The Indigenous History of El Salvador

1 Kawe't - Irrigation for our neighbors, our companions

"Our neighbors, our companions." Kawe't (Ch'orti'), Kawuq (Quiche), Kawak (Yucatec), Quiahuitl (Nuhuat-Aztec)

Using a GMT correlation of -95, the 13 day week of Kawe't begins today. Kawe't is about our neighbors, near and far. Seeing all as neighbors and all as companions. The Maya are somewhat unusual in having a sacred symbol or sign be based on neighbors, someone who is non-Mayan. This is the most generous of signs and a time to assist others, rebuild neighborhoods, organize, and create companionship outside one's family or circle.

The Maya created a sign for their neighbors because they truly believed in getting to know and sharing with as many different groups and tribes as they could. It is essential to who they have been and who they are.

The Aztec symbol for this day sign is revealing - the head of Tlaloc. Tlaloc translates as tal - arrival; ahl - time of; ok' - dividing in two, "time of the arrival of the dividing in two". This refers to cutting a path for a river or canal so that water to come to a dry region. The Maya did that many times for their neighbors. The Mayan glyph appears to have water drops on it which people have assumed were raindrops, so this sign has often been interpreted as rain or storm. But the meaning is irrigation and rivers.

In the Mars retrograde long-count calendar this day corresponds to 2641 BCE to 2609 BCE.

The Mayan Invention of Gunpowder by 7600 BCE

Early in the Popol Vuh, the second chapter in some versions, is the story of 7 Kaqix - which is the story of how the Maya invented and used gunpowder. Its placement shows how important this story was to the Maya, as they ordered the oral history that would become the Popol Vuh. I will re-tell the story by translating key words using Ch'orti' rather than the language the Popol Vuh was recited in, Quiche, when recorded, and I will date the invention of gunpowder from 7724 BCE to 7677 BCE, using the Mars retrograde long-count calendar.

Gunpowder consists of fuels like sulfur and charcoal and an oxidizer like saltpetre (potassium nitrate).

The Maya arrived to El Salvador in about 8700 BCE, were briefly captured by the Xibalbhan hunters and soon found out that the Xibalbhans were afraid of water. They moved to an island - Isla Tigre, Honduras - but soon each of the four lineages needed more space and autonomy and the water level was rising to dangerous levels due to post-Ice Age melting.

The lead lineage, the Ch'orti's, moved to Teotipa at Lago Güija in late 8207 BCE, but about 370 years later, during 7835 BCE, the lake suffered a massive flood and tzuhnami caused by a volcanic eruption. The few survivors moved to Teopan at Lago Coatepeque but they and their offspring desired beyond all else to move back to Lago Güija.

The Ch'orti' survivors felt it was their destiny to be at one of the sources of the Lempa (originally Lumpa) River. The Zapotec ancestors were at the other end of the Lempa, at Tehuacan. Each end of the Lempa needed a lineage and each lineage needed its own island. That was their destiny. And to be safe from their archenemies Xibalbha, who were afraid of water. For the Ch'orti' their destiny was Lago Güija, which means both "source" and "navel".

There was one major problem: it was under water. When the San Diego volcano erupted, likely on Nov. 1, BCE, its lava flow, combined with mudslides, cemented over the egressing river that connects the lake to the Lempa. The newly created island of Igualtepec, left, was mostly underwater. Teotipa was completely covered.

The only way to be able to move to Igualtepec Island would be to clear out the lava, rocks, and dirt from the egress path. But that was not possible with the typical land-moving procedures of 7800 BCE.

This scene is confirmed by the Popol Vuh names Kaqix and his wife Chimalmat.

7 Kaqix

kah - beginning, start
k'ix - heat, warmth

The "beginning of heat," a euphemism I have found for gunpowder explosions. But it has a double meaning of "beginning of the tobacco smoking." This parallel meaning runs throughout the story.

Chimalmat

ch'i' - growth
mar - open space (also lake or ocean in archaic Ch'orti')
rum - earth, soil
at - bath

Or "growth of the lake bathing the earth". This refers to the growing Lago Guija with no egress. The first syllable of Chimalmat's name coincides with the day sign Ch'i' and combined with the 7 in front of Kaqix gives the long-count date of 7 Ch'i', which was 7630 BCE, the likely date of the successful partial draining of Lago Güija.

Further confirmation of the location of this story at Lago Güija and Igualtepec comes from the name Belen Guijat which is the village right around the egressing river (Desagüe) where it was exploded by the Maya:

per - drawing in, collapse (the 'b' and 'p' sounds are similar and the 'l' and 'r' were the same)
ehm - a descent, going down
wit - explosion
hat - a splitting

[Mudslide hill - volcanic fill] "collapsing downward from the splitting explosion"

Right: The egressing river from the lake. This section appears to have been blasted open. [Click to enlarge.] The Popol Vuh story begins with 7 Kaqix, who symbolizes the blocked egress, being noticed by Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The second name here is a date rather than a person - Xbalanque means 1 Balan (B'ahram), which in the Mars long-count calendar corresponds to 7835 to 7630 BCE. The story begins before 7630 but the name 7 Kaqix tells us that it ends after the Mars calendar has clicked down to 7 Chi, which happened in 7630 BCE.

Then we are introduced to the first of 7 Kaqix's two sons, Zipacna:

sip - swollen, bulging
pak - rolled up
nat' - held fast

Zipacna is "swollen, rolled up and held fast" - a cigar. The Mayan ancestors discovered tobacco at Tecapa volcano and then began growing it on Isla Tigre, Gulfo de Fonseca. The cigar - Zipacna - became the model for how to pack the gunpowder. This explains why Zipacna was later portrayed as an alligator in Mayan art.

