Eight miles southwest of Durango, Colorado, was the scene of one of the most gruesome massacres in the Americas prior to the arrival of the Europeans. It is estimated that the massacre occurred between 803 CE and 810 CE. By 810 CE the buildings and trees of the site, called Sacred Ridge, had been burned. The site was occupied from about 700 CE to the time of the massacre. Archeologists have found the bones of dozens of people cut into small pieces - 425 pieces per person according to the sample. The conclusion of the archeological study:
Two of the pit houses contain 14,882 identified human body fragments, belonging to about 35 people, about half the estimated population of the village. The victims show signs of extreme torture and mutilation, including beating on the feet, scalping, and eye gouging. Because of biological and dietary differences between the residents of the village and other villages in the same area, some scientists believe that this provides evidence of ethnic cleansing.[1] [2]
The timeline is helpful as it fits within the timeframe of the massacres that occurred in the aftermath of the halt of Mayan development in Mexico and Guatemala in or very near to 800 CE. The name Durango is the main clue tying the massacre to the massacres in Mexico, as Durango, Mexico, was directly on the route of the Kakchiquel as they chased the Guanajuato Purepecha northwest and into the Barranca del Cobre. Names around Durango, Mexico, indicate that many Purepecha died there. Durango is tu ur ra an k’o or “blades on the corpses of the explainers who were tired of running.” “Explainers” is an ethnic marker for the Purepecha and some of their relatives like the Cuscatlan. This indicates the Cakchiquel and perhaps others committed the massacre at Durango, Colorado, and that the Purepecha were the victims.
Historians indicate that people had been living at Sacred Ridge, southwest of Durango, since around 700 CE. Why would a group of Purepecha have run from central Mexico to Colorado in about 700 CE. Likely to hide. But hide from what? The major event of 700 CE in Mesoamerica was the collapse of Teotihuacan upon a major attack. The Purepecha certainly had the capability, as one of the few groups with knowledge of explosives, which were usually reserved for stonework on the pyramids and other public works. The Purepecha would have been motivated by the desire to end the sacrifice regime at Teotihuacan and to end the support of Teotihuacan for Mayan polities in Mexico and Guatemala. This provides a context for a small group of Purepecha to be hiding in the mountains of Colorado. They likely interacted frequently with their cousins, the Keresan, fellow Sky people.
Several members of the Purepecha remnant survived the Sacred Ridge massacre, mainly because they were not present at the village at the time. This includes at least three persons or families which would become the Tanoan pueblos. Tanoan is ta an no an or “remnant who ran, ran from the Great Ones.” The name says that they ran twice, first from central Mexico, and later from the Great Ones, that is the Kiche/Kakchiquel, at or near Durango. Perhaps these survivors were away from the Sacred Ridge camp at the time that the Kiche/Kakchiquel arrived. Within the Tanoan pueblos are the Tiwa, the Tewa, and the Towa. All three share the ending wa “beings” with the Kiowa. The similarity of these names likely indicate that the founders may have been related.
The Tiwa or Tigua is ti wa or ti ik’ wa, which is “opened beings” or “opened Sky beings”. This identifies them as Sky people, i.e. Purepecha or Keresan. Two northern Tiwa towns are Taos and Picuris. Both names are instructive. Taos is ta os or “remnant of those set down.” The double meaning is Tao which implies “from China.” The ones who set them down were from China. Of the Native American peoples, one of the five original ethnicities was from China, including the Kiche/Kakchiquel and the Osage. The use of tao in Taos is the same use of tao in the Salvadoran municipality of Arcatao, referring to a very early Kiche leader who killed an early Sky (Cuscatlan) leader over the issue of first-child sacrifice. The Tiwa naming Taos was meant to recall their ancestor from 9,000 years earlier who had been killed by the same line of people as who committed the massacre at Durango. Picuris is pi ik’ k’ur ri is or “move beside the Sky companions with the points.” This is a direct reference to the Keresan people. The Keres or Keresan were Iroquois people who were forced to flee the Missouri River area by the early Osage. When they fled west they encountered the Clovis points of another people at Clovis, New Mexico. The Tiwa moving beside the Keres was natural since they came from the same Sky people, although had likely lived apart for 12,000 to 13,000 years, the Keres primarily in North America and the Purepecha primarily in Mesoamerica.
