The area around Acambaro and Queretaro, Mexico, became a center for the Purepecha and Otomi in the Pre-Classic era. The settlement of this area northwest of the central valley of Mexico may have started shortly after the Kiche arrived to the west coast of Mexico in 2300 BCE (+/- 200) from El Salvador. The motivation for the Purepecha and Otomi to form a culture there would have been to provide shelter and safety to Kiche women escaping the sacrifice practice of the Kiche. The descendants of these women became known as the Mazahua. These three ethnicities, Purepecha, Otomi, and Mazahua, became the founders of the Chupicuaro culture. The Kiche arrived to Mexico because they were forced out of El Salvador due to the pellagra crisis.
Numerous names provide evidence of this narrative in northern Michoacan, southern Guanajuato, and Queretaro. Chupicuaro is a name of a town in southern Guanajuato and the name of an archeological site now under the water of a reservoir. The name of the Chupicuaro culture was given in modern times based on this site. Chupicuaro is chu up pi ik’ kur ra ar ro or “time of Sky companions listening for the beings, tired of the points, free from the guards.” The phrase “tired of the points” refers both to violence and a sexual connotation. The Sky companions in this region could only be the Purepecha - the next closest Sky people at that time were the Zapoteca. The Purepecha were listening for those freeing themselves from the guards, probably coming up the Lerma River. The name has a double meaning of “observe for the suckers (bees).” The Kiche were long known as bees, going back to the early history recorded in the Popol Vuh. Not only did the Purepecha have to listen for those escaping the Kiche, they had to watch for the Kiche guards trying to take back or kill those who escaped.
The nearby town of Acambaro is consistent. Acambaro is ak’ k’a am bar ro or “boats to free the skin of the beginners from the spiders.” This provides evidence that the Kiche continued the practice of first-born (beginners) sacrifice and that, like in ancient times in El Salvador, it was pregnant Kiche women escaping the Kiche men. The use of boats in the name helps confirm that the Purepecha had boats in the Lerma River waiting to pick up escaping Kiche women to bring them upriver to safety.
The Paredones, a neighborhood of the town of Chupicuaro, tells that the Chupicuaro culture was not just Purepecha. Paredones is par re et to on ne es or “challenge of the previous sacrificers observing the tail (river) for the boats of the paddlers (Kiche). It uses a spelling for paddler, re, that was used to describe the Kiche. The phrase “previous sacrificers” could refer to several people, such as Chola, Totonac, or Huasteca, but those groups would have more likely used the syllable kon rather than ton. This seems to point to the Otomi in the name Paradones.
The town of Jerecuaro is 25 kilometers northeast of Chupicuaro, with the same suffix, indicating a close relationship between the towns. Jerecuaro is che er re ek wa ar ro, which means “time of handling the women under the stars who freed themselves from the paddler beings.” The spelling of paddler - re - indicates the Kiche. The name - “under the stars” - indicates that the women often escaped at night. It has a double meaning of “spread out to observe,” indicating that the Purepecha were observing various points along the river for the Kiche women.
Tarimoro, Guanajuato, is a town 30 kilometers north of Chupicuaro. It is tar ri im mo or ro and means “time of the remnant free of being trapped and blasted by the men beside.” It also appears to refer to the escaping Kiche women. It has a double meaning of “structure for those arriving.” Structure could refer to temple or pyramid.
The Purepecha also named the Lerma River after the escaping Kiche women. It is le er ma or “others (women) of the bad paddlers.” The Purepecha, who have roots on one side with a group of Cuscatlan along the Lempa River, appear to have named the Lerma River after the Lempa River, which was named, ironically by the Kiche. As already discussed Lempa means “descendants of the corn paddlers” or “paddler descendants of corn.”
The escaping Kiche women impacted the place names (history and culture) of a broader region including Morelia to the southwest and Toluca to the southeast. Morelia is mo or re el li ha or “beside the others (women) on the river, who were trapped by the paddler men.” Toluca is to ol lu uk’ ha or “sadness for the sacrifice of the swimmers in the river by the leaders,” with the tol prefix a reference to the Kiche. Tenango, near Toluca, is te er ren nan k’o or “women to the trees from the bladed paddlers,” indicating that the Kiche women settled in the mountains to try to escape notice of the Kiche men.
Another center of the Chupicaro culture was Santiago Queretaro. The taro suffix is similar to the tar prefix of Tarimoro, linking the two areas. Names in this area convey a similar story about the Kiche women but also indicate that the Otomi were a third group to integrate the Chupicuaro culture. Queretaro is about 80 kilometers northeast of Chupicuaro.
Santiago Queretaro is tza an ti ak’ k’o ok’ k’er re et tar ro, which means “challenge of the arrival of those running from the opening of skin, split from the slashing paddlers along the wetness.” The women split (separated) from the paddlers of the river (Lerma) and arrived at Queretaro because they tired of the sacrifice practice.
Several nearby towns provide a similar meaning. Jurica is chu ur ri ik’ ka or “beginners explain about the guards to the sky people.” The sky (or wind) people were the Purepecha (like the Cuscatlan). Beginners refer to first born Kiche survivors. The name Jurica has a double meaning of “sacred river.” San Pedro Tenango is tza an per re et tar ro ot ten nan k’o or “The challenge of clearing to provide shelter for the harvester women who ran to be free of the blades of the paddlers at the wetness.” The ped or pet syllable is an ethnic marker for the Purepecha. Tenango borrows from Chalatenango and Tenango, El Salvador, which was named prior to the Tenango place names in Mexico. El Vegil is 15 kilometers south of Queretaro. It is el pech chi il or “large orphans see the women,” where women is referring to the Kiche women. Large orphans refers to the Otomi: large corresponds to the Poto woman founder of the Otomi while orphan refers to the Kiche man founder, orphaned on the beach after the tsunami of ~7250 BCE. This helps clarify that the Otomi were present and likely an active part of the Chupicuaro culture.