Zipacna then begins to brag about all the things he was responsible for at the Isla Tigre mountain:

• Chiq'aq' - Chi'i' "growth" + kak "a getting". "Getting growth". Tobacco was the first thing cultivated by the Maya and through its cultivation the Maya learned how to grow corn and many other things.
• Hunahpu. The leadership, wisdom, and identity of the Maya were born on Isla Tigre.
• Pekul Ya - Pehk "greeting" + ur "explanation" + ha' "water". "Explaining the greetings over the water" - bowing to the planets that were aligned out over the water in late October 8207 BCE.
• Xk'anul - Ix (feminine) + k'an "yellow" + ur "an explaining". The "yellow lady who explains", which would be Venus the lead star of the triple star event of 8207 BCE, which occurred on the Mars retrograde date of 2 K'anir. Later in the story Xkik will speak about Xk'anir, events during the Mars retrograde date of 9 K'anir. The explanation in Xk'anul I think was clarity in the manner of how to pray to the planets.
• Macamob - The first half of this doesn't need translation - the macaw, but it helps: mak "enclosure" + kah "beginning" + mo' "parrot". The first animal to be domesticated by the Maya was the parrot on Isla Tigre.
• Huliznab - hur "a closing in" + ix "a going" + nahp "a forgetting". I'm quite sure that closing in refers to the rapidly rising ocean as the ice melted globally after the Ice Age. The Maya left Tiger Island and some tried to forget about it. Well, not Zipacna.

The story describes the Mayan twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque as using a blowgun to shoot at 7 Kaqix. They break his jax. The blowgun is a symbol for a wick and the jaw represents the ground beginning to open up from the gunpowder explosives. 7 Kaqix rips off the arm of Hunahpu. This tells us that the Maya placed their first explosive into a crack, lit it and it exploded, but blew up the arm of the person lighting it. Thus they learned to use a wick.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque ask for the advice of two old ones, a grandfather, Saki Nim Ak, and grandmother, Saki Nima Tzi's. The names of the old ones tell us the nature of the advice: Saki "to search" + Nir "cure" + Ahk "rumbling" or search for a cure on (how to harness) the rumbling sound (explosive). And for Saki Nima Tzi's: Saki "to search" + Nir "cure" + Tzir "breaking in two", which refers to a cure (solution) to breaking in two the lava and rock slide across the area of the old river egress. Saki Nim Ak has a double meaning which is to search for a cure to rumbling tobacco cough.

The boys tell the grandparents to tell 7 Kaqix that the boys' parents have died which is why they are following along with the grandparents. This tells us that orphaned persons were among those who worked with the explosives. It was so dangerous they wanted to minimize the risk to those with families.

When 7 Kaqix speaks to the grandparents, he recognizes that they are curers with "Nim" or "Nir" in both of their names. He wants to know if they can fix his broken teeth - the earth starting to be broken up. They say "We only pull worms out of teeth", a reference to the wicks being placed to the explosive charges. Then they say "ubak uwach" which means uh "good" + bak' "a wrapping" + waka' "bark string" or "good wrappings, good bark string", wrappings being the packed charges and bark string being the wicks.

Close-up of the section of the egress river where blasting appears to have taken place

The grandparents convince 7 Kaqix to have all of his teeth out. He does. And he dies, along with his wife, Chimalmat. The lava over the egress is taken out and the bloatedness of the lake, represented by his wife, is gone as well. This happened soon after the Mars long-count date 7 Ch'i', Nov. 21, 7630 BCE. That would be the end of the story, but the Popol Vuh goes back and fills in some of the details.

The next story that is told is that of Omuch' K'ajolab', translated as Four Hundred Boys by Tedlock. Omuch' K'ajolab' was dragging a log, a great tree, over to Zipacna (the cigar).

Ohom - froth, suds
Muk - bury, hide, insert
Kah - start
Hor - head, end
La'b - grease, salve

The key here is to know that the balsam tree is called la'bte' or "salve tree". The meaning is "start of inserting end of (with) balsam resin into the (lake-edge) froth." Perhaps end means end of the wick or it could mean that the end of the balsam tree was used to pack the explosive. Several Maya, represented by Omuch' K'ajolab', were dragging the balsam logs all the way from the Balsam Range to Lago Guija, in order to utilize the balsam resin as a sealant for the underwater wick and explosive. This is a distance of about 70 kilometers over hilly terrain. 

The primary chemical components of the Peru Balsam are benzyl cinnamate (to 40%), benzyl benzoate (to 30%), sesquiterpene alcohol nerolidol (to 7%), and phenolic 'peruresinotannol' (20-40%). Balsam resin would be a great substance to seal and waterproof a wick.

Zipacna carries the log to the site. Zipacna as alligator-cigar symbolizes the Maya learning to float the balsam logs over water rather than dragging them. They would have floated the balsam logs down the mountain streams during rain storms to the Rio Sucio which enters the Lempa River about 50 kilometers north of San Salvador. From there the logs would have been poled upstream to within a few hundred meters of Lago Guija, to the far point of the egress river blockage.

Omuch' K'ajolab' next learned about using guano to make potassium nitrate crystals: Kakachak'imah tana:

kah - beginning
kahch - knot, cluster, crystal
chak'in - two days
ha' - water
ta' - animal excrement
nak -front side, wall

"Beginning of (gathering) animal excrement (guano) from a wall (cliff), (soaking) it two days in water (to make) crystals." Guano or other animal excrement is the primary natural raw material to produce potassium nitrate (saltpetre). It is not clear how the Maya learned of this property of guano but they were the ultimate alchemists, probably testing every material and compound they found over several years. Right: Lake channel leading to the egress. Probably no blasting here.