The Southern Tiwa moved along the Rio Grande River at Isleta and Sandia. Isleta is is le et ta or “remnant that moved to the river after the challenge of the paddlers.” They used the let or ret syllable which was somewhat common in Purepecha names such as Queretaro and Loreto. Sandia is tza an ti a or “run from the bloody openings at the water.” They ran from the Durango massacre. In the case of Sandia it is possible that it is a later colonial era name.
The Tewa remained further north, north of present-day Santa Fe. Tewa was meant to sound like Tiwa and Towa. It is te er wa or “beings sticked by the foreigners,” referring to the massacre by the Kakchiquel and other Toltec. It has a double meaning of “ridge beings.” The Tewa name Tesuque has a similar meaning. It is te etz su uk’ k’er or “sad upon observing the slashing of sticks on the plain.” I believe that sticks in this case refers to bones. This makes it clear that the Tewa Purepecha were not at the lake at the time of the massacre but witnessed it from a distance. The name has a double meaning of “bats opened up,” indicating the ethnicity of those who committed the massacre – the symbol of the Kakchiquel is the bat.
Three other names associated with the Tewa refer not to events at Durango but rather to the earlier history of around 700 CE when the Purepecha ended the reign of Teotihuacan. Nambe is nam ber or “disappearance of the workers.” The Purepecha were the workers, i.e. the pyramid workers, of Teotihuacan. Not only did the leaders of the Teotihuacan rebellion leave but the other Purepecha workers left too, likely to other places in Mexico like Puebla, Guanajuato, or Michoacan. The ones most responsible for the fall of Teotihuacan, disappeared to southwest Colorado. Pojoaque, a Mesoamerican style name, is po och cho ak’ k’er or “slashed the skin of the esteemed ones at the entrance of the hole.” Teotihuacan laid at the entrance to the lake of central Mexico. The esteemed ones, in the context of Teotihuacan, was an ethnic marker for the Totonac. This provides a clue that the Totonac were the lead ethnicity at Teotihuacan and that the workers of Teotihuacan, the Purepecha, rebelled and killed the leadership of the Totonac. Ohkay Owingeh, another name associated with the Tewa, is ok’ ka yor wi in k’er or “first ones hit and slashed the source at the beginning splitting.” First ones would be the first Tewa. The source is an ethnic marker for the Totonac. Here to split is used much the same way it is in contemporary English – to leave quickly. Like Pojoaque, it identifies the Totonac as the target at Teotihuacan at the time that the Tewa/Purepecha left central Mexico to hide in southwest Colorado.
The Towa are the third group of Tanoan. Other names associated with the Towa are Jemez and Pecos. Towa is to wa or “sacrificed beings.” Jemez is che em etz or “descendants observed the handling,” where handling is a euphemism for the massacre, with the che syllable recalling the Kiche. However, the name Jemez contains a hidden double meaning which seems to contain guilt. With the hidden meaning it is “descendants failed to handle observing the foreigners.” Here we learn that the Towa were the lookouts for the Purepecha at Durango but failed to observe the stealthy entrance of the foreigners, which is an ethnic marker for the Kakchiquel. Pecos is pek’ k’o os or “greeting of being set down by the blades.” This indicates that the Kakchiquel did not provide the customary greeting given even to enemies. There is a double meaning in Pecos: “foreigners set down the workers with the blade under the stars.” This indicates that the Kakchiquel attack occurred at night-time.
The Tiwa, Tewa, and Towa all have a common language base with the Kiowa. The Kiowa are the survivor(s) perhaps of the leader of the Purepecha village at Durango. Kiowa is ki or wa or “dear beings and leader.” By dropping the ‘r’ in ‘or’ (leader - or) it indicates a difference with the leader warriors of the Kakchiquel. But the name Kiowa is also meant to rhyme with Iowa. The Kiowa were linking their fate with that of their prominent cousins in North America, the Iroquois. The attack that the Iroquois suffered in Iowa at the hands of the ancestors of the Osage, cousins of the Kakchiquel, occurred in about 10,000 BCE. The Kiowa were linking histories on the North American continent that were separated by about 11,000 years.