Many of the neighborhoods in Santiago Queretaro also provide meaning around the Chupicuaro neighborhood. Zenea Gardens or Zenea is tzen ne ha’ or “knowledge of the tails (rivers) and waters (oceans).” The Purepecha were originally ocean sailors and probably never lost the ability to sail as well as to navigate the rivers of Mexico.
Other names reflect the plight of the Kiche women, including Bahamas or ba am ma as - bodies from the bad practice of the spiders. This name recalls the Kiche women and first-born who escaped to Bahamas 6000 to 8000 years earlier. The name has a double meaning of “tired ones in the boat.” El Rocio neighborhood is el ro os si or in the first language or “many women freed of being set down by the dancer men.” The Kiche were considered dancers, just like the Itza. It has another meaning of “guided on the foam,” referring to the Lerma River. The Bugambilias neighborhood is pu uk’ k’am bil li as or “useful on the waterway for those from beside (Kiche), sad from the cutting up practice.” It has a double meaning of “reeds of the waterway” which seems to indicate that the escaping women would hide in the reeds.
On the south part of Queretaro is a neighborhood called Rincon de Guadalupe. While it sound like it derives from Spanish, Guadalupe was a pre-Hispanic name. I believe the name come from the original language, where it would be ri in k’o on de ek’ wat tal up per. This means “harvesters arriving through the trees under stars beside those who previously sacrificed the first-born, make a home at the hole listening.” The harvesters arriving through the trees would have been the escaping Kiche women. These women formed the ethnicity known as Mazahua. Mazahua is ma as tza wa or “beings from the bad practice at the wetness.” It has a double meaning of “circle,” most likely indicating the guards who tried to prevent women and first born from escaping. The Guadal prefix is shared with Guadalajara, indicating where the women came from. Rincon de Guadalupe has a second ethnic marker from the phrase “swimmers who previously sacrificed the first-born,” which could have referenced the Huasteca or Totonac, but here seems much more likely to refer to the Otomi, who were related to the Mazahua. The Otomi had practiced child sacrifice when they first arrived in Mexico thousands of years earlier but in a confrontation with the Purepecha had stopped the practice. Swimmers would also refer to the Otomi founders who survived a long swim after the ~7250 tsunami. This seems to indicate that the Chupicuaro included the Otomi and Mazahua in addition to the Purepecha, as other names have suggested.
There is a small set of pyramid and temples on the southwest side of Queretaro. There are several names associated with the pyramid and the neighborhood there: de las Ranas, El Cerrito, and Toluquilla. Ranas is ra an na as or “run tired of the practice of the Na.” Na is an ethnic marker for the Kiche and others in their ethnic family that goes back to Asia, ultimately to China. El Cerrito is the most common name for the pyramid near Queretaro. The name seems like it came from Colonial era Spanish, but I would suggest it could be in the original language, where it would be el ser ri it to or “beside the women who were bound and sacrificed by the blows.” This name is consistent with Ranas and indicates that the Chupicuaro were waiting for the Kiche women escaping from being bound and sacrificed along the Pacific coast (Jalisco and Nayarit). Toluquilla is to ol lu uk’ ki il la or “See those sad, tired of the leaders sacrificing the dear ones.” It also refers to the Kiche women as well as the practice of sacrificing first born (the dear ones).” It shares most of its name with Toluca, which may indicate that the Chupicuaro helped escaping Kiche arrive and settle in the mountains above Toluca, 200 kilometer southeast of Queretaro. Toluca is along the upper Lerma River.
Left: By Michel wal (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The artwork of the Chupicuaro reveals the Purepecha, Mazahua, and Otomi components of the culture. For example, the ceramic figurine to the left represents the Otomi (400BCE-100CE). The original Otomi were a mix of a Poto woman and a Kiche man, hence the half-and-half nature of the figurine. The legs represent the Poto (Chibchab/Olmeca) woman, the Poto known as chi or large. The painting of the temple structures on the hips shows that the Olmeca were the first to begin to build temples. The upper body and head represent the original Kiche man, who used the red paint on the body. I think that the partial split in the skull represents the sacrifice practice that the Otomi man forced on the Poto woman when they met on the shore of Guerrero. The patterns on the face to me represent snakes. The Kiche were known as serpent people.
Other figurines represent the Mazahua people. The key clue is the eyes. The Kiche, and therefore the Mazahua, had slanted eyes, given their origin in China. There are ceramic figurines from Lago Coatepeque - the original home of the Kiche - with nearly identical eyes (2nd photo below). Directly below, there is a male and female and both could be young children, representing the first born that their mothers saved from the sacrifice practice (500BCE to 0BCE).
y Madman2001 (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by author (2012): Casa Amacuilco collection, Lago Coatepeque.
Finally, the last set of figurines are two women of a very different style than the previous figurines and date from 400BCE to 100BCE. The woman on the left with the slanted eyes probably represents the Mazahua. The woman on the right would represent the Purepecha. With her short hair and earrings, she has a much more modern or urbane sense.
By Lfurter [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons
When the Purepecha were first confronted with the challenge of responding to Kiche women running away from the human sacrifice practice, they formed a new culture to respond to the crisis. The new culture, we call Chupicuaro, included the Kiche women and their newborn, who came to be called Masahua, the Purepecha, and the Otomi. The Otomi connection was important because it helped the Chupicuaro have control over much of northern Mexico. In addition, for the moment it kept the Otomi, who were part Kiche, from joining the Kiche’s human sacrifice practice when the Kiche arrived from El Salvador to the west coast of Mexico in about 2300 BCE.
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