Omuch' K'ajolab' asks Zipacna to dig a hole for them. Omuch' K'ajolab' planned to kill him in the hole with a balsam tree. But Zipacna digs a second angled hole off from the bottom of the first and hid there. A tree is jammed down the hole but Zipacna is not killed. This is saying that the Maya learned how to angle the explosive holes to direct the charge to create the right effect.

Zipacna then brings down the roof of Omuch' K'ajolab', killing him/them. This is an indication that on at least one occasion the packing tree or the rocks being exploded landed on the explosive workers, killing them.

Next we learn of the death Zipacna, which means that the explosive cigar is complete. This story takes place near a mountain called Meauan. There is a mountain of a similar name in La Libertad between the towns of Jayaque and Tepecoyo. There is a nearby cliff that would be full of guano. Let's look at the meaning of Meauan:

mein - shadow
wa'an - rising, straight

Meauan is in the shadow of the rising, straight (cliff) mountain, which would be a cliff now called Chantekwan (left):

ch'ahn - twine, rope, climbing vine
tech' - expand, spread out
wa'an - rising, straight

"Spread out twine (a net) going straight down (or up)". We'll see that this name matches perfectly the story in the Popol Vuh.

The narrator summarizes the story by Meauan mountain about a crab who jal wachixik:

har - weaving, netting
waka' - bark string
ix - moving
ik' - air, wind

The crab moves along in the wind on bark string netting. The netting was secured on top and dropped over the edge of the cliff. The crab is describing the motion of a cliff climber. The story has all sorts of sexual innuendo and a cliff climber could become intimate with the cliff in a sense.

The crab's arms are said to ukok q'ab:

uh - good, sacred
k'ok - separating
k'ab - excretion

The crab arms separate the good (sacred?) excretion (guano) (from the cliff wall). Zipacna tells Hunahpu and Xbalanque to kib'e ta iwab'a "raise the guano to the stand-place (top)." There must have been someone on top to pull up the full bags or containers of guano.

We are told of the safety precautions as the crab moves around, jupulik pakalik:

yuh - anything worn around the neck
pur - moving up and down
ik' - air

bak' - a tying up
kar - dizziness
ik' - air

The safety procedures included a halter to move one up and down in the air and tying oneself up if dizzy in the air. It was dangerous work and they discovered ways to enhance the guano workers' safety.

Zipacna wants to eat the crab - the "cigar" wants the guano inside him. Zipacna is fulfilled and dies.

Other places where they may have collected guano might include Las Minas Cave in Esquipulas, Guatemala, the caves in eastern El Salvador once the Xibalbha were defeated, rocks along the ocean in La Libertad and La Union, El Salvador, and a cliff in San Agustin, Usulutan, which has drawings somewhat like Igualtepec's on its higher end.

The second son is then introduced, Kab'rakan, translated as Earthquake by Tedlock, which is not too far off. Kab'rakan:

Kahp - a cutting, an opening up
Rax - summit, surface
Kan - learning

"Learning to open up the surface," referring to gunpowder opening up the surface. Kab'rakan has a double meaning of "desire for what is clenched in the teeth" recalling his brother Zipacna, the cigar.

Kab'raqan is introduced together with Juraqan, Ch'ipi Kaqulja and Raxa Kaqulja, translated as Hurricane, Newborn Thunderbolt and Sudden Thunderbolt. It is tempting to simply translate Juraqan as Hurricane but that is not the original meaning:

Huhr - missile, arrow, bullet
Akar - charcoal

Juraqan is "bullet-shaped charcoal". Ground-up charcoal. A typical component of gunpowder.

Kaqulja, in common to the Thunderbolts, is:

K'ahk' - fire, light, heat
Kur - spine, hair
Hahr - a braid
Ha' - water

"Fire braided hair" which tells us perhaps of the how the first wick was made.

Chipi Kaqulja (Newborn Thunderbolt)

Chi' - sugar
bi' - sap, wax, rubber

"Sugar sap fire hair in water" where sugar sap indicates how the wick was lined to place it in water.

Raxa Kaqulja (Sudden Thunderbolt)

Rax - forehead, summit, flat level surface

"Flat level surface fire braided hair" indicated that they found they needed to place the wick on a flat surface.

Juraqan spoke to Hunahpu and Xbalanque and told them that Kab'raqan was getting too big. This means that the packed charges were too large when the only fuel is charcoal. So he tells the Maya to take Kab'raqan to a mountain. They tell Kab'raqan of a mountain growing in the east, rising above the other mountains. This is clearly talking about a newborn volcano rapidly growing.

Along the way they shoot birds with blowguns - a figure of speech for practicing lighting charges with wicks. They treat the birds with a substance translated as plaster or gypsum. Since this is in the context of traveling to a volcano it is likely talking about sulfur, common in new volcanoes.

Juraqan says "b'ochi'j ku'b'ik."

Pochi - peel
Kuk - rolled up
Bi' - sap, wax, rubber

"Peel (the bark), roll it up in sap." Instructions for preparing a wick for under water use.

They roast the birds - practice lighting charges, dripping with fat - balsam resin - and made with various minerals that they experimented with. One that seemed to work was sulfur (or gypsum) that they found at the new mountain in the east. This new mixture worked - it "killed" Kab'raqan.

The newer volcanoes in the east of El Salvador include Usulutan and Chaparrastique (San Miguel). By the name we know that it was Usulutan, left, that is referred to in the Popol Vuh:

Os - a fit, a fitting into
Sur - casting off, shedding
Ut - small opening
Tan - powder, ash

"Powder for a fitting that casts off in a small opening". The Usulutan volcano would be the first place that they found sulfur for the gunpowder.

The next story in the Popol Vuh introduces 1 B'atz' and 1 Chuen, translated as 1 Monkey, 1 Artisan by Tedlock. Batz means monkey in Quiche and Chuen means monkey in Yucatec. It is clear that they are scribes, artists, crafts-workers. But they are introduced here because they represent two classes of persons who worked with the very dangerous gunpowder.