The names in western Colorado indicate that the Kiowa family or lone survivor fled north through the mountains. First along the Animas River which flows south through Durango. It is an ni im matz or “surrounded, ran through the hills.” It has a double meaning which tells of the story of running from central Mexico originally: “run from the bad practice at the mounds (pyramids) at the foam.” North of Durango is the town of Hermosa. This is er mo os ha or “trapped and set down by the foreigners at the water.” It is fair to ask how the Kiowa names stuck to various places on the journey. It is likely that generations of Kiowa revisited the trip to re-tell the story. In addition, the permanent residents of the region, the Utes, kept the names alive for the Kiowa.
Further north near Silverton is Sultan Mountain or su ul ta an or “remnant of the explainers runs from the plain.” Explainers is an ethnic marker for the Purepecha and plain is an ethnic marker for the Kakchiquel. The proximity of Sultan to Usulutan, the origin point for the male side of the Purepecha, should not be lost.
Anvil Mountain, also near Silverton, is an bi il or “see the companion(s) run.” It was likely named by the Ute who were in this area. Vil or pil was an ethnic marker for the Purepecha, seen later in Pipil. At Silverton the massacre survivor(s) headed northwest. Next, we see the path at Trico Peak about 20 kilometers northwest of Silverton. Trico is ti ir ri ik’ k’o or “see the blade opening the sky beside.” It has a double meaning of “see the Sky person(s) beside opened by the blades.” Sky person would have indicated a Purepecha. The only other Sky people within 500 miles were the Keresan.
Once crossing the pass here, the Purepecha survivor(s) followed the nascent Uncompahgre River, ensuring that they had a fresh water source. Uncompahgre is un k’o om pa ak’ re or “blade of the paddlers on the skin of the bodies of the children.” It is graphic in its recounting of the massacre at Durango. It has a double meaning which matches very closely the account of the archeologists of the massacre, which is “splice the bones.” The spelling of paddler used in the name only could refer to the Serpent people, i.e. the Kakchiquel.
Sixty-five kilometers north of Silverton is Dallas or tal la as or “arrival of those tired of the practice.” With the beginning tala referring to the place of the (bad) practice, Tula. Another 30 kilometers north is Colona or k’o ol lo on ha or “free of the blades of the Na warriors, previously.” It was at this point that the fleeing survivor(s) felt free of the potential pursuing by the Kakchiquel. It has a double meaning of “transport in the river” which seems to indicate the journey here was by canoe.
North of Montrose 15 kilometers is Olathe and then Delta. Olathe is ol la ach che or “turtles handled the tired warriors.” This is likely copying the Keresan name of Olathe (Kansas) when the Keresan were fleeing the Osage warriors 11,000 to 12,000 years earlier. Both the Keresan and the Purepecha were Turtle/Sky people. The route north is not so clear from there, although it is likely the survivor crossed the Colorado River near Grand Junction. From this point on, it is likely that the Ute sent a young person to accompany the survivor all the way to the end of the journey. The path may have been to continue northwest to Vernal, Utah, and then north to Rock Springs, Wyoming. In present-day Utah along the Green River is Manila or ma an nil la or “healing for the tired one(s) running from the badness.” Much further north, before arriving to the Tetons, is Tosi Peak or to os si or “many set down and sacrificed.” The next signs of the Purepecha survivor(s) is next to the Blackfoot Reservation, east of Glacier National Park in northwest Montana, their new home.
Twenty kilometers west of Browning, Montana, center of the Montana Blackfeet, and next to the edge of Glacier National Park is Kiowa, Montana. The Purepecha survivor(s) fled to the Blackfeet because it was sufficiently far from the reach of the Kakchiquel and because the Blackfeet were also Turtle people like the Purepecha. They were cousins. Kiowa, Montana, is the first mention of Kiowa. I think that the name Kiowa implies that there was one lone survivor at Durango and that it was a woman. This is because the name Kiowa has two parts: Ki and Iowa. Ki or “dear one” was usually used to describe a woman or children. In this case, a woman makes more sense.
