for the headwaters of the river.
Twenty kilometers northwest, still in the municipality of Polorós is the town of Guajiniqil, along the Torola River near the border with Honduras. Guajiniqil is wa' ji' in ik' il and means "first time seeing cast off sand in air." The gunpowder experiment included how to remove unwanted sand, throwing the sand up into the air. Upstream is the town of Upire. In Ch'orti' this is uh pir leb and means "sacred beating water-course." This name shows that even though they associated the Torola River with beatings and abuse from the nearby Xibalba, the Maya considered the river to be sacred as it beat its way downstream.
The Anamorós River flows from Lislique and Anamorós down to the Goascoran. South of Anamorós is the town of Tulima, which is tul im ha' or "condition of explosions in river." There is no doubt in the meaning of Tulima - the Maya practiced with gunpowder here. Nearby is the village of Tizate, a second example of this name which earlier was found to mean "disappearance of trees at opening."
Rio Anamorós, By Combo7 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Anamorós, the name of the river and the municipal seat (right), is ahn nam hor os, or "fitting in head of diminishing current." Fitting means a gunpowder charge. Head could refer to the headwater or to a rock crest in the water blocking - diminishing - the current.
Further upstream at Lislique, the Maya continued practicing, here only ten kilometers from the Xibalba base at Corinto cave. Did they blast here solely to practice or also to intimidate their enemies? Probably both. Lislique is li ix li ker and means “beside the movement, beside the dividing.” Five kilometers southwest of Lislique is Higueras. In Ch'orti' this is ji' k'er as and means "practice splitting sandbar." Like Guajiniquil, this was a place the Maya tried to clear out sandbars.
Here at Lislique the main branch of the Anamorós River is called the Amatal River. This means "arrival to the bad one" and probably was the marker for the edge of Xibalba territory, 10 to 15 kilometers from the cave. This same name was used at Toluca Beach, where the Maya ancestors first arrived from South America. The beach next to Toluca was called Amatal, although in that case it was referring to the entire territory of El Salvador, the homeland of Xibalba, rather than physical control of the area around Corinto cave.
Along the Amatal River is the village of Guayzungue, which is way tzun k'er and means "divide open sleeping foreigner." The Amatal was the border of Xibalba territory. The "foreigner" was a Xibalba tribe member who fell asleep on guard duty, who met his end there. The Xibalba were a different race from the Maya - described earlier as yellow or blonde.
Whether it was this death or the intimidating nature of the gunpowder blasts, the Xibalbha who were located at Corinto cave were not happy. The Xibalba leaders approached a blast site. The response of the Maya is provided in the Popol Vuh: "xax kejikik uloq pacawi," which in Ch'orti and English is:
tz'ak' - bundle, joint
k'er - a slicing
ik - air
k'ix - heat
ur - explaining
ok' - dividing in two
pak - a fold, a rolling up
kah - beginning
wis - care, attention
The Maya "explained the dividing in two that slices the air with heat, the beginning of carefully folding up the bundle." A Xibalba lord then said, "What's happening on the face of the earth? They're just stomping and shouting." It was about that time that the Xibalba captured two Maya, tortured them, and killed them.
The torture included making them sit on a burning rock bench. Next they were placed in a dark structure that Tedlock translates as Dark House. In the Popol Vuh it is q’equmaja, which would be k'ek kum mah ha' in Ch'orti', or "washing water of the strong bad ones." This would seem to be an underground water cistern with a large stone for a lid. It is not clear how they were killed but generally opponents were stripped naked and pushed through the hole on top of Corinto cave to (near) certain death.
Later on captured Maya were placed in a house of fire - junjachiq'aq', which is ch'uun ch'a' ch'i'h k'ak in Ch'orti' or "hanging horizontal over giants' fire." Sounds like a spit. In the aftermath the Popol Vuh says that they appeared like winaqal or winak kar. Tedlock translates this as "catfish" but in Ch'orti' is means "human lime (powder)." Since lime was not invented at the time of these events, this analogy was added later. (Note: in Ch'orti', "human" is winik, although the better preserved word for "human" in Kanjobal is winak.)
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