In Ch'orti', B'atz' translates as "sterile" (pax) and Chuen translates as "step-son" (chu'unen). (Note: b' is basically equivalent to p.) Those who didn't have families - those who couldn't because they were sterile and those who were step-children or orphans - were the ones asked to take on the very dangerous task of working with gunpowder. Over time perhaps others also asked to join the B'atz' and Chuen team and voluntarily gave up having a family. This class of Maya became extremely important over the thousands of years. The Popol Vuh describes a number of qualities of B'atz' and Chuen: painters, writers, ajk'ot - molders (shaping charges), and ajxit - splitters (those who crack open). It seems that they also gained the slang of monkey.

Hunahpu, the generic Maya, began the work with explosives but due to injuries and deaths in a short amount of time the task was delegated to a specific group of people within the community - those without families, B'atz and Chuen.

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.

The Mayan enemies, the Xibalbha who were located at Corinto cave, noticed the experimenting with explosives and said, "xax kejikik uloq pacawi":

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

"They explained the dividing in two that slices the air with heat, the beginning of carefully folding up the bundle." A Xibalbha lord then says "What's happening on the face of the earth? They're just stomping and shouting." It is about this time that the Xibalbhans capture two Maya and burn them alive in an oven, presumably as punishment for playing with fire.

A bit later in the Popol Vuh is a story that involves B'atz', Chuen, and Xkik'. Xkik' translates as Rumble Woman. The name originates about 180 years earlier from a girl (a "grandmother" to the present Rumble Woman) who was given that name because she lived near the Torola (Rumble) River. That is, she was Xibalbhan. She was the one who became pregnant from 1 Hunahpu's beheaded corpse outside the Corinto cave. One of her offspring was survivor of the Guija flood. And the woman in this story is an offspring of a flood survivor. This story begins about 50 years after the flood and 130 years after the first Xkik' became pregnant. Now with this story the name Rumble Woman gains a new meaning.

An older woman from the community asks Xkik' to go braid (har), to make a wick. She went out to the garden with B'atz' and Chuen but could not find material to braid. She calls out for help:

ta tul waloq, ta tul tak'aloq
"Trees in a state of sticking up, dry out the condition of the place! Open a fissure to divide in two!"

xtoj, xq'anil
movement (into) Tojmar, movement (into) K'anir (Mars retrograde)

xkakaw, ix tziya
fire forcing wick-movement, going to the fitting

Notes: First line: ta-place, tur-state, wa'ar-erect, ok-sticks, ta-place, tak-dry, k'ar-fissure, ok'-divide in two. Third line: ix-movement, k'ahk'-fire, kaw-force, ix-going, tz'ir-a fitting into.

The first line has a sexual joke, with Xkik' talking of erect sticks when it was her ancestor also symbolically named Xkik' who became pregnant from an erect bone of a cadaver, as it were. The erect sticks refer to Igualtepec which was a giant blob from the mudslide that formed during the Guija eruption and flood where many trees were part of the avalanche and ended up sticking out in all directions.

Right: This part of the egress river from Lago Guija appears to have been channelized. The second line of Xtoj, XK'anil is the closest thing to proof that the Maya were using the Mars retrograde long-count calendar. The x in front denotes movement, in this case of the retrograde movement of Mars. Normally the day Tojmar follows K'anir in the tzolk'in calendar but the days move backward in the Mars long-count calendar. 9 Tojmar started in 7692 BCE, telling us when the women starting collaborating with B'atz' and Chuen. 8 K'anir started in 7677 BCE and ended in 7645 BCE, when 7 Ch'i' started, indicating the approximate date of when the Guija egress (Desague) channel was finally opened up. This would mean that it it took about 100 years from the very first experiments until the channel was re-established.

The Popol Vuh then speaks of the relationship between B'atz' and Chuen and Hunahpu, who represents those not working with explosives. Hunahpu says "kichakimal kikak wachib'al":

k'ix - heat
ch'ahk - anything cut
i- - [locative]
mar - open space, lake

k'ix - light
k'ahk' - fire
waka' - bark string
pahr - shaping

"Cutting with heat at the lake place. Lighting the bark string (wick) to the shaping."

The Popol Vuh then describes a safety precaution used when they went diving, in this case diving to place explosive charges at cracks under water. B'atz' and Chuen say "How can we hold onto a snake? This [ ] looks frightening to us," speaking of when they are underwater. Hunuhpu answers "Undo your pants, tie them around your hips, with the long end trailing like a tail behind you, and then you'll be better able to move." The narrator says they looked like monkeys. And this must be where the name monkey for B'atz' and Chuunen comes from. And how the Quiche and Yutcatec day sign for B'atz' developed into monkey. The divers no doubt had a long tail that stretched from several meters underwater to the surface where someone was monitoring it ready to pull up on the line if it didn't feel right.

B'atz' and Chuen made their grandmother laugh when they wore their diving belts home. They tried to be serious though and said chi xiririk xe kipam, that they were the "person who examines the untamed wind which produces a lever to break apart." Out in the air they hadn't noticed the blast of air that accompanies the explosion but it was quite evident under water. Then they say chi chilita je pu chuchi kik' ux "Hot pellets pull and violently tear away at the growing protrusion." The underwater charges were working.

B'atz' and Chuen explain some of the dangers and sacrifices that the explosive workers had to endure. They mention kaq ruxruj uchi or "drinking while swimming in the froth." They mention tak, which means "deaf" - some of them became deaf from the explosions. Finally they mention mutzumaq which means "their sacrifice - twitching and twisted bodies." They had nerve damage and damaged limbs.