Iowa was a reference to the place Iowa. As mentioned earlier, it featured prominently in the retreat of the Iroquois and Cherokee from the Osage at the Missouri River near present-day Sioux City in about 10,000 to 11,000 BCE. They were fleeing for their lives. Names there indicate that one small group of Iroquois separated from the rest and fled down the Missouri River, pursued by the Osage. This gave rise to the name Iowa “see the beings free of the warriors.” These Iroquois floated or paddled down the Missouri, down the Mississippi, and then up the Arkansas River, until the junction with the Canadian River about 60 kilometers west of present-day Fort Smith. They paddled up the Canadian River until they passed the present-day border of New Mexico. Here they settled, becoming the Keresan. The Iroquois and by extension the Keresan were Turtle people, like the Purepecha. It seems likely that the Blackfeet and perhaps the healed Purepecha woman made the journey back to New Mexico to find her a Keresan man, the “Iowa” man, who would become the founder of the Kiowa with the survivor Purepecha woman. This explains the name Kiowa.
While the area on the east side of Glacier National Park is clearly Blackfeet, the Blackfeet hosted their cousin(s), the Kiowa, and several names clearly are indicative of the Kiowa. My estimation is that the Kiowa stayed in Montana until the fall of the Toltec in the mid-12th Century. This would indicate a stay among the Blackfeet of about 350 years. Five kilometers east of Kiowa is the small town of Star. While this appears to be an English name, if it was originally Setar, it would mean “arrival of the slashed.” Twenty-five kilometers southwest of Kiowa is Two Medicine Lake. While the name is in English it could indicate the initial recovery spot of the two Kiowa founders.
Above Two Medicine Lake to the south is Appistoki Peak which is ap pi is to ok’ ki or “movement (to here) of the companion and the dear one who split from the sacrificing swings.” Appistoki Peak and Creek are just a few kilometers east of the continental divide which gives reason for the double meaning of “measure the split,” i.e. the split of the continent’s water. Pitamakan Lake is 25 kilometers west of Kiowa. Pitamakan is pi it ta am mak’ k’a an or “remnant of the companions trapped and received blows from the spiders, relieved to have run.”
Twenty kilometers northwest of Kiowa is Kupunkamint Mountain, which is kur up pu un ka am mi in ni it or “one listened to the spiders’ points cutting up the children of those who blew up the hills of the cats at the beginning.” This indicates the haunting feeling of having to listen to the children being slaughtered, asymmetrical punishment for destroying the hills – the pyramids – of the Maya at Teotihuacan.
Five kilometers to the northwest is Kakitos Mountain. This is k’ak’ k’i it to os or “dear ones set down and sacrificed by the blows of the fire.” The name repeats the use of ki found in Kiowa. The phrase “fire” – k’ak’ – refers to the Kakchiquel. Otokomi Mountain is on the north side of Saint Mary Lake. It is ot to ok’ k’o om mi or “shelter for those who split from the sacrificing of the cats at the foam.” The name has the double meaning of “spliced,” referring to the way the bones were sliced into small pieces at Durango. The name also implicates the Otomi, another member of the Toltec, in the massacre, with oto at the beginning and mi at the end of the name.
Closeby is Matahpi Peak which is ma at ta ap pi or “remnant of the companions swung at by the evil ones from the bath.” From the bath is a reference to the large lake in central Mexico. It has a double meaning of “arrival of the tired ones.” On the south side of Saint Mary Lake is Mahtotopa Mountain or ma at tot to op pa. This translates as “sacrificed by the evil dancers from the bath who tapped on the bodies.” This name implicates the Totonac, the third member of the Toltec, just at Otokomi Mountain implicates the Otomi. The mountains of Glacier National Park make it clear that all three ethnicities that would become the Toltec were involved in the Durango massacre. This was likely the first “military” operation of the Toltec.
Fifty-five kilometers north of Kiowa, Montana, is Apikuni Mountain. It is just north of Lake Sherburne. Apikuni is ap pi ik’ k’un ni or “hill of the Sky companions swung at by the tender.” Tender is an ethnic marker, which dates back to Asia, for the Kiche and Kakchiquel and other Serpent people.