What else did the Maya use gunpowder for over the years? This will be the subject of some of my future writing. But it is highly likely that they used it to quarry and polish the large stones used to make monuments, temples, and pyramids during the pre-Classic and Classic periods.

Another use is evident in the Balsam Range, where balsam logs were harvested to use on log rafts. The logs were sent downstream from streams like the Shutia, left, near Tepecoyo, during heavy rainstorms when the water flow was sufficient. The logs would snag up on these mountain streams so gunpowder was used to straighten out the course of the streams. This comes from the place names in the Balsam Range:

Shutia: (xut' - tear, rip) + (tia - when, where); "where tearing" or place of tearing.

Cashal, stream near Jayaque: (kach - tying, binding) + (ahr - time of): "(first) time of binding" or first time (in Balsam Range) for binding the charges.

Talnique, municipality near top of Balsam Range: (tal - arrival + nihkes - to make something shake): "arrive and make (the ground) shake".

Tepecoyo, municipality in Balsam Range: (tep - hardness + eh - cutting edge of tooth + koror - pellet shaped): "pellet shapes (gunpowder) with cutting edge (cut) hardness."

The invention of gunpowder was one of the greatest accomplishments of the Maya and, given its placement in the Popol Vuh, it held a significant place in their mythology. Gunpowder explains a lot in relation to how they built various stone structures. Without a doubt they shared this technology with their cousins in Peru and Bolivia as they built the finely fitting stone structures as Cuzco and elsewhere. While the Maya may have eventually weaponized the gunpowder it seems that for most of their history this was not the case. The Mayan invention of gunpowder opens many questions for future study.

Thor Heyerdahl and the Production of Balsam Rafts in El Salvador

Log rafts were a key form of travel for both the prehistoric Peruvians and Salvadorans. Their common ancestors arrived to Monte Verde, Chile, in 12,500 BCE, most likely in log rafts from across the Pacific Ocean. From there one group migrated by raft to Taima Taima, Venezuela, another one to El Abra-Tocancipa, Columbia, and still yet another to the Lapa do Boquete, Rio Sao Francisco region of Brazil.

The four founding families of Mesoamerica arrived from South America to Playa Toluca, El Salvador, in four rafts in about 8700 BCE. The remains in the form of the sailing stones, which were both ballast and functional, can still be seen at Toluca. Both before and after their journey to El Salvador it is likely, inevitable, this group sailed back across the Pacific Ocean.

Thor Heyerdahl, in Early Man and the Ocean, provides a drawing of a potential log raft design:

The rafts would have been made with a rather buoyant wood, but the size of the logs was also important. The logs would have been repeatedly coated in a resin to make them more water resistant. From early Spanish accounts Heyerdahl calls the rafts jangadas and mentioned the importance of the centerboard, called guara.

Both of these words are significant in Ch'orti' and it's likely that they were retained cultural words from the time before Ch'orti' and proto-Andean separated. Jangada is chan (snake) + k'aht (anything laid across) in Ch'orti'. "Snake laid across" refers to the latticing or bindings that tied the logs together and likely refers to the last component of the raft to be perfected in Asia before the initial journey across. The reference to snake helps explain the prevalence of serpent symbolism in Mayan culture. "Snake latticing" produces a curious parallel to b'ahram, the word for tame jaguar, which means "spider latticing", referring to the weave of the jaguar cage. Guara, the centerboards, is wa'ar in Ch'orti' and means "standing" or "perpendicular".

The Maya likely had a much harder ocean trip on the raft until they discovered and were able to produce rafts out of Peru Balsam (myroxylon). Heyerdahl placed the balsam forests in Ecuador. While it is likely true that the Maya helped their Andean cousins to transplant a balsam forest there, the Peru Balsam is uniquely native to El Salvador. It lives in upland areas of 800 to 1,300 meters in the departments of Sonsonate and La Libertad. This is located only about 20 kilometers from Lago Coatepeque, one of the four island homes of the early Mayan/Mesoamerican people.

While the Maya likely discovered the balsam prior to their defeat of Xibalbha in about 7500 BCE, they could not produce rafts without putting themselves at extreme risk of the Xibalbhans. With no threat from Xibalba, the Maya could move forward with full-scale raft production. What is most noticeable about the balsam is the sap. They most likely tried to light it to use as an incense or charcoal, as well as to rub onto canoes and rafts.

At some point the Maya were able to get a balsam log into standing water - not so easy from the steep Cordillera de Balsam. They noticed four things about the balsam that make it the best tree in the Americas for ocean-going rafts and perhaps the best in the world:

• The size of the logs both in terms of width and length - the trees grow 40 meters tall;
• The straightness of the trunk;
• The resin-laden wood which makes it extremely resistant to water, including salt water;
• The buoyancy of the wood.

The Maya quickly noticed the buoyancy. The balsam is named for "wet latticing" (par + tz'am or tz'ah). And it has a second meaning of "get rid of weight" referring to its buoyancy (bar + s'at).

The U.S. National Forest Service rates the qualities of various trees, including their buoyancy. Of 156 rated trees only three have a specific gravity or buoyancy greater than the peru balsam, which is rated 81 and 74 (green). These are the southern live oak, the osage orange, and the mesquite. The former is too twisted to be used in a raft while the latter two are too small to use in raft production.

The geography of the Balsam Range and the surrounding area made it hard for the Maya to harvest balsam logs and produce balsam rafts. There are rivers on the south side of ridge top that go directly to the ocean. However after a rain the current is strong and there is no place to catch the logs coming down. They would go directly into the ocean. On the north side of the ridge top there are several creeks, like the Talnique, the Shutia, the Cashal, and the Apalata. These all flow into the Sucio River which then flows north to meet the Lempa River, which flows northeast then south to the ocean. The Sucio is rather flat so it is a good place to catch the loose logs and assemble them into flotillas to make the trip to the mouth of the Lempa River, where the community of Tehuacan was waiting to construct the rafts.

The creeks in the Cordillera del Bálsamo are primarily seasonal. Without rain they have little flow, like the Shutia at right. This means that harvesting of the balsam logs would only take place in the rainy season and only after a heavy rain could they send the logs down the creeks. A local person told me that the Shutia would rise one meter or more after a heavy rain. Yet I'm sure that someone had to run alongside the logs with a pole to try to dislodge any logjams.

Let's look at some of the local place names which will confirm the balsam production in this areas:

Apalata (a creek near Jayaque):

ab - swinging container, hammock
laht' - anything carried
ha' - water

I think this refers to a sling placed under the front end of a log with a person on each side to guide the log through a tight place.

Jayaque - town near top of Balsam ridge

ha' - water
ak' - covering, object resting on another

I understand this to mean "logjam over the water".

Sucio (watershed of the north side of Balsam Range)

susi - smooth down, cut, trim

The balsam logs were cut and trimmed on the flatter Rio Susi (Sucio) near the later San Andres structure. From there they were bound temporarily and were guided down the Rio Susi (Sucio) by a pilot with a pole to the Lempa River and then down the Lempa many days to the lower Lempa near Tehuacan where the logs were taken out and reassembled into a raft with a sail, and slots for centerboards. In many cases there was cargo stored on either the Usulutan or San Vicente side of the Lempa ready to go. For example, the name of Tecoluca, the municipality on the western (San Vicente) side of the Lempa:

te' - trees, sticks
k'or - transport
uh - sacred
kah - beginning

So Tecoluca is "beginning of the sacred log transport" referring to rafts that were assembled there.

Returning to the Rio Susi, the nearby archeological site San Andres is likely a memorial to the balsam log workers who live there part of the year, captured the loose logs, bound them and guided them down the river. This is evidenced by the indigenous name for San Andres, Tecpan. The Wisdom Ch'orti' dictionary says that tecpan means Catholic church and plaza and that it came from Nahua. It is the other way around. When the Maya needed a word for Catholic church they thought of their model for a plaza and thought of Tecpan (San Andres). The meaning of Tecpan is clear:

te' - tree(s)
ek' - down
pan - loose, sprout

Tecpan means "loose trees coming down" (from the Balsam Range). This would seem to indicate that San Andres may have been one of the first structures. Previously we discussed how it forms a line with Tazumal at Chalchuapa, where the Siete Principes site at the base of Lago Coatepeque is at the half-way point.

Even when geography proved to be difficult the Maya found a way to move forward. They found and assembled the logs which would allow them to sail long and far in the oceans, just as Thor Heyerdahl suspected of the indigenous in the Americas.

Igualtepec - Memorial Petroglyphs and 5,000 Year Presence

In terms of longevity, Igualtepec or Igualtepeque, El Salvador, is one of the most important Mayan sites. It was the lead Mayan site from about 7200 BCE to perhaps 1800 BCE when leadership was moved to Chalchuapa and Siete Principes in El Salvador, to coastal sites in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Belize, and a little later to Mirador in northern Guatemala.

While most of the focus on Igualtepec is of the spectacular petroglyphs and rightly so, it takes away from the coordinating role that Igualtepec played among the four Mayan lineages, such as coordinating the four-site gatherings near the Lempa-Sumpul confluence at a place they called Arcatao, and being the long-term base from which the Maya traveled ocean waters. From Igualtepec (right) the Maya could travel by canoe to the Pacific Ocean, by way of the Lempa River. At the lower Lempa they would assemble rafts or sailboats for ocean travel. The original name for the Lempa is Lumpa. Lempa is a later Lenca change to the river's name. Lumpa means "land of food" or Land of Food River.

But let me go back to the beginning for Igualtepec. It was formed as a mudslide following the Cerro San Diego eruption which flooded the earlier settlement of Teotipa. This is suggested by the meaning of its name:

i- - locative prefix
wa'ar - standing, stood up, erect, perpendicular
te' - tree, stick
pek - snub part of knob, rounded head

Wa'ar implies standing up but not in a natural way. There is generally no reason to describe a tree as standing up; it is understood. I understand this to mean that after the mudslide many trees and branches were sticking up like matchsticks in many different directions on the rounded knob of a hill that is Igualtepec. To clarify, in Lenca and Nahuat languages the Ch'orti' 'w' usually becomes a 'gü' sound. It's possible that the last syllable was an addition of the Nahua ("Pipil"), as there was a tendency to add pec and peque onto existing place names.

The Popol Vuh lists the places in order, as the Maya moved from one to the next place:

• Chik'ix, translated as Thorny Place by Tedlock, which is Isla Tigre, Honduras
• Chi Ismachi, translated as Bearded Place by Tedlock, which is Teotipa
• Q'umaraq aj, translated as Rotten Cane by Tedlock, which is Igualtepec

Q'umaraq aj translates as:

K'um - rinsing, cleaning, washing
Arak - domesticated animal, cultivated, tame
Ak' - load, covering, object resting on another

I interpret this as "swimming domesticated animal resting on an object." Today Central Americans usually use the same verb for bathing or rinsing as for swimming or wading. The significance of this name is that some of the domesticated animals from Teotipa survived the flood and floated on flotsam to Igualtepec, which is downwind from Teotipa. The domesticated animals could have included parrots, jaguars, and pumas, which were first domesticated at Isla Tigre, or dogs, monkeys, and other birds.