It is interesting that Montana is called the Big Sky Country. While it would appear to be a name given by white settlers, Big Sky, i.e. chic, is an ethnic marker for the Purepecha, one of the two founders of the Kiowa.
Perhaps around 1150 CE the Kiowa moved to eastern Colorado, western Oklahoma and western Texas. Anadarko, Oklahoma, is a current center for the Kiowa. It is an nat tar k’o or “arrival after running from the blades in a distant place.” It shares the syllables of anat with the Canadian River, an important name for the Keresan, one half of the Kiowa founders. In 1833, the Kiowa were camped alongside the Washita River, east of Cooperton. While nearly all the men were out of camp, the Osage attacked the Kiowa women, children, and elderly. It was mass murder. About 150 people died. The Osage are cousins of the Kakchiquel - they are both Serpent people. Ironically, 900 years after the Kakchiquel killed almost everyone in a Purepecha/Kiowa village near Durango, Colorado, the Osage did the same thing in western Oklahoma. This is called the Cutthroat Gap Massacre.
It is likely that the Washita River, named after Wichita, was named following this massacre. It is wa ach chi it ta or “remains of the large turtles from the blows of the beings.” Both “large” and “turtles” were ethnic markers for the Kiowa.
Meanwhile, it was a tradition in the Americas that, after a long journey, a group of people would stay at their destination point rather than return home. This occurred with the Toltec warriors who carried out the massacre at Durango. This provided a benefit for the Toltec in Mexico of expanding their military, political, and cultural reach. This makes it clear that whole families made the journey north from central Mexico, not just warriors.
The purpose of this article is not to say what they did or who they battled in present-day New Mexico and Arizona. Rather, I will identify who they are and where they ended up. The Totonac were the easiest to absorb alongside their neighbors, many of whom were their cousins, like the Ute, Yuman, Apache, Navajo, and Comanche. They became the Hopi, op pi, the “dancing companions.” With a double meaning of “loose ones trapped at the hole.” The hole referred to the Grand Canyon. It is notable that someone sent for the Navajo/Apache, the Hopi’s cousins, from Canada to essentially surround the Hopi to keep them in check – hence the double meaning of their name. The Hopi descend from the long-time leaders of Teotihuacan.
The Cahuilla were the Otomi/Toltec who moved to the Coachella valley after they and all the Toltec in the north were defeated. Cahuilla is kar wi il ha or “see the Source detained at the river.” The Source were the Hopi. The Otomi/Cahuilla saw that the Hopi were detained and instead of becoming detained themselves moved into the desert hundreds of miles to the west. A name that they give for themselves Ivilyuqaletem tells the same story. It is ib bil yuk’ k’al le et ter em or “challenge of the descendants of the paddler spirits to join and be retained at the ridged waterway.” They responded to the challenge, the pressure to join the Hopi at the Colorado River and be retained in the process, by moving to the west to remain free. The Cahuilla name for person is Taxliswet or ta ach li is wet or “neighbors beside, remnant of the Turtles who moved.” This refers to the Tanoan people.
The defeated Kakchiquel/Toltec were forced to live the furthest away from the Colorado River area. On the other hand, they moved to the advantageous Pacific Ocean of the present-day Los Angeles basin. Like the Cahuilla they speak an Uto-Aztecan language which had been common in central Mexico in the 9th century when they traveled north to massacre the Purepecha at Durango. Tongva is to on ba or “previously sacrificed the body.” This indicates that the Tongva gave up the practice of human sacrifice soon after migrating to the area. Some Tongva call themselves Kizh which is a shortened Kiche, which itself meant “handle the hearts.” Both the Cahuilla and the Tongva are part of the Takic, which is essentially a northern Kakchiquel-Otomi Nahuatl language grouping. Takic is ta ak’ ki’ ik’ or “skinned the remnant of dear Sky people,” with the ki syllable recalling the Kiowa. It has a double meaning of “dry sky” which describes their desert home.
[1] Bower, Bruce (6 November 2010). "Massacre at sacred ridge: A violent pueblo incident sparks debate regarding prehistoric genocide". Science News. 178 (10): 22–26. doi:10.1002/scin.5591781023. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