It appears that the desire to resettle Igualtepec made a definitive resolution of the conflict with the Xibalbhans that much more urgent. The Xibalbhans were a distinct group of humans who were much taller than the Maya and who captured the Mayan ancestors soon after their raft arrival from South America and held them at the Corinto Cave. At Teotipa the Maya were safe because the Xibalbhans were afraid of water. While Igualtepec is at times an island too, it would have been much easier for the Xibalbhans to approach from the east. It is a small island and their fields on the lake side hills, like the one at right, would have been exposed to their enemy. With a presence at Igualtepec, the Maya would not have been safe with the Xibalbhans still at Corinto Cave (and likely Tecapa volcano as well). It is likely that the Xibalbhans approached all four lineage settlement and harassed with the intent to attack people. Thus at both Teotipa and Igualtepec, the Maya still needed to use the Ahwilix "the woman's wing". The ahwilix was a baby raft which was used by women to protect children from the Xibalbhans. Ahwilix was one of the three gifts from the spirits that the Maya received in the wilderness when they first arrived in El Salvador. I believe that the final action against the Xibalbhans took place after the flood but just before the settlement of Igualtepec.

The Popol Vuh tells us that there were two survivors of the flood, one man, one woman. The Teotipa survivors moved to Teopan at Lago Coatepeque, married each other, and a few generations later their nine offspring were ready to move back to Lago Güija.

The Popol Vuh states that Igualtepec was settled by 24 persons or families, including nine from the surviving Teotipa (Ak'bar and Chomija) lineage, nine from the Quiche at Teopan, two from the Zapotec ancestors at Tehuacan, and four from the Lenca/Olmec ancestors at Olomega. The fact that two came from the Zapotec ancestors dates the Igualtepec settlement to before 6800 BCE, the latest date by which the Zapotec ancestors definitively moved from the lower Lempa to the Tehuacan valley of Mexico.

One of the first leaders of Q'umaraq aj was Q'ukumatz, according to the Popol Vuh. This name indicates that Igualtepec continued to be a place of agricultural production and innovation, just like Teotipa:

K'uhk' - a shoot, sprout
Kum - egg, seed
Max - hole, cavity

Q'ukumatz means "Sprout from a Seed in a Hole" and could refer to an early leader(s) who planted corn, squash, beans or another plant. While corn was first hybridized at Teotipa, the greatest transformation in corn, from small cobs with hard kernels to large cobs with much softer kernels took place at Igualtepec between first settlement and 1800 BCE. In fact I think it was the transformation of corn and the discovery of nixtamalization, most likely at Igualtepec, that informed the Maya that it was time to greatly expand. Without a doubt these two developments greatly increased population.

Comprehensive archeological work is need at Igualtepec. The ancient petroglyphs are a supporting piece of evidence for Igualtepec being a long-term Mayan center, as they were produced at different periods of time, including some quite ancient, according to archeological art history professor Andrea Stone. The amount of obsidian at the site is remarkable. There are also many carved and semi-carved stones laying on the ground, like the jaguar stone here. It is very possible that the Popol Vuh was first written here at Igualtepec. It means:

Pohp - sedge, mat of sedge bark
Buy - a cutting (into pieces)

So Popol Vuh means "mat of sedge bark cut into pieces" and indicates how writing was first done.

The Popol Vuh does not list a successor site to Q'umaraq aj (Igualtepec). Just like the Olmecs stayed at Olomeguita until they left for Mexico and the Quiches stayed at Teopan until they left for Mexico, the Chorti lineage stayed at Lake Güija until the beginning of the "Pre-Classic period" when they spread out along the Guatemala-El Salvador Pacific Coast.

Until today the Ch'orti's maintain a memorial for those who were killed by the Lago Güija flood and tzuhnami at Teotipa: the petroglyphs directly facing Teotipa. The stones are about three to five meters above the August 2012 level of the lake and indicate the historic levels of the lake. A high level of art was produced in the petroglyphs in order to have a memorial worthy of those who died. The petroglyphs, which face Teotipa, were likely the site of frequent vigils and ceremonies, including an annual one, a Day of the Dead, on November 1 (41 days past equinox) which appears to be the date of the flood.

Photo Gallery (click to enlarge)

Don Magdaleno looks over Igualtepec and its cultural artifacts. A modern day hero.

Some of the many metates - grinding stones - found there. There was another pile of hand stones.

Don "Leno" has also found many smaller stone and ceramic pieces:

Petroglyphs:

This glyph appears to be a swimmer, depicting the man surviving the tzuhnami who dived back in the water to rescue the lone surviving woman.

This boy playfully placed his hat in the photo.

Two of the Igualtepec stones are at the municipal seat of Metapan, where they have been painted.

The figure at the bottom of this stone is nearly identical to one found on Estrechura Island in Lago Olomega.

The Lago Guija Flood

Lago Güija on the border of Guatemala and El Salvador is one of the primary centers of the Maya prior to the pre-Classic period, centered at Igualtepec and before that Teotipa. There are many bits of evidence that a great flood occurred at Lago Güija covering up the advanced village of Teotipa:

• the meaning of the name Igualtepeque, a Mayan site on the Salvadoran lake shore
• the oral history of people living along the lake shore today
• the historic lake levels of Lago Güija
• the flood story of the Popol Vuh
• the form of the river out of the lake
• the mysterious rock ramp at Teotipa
• the carved stones (hieroglyphs?) at Igualtepec
• the Popol Vuh name for Igualtepec

Igualtepec, right, is a peninsula, sometimes island, on the southeast shore of Lago Güija. It is known for the ancient carved stones on its western shore. It is also an ancient Mayan archeological site. Its name preserves a hint of its formation by powerful forces. It is a Ch'orti' name, glossed over by Nahua:

i- : (locative prefix)
wa'ar : stood up, perpendicular
te' : tree(s)
pek : knob (hill)

Or "place of the knob with stood up trees". The 'r' and 'l' in wa'ar would have been interchangeable. These are not ordinary trees, they were made to stand up or be perpendicular - standing up like matchsticks out of the knob.

The current day residents around Lago Güija say that there is a hidden city below the lake, according to University of El Salvador professor Vicente Ginovez. As I learned many times in El Salvador, there is a reason for every bit of oral history. Another bit of oral history that I was told in August 2012 is that the lake was formed a long time ago by a volcanic eruption. These are important clues to what happened at the lake.

The next clue is the historic lake levels at Güija which are about 3 meters higher than the level when I visited in August 2012. This is evident from the carved stones at Igualtepec where the historic lake level is clear. The rocks that were carved are those 3 to 5 meters vertically above the 2012 lake level even though there are similar (uncarved) stones at or just above the 2012 lake level. This indicates that what occurred at the lake was not just a flood but a structural change to the lake that left lake levels higher.

Some of the carved stones at the lowest level at Igualtepec show historic water levels. These may be among the earliest of all the images. The one at right appears more primitive than many of the others, with a face of a person.

Before making a guess about what happened during the flood event, I turn to the Popol Vuh account of the flood, which appears near the beginning of the Popol Vuh.

Again there comes a humiliation, destruction, and demolition. The manikins, woodcarvings were killed when the Heart of Sky devised a flood for them. A great flood was made; it came down on the heads of the manikins, woodcarvings. The man's body was carved from the wood of the coral tree by the Maker, Modeler. And as for the woman, the Maker, Modeler needed the hearts of bulrushes for the woman's body. (Popol Vuh, Tedlock translation, 1996, pp 71-72)

and,

There came Crunching Jaguar: he ate their flesh. There came Tearing Jaguar: he tore them open.

and,

There came a rain of resin from the sky. ... The earth was blackened because of this; the black rainstorm began, rain all day and rain all night.

and,

Everything spoke: their water jars, their tortilla griddles, their plates, their cooking pots, their dogs, their grinding stones, each and every thing crushed their faces. Their dogs and turkeys told them: "You caused us pain, you ate us, but now it is you whom we shall eat."

and,

Now they run for it, helter-skelter. They want to climb up on the houses, but they fall as the houses collapse. They want to climb the trees; they're thrown off by the trees.

The reference to manikins and woodcarvings is clearly a reference to the Xibalbhan people at Corinto cave who are referred to elsewhere with the same descriptors. I have mentioned previously that manikin means "Manik sticks" and that Manik is the name of the exceptionally tall hunter people of the north who settled at Corinto cave and captured the Mayan ancestors in about 8700 BCE. But the Manik people were clearly not at Lago Guija and were not destroyed by the flood. I think this confused reference occurred because the Maya destroyed the Manik people nearly immediately following the flood, thus associating the two events.

The reference to Heart of Sky is not a deity but more of a karmic reality. This name is Uk'ux kaj and when translated in Ch'orti' is:

Uk' : sadness, mourning, weeping
Kux : sprouting, coming to life, birth
Kah : start, beginning

So it means "sad coming to life of the start" or "sad start of the coming to life".

The resin from the sky would seem to be a combination of heavy rain the ash from a volcanic explosion. The volcano nearest the lake is Cerro San Diego, to the left in the photo, taken from Teotipa. Igualtepec is on the right of the photo at lake level. Based on all of the above evidence, I am proposing that there was a major rainstorm, followed by an eruption of Cerro San Diego. The flow of lava over the rain-soaked soil on the skirts of the volcano led to massive landslides. The landslides formed the Igualtepec hill, the neighboring island of Tule, and blocked the exit river of the lake. To the north a separate landslide may have separated the Laguna de Metapán from the lake.

The landslides into the lake would have caused a tsunami. This tsunami would have overtaken the low-lying Teotipa in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. Tsunami is most likely a Mayan word, shared with the Japanese, which likely had its origin in this flood event at Güija more than 9,000 years ago:

tzuh : a pressing down
nami : to vanish, to hide, to put out of sight

The churning of a tsunami wave explains why it felt to a survivor that every object in the house - the tortilla griddle, the grinding stone, the dog, the turkey - was coming at them and gnashing their mouth and face.

They tried to run, to grab onto the house roofs. Those that survived likely swam to the surface after the wave passed, grabbed onto the thatch of the roofs, and swam/paddled to a shore after many hours or days. The Popul Vuh suggests that the man(men) grabbed on to coral wood to make it, while the woman(women) grabbed bulrushes or thatch to make it across the lake. While Tedlock assigns a deity here - "Maker, Modeler" - the most likely Ch'orti' translation for tz'aqol b'itol is "bundled and transported to the crest."

Bodies began to arrive on shore, bloated like ghouls, some stripped to the skeleton by fish. I believe that the eruption and tsunami occurred on November 1 - 41 days after the fall (rainy season) equinox and that is why the Day of the Dead is celebrated at this time. In addition, the six month anniversary is celebrated in early May, which is why there are processions with palm thatch - palm thatch being what helped the survivors - in El Salvador in early May, like the somber one at left from Planes de Rendero.

The timing of November 1 (equinox plus 41 days) would not have been lost on the ancient Maya as that was the exact date of the anniversary of the Third Sun on November 1, 8207 BCE, most likely celebrated as New Year by the Maya. The Maya would have seen this disaster as punishment for not following the ways of the Third Sun sufficiently - the seven bows to the east, the fasting, and the burning of three incenses. Certainly it changed the calendar and may have led to a different new year date at some point.  

They had many domestic animals at Teotipa - the parrots, jaguars, and mountain lions that they had domesticated starting on Isla Tigre - and turkeys and perhaps dogs. If they had dogs it could mean that they brought them on the original journey across the Pacific Ocean but they may have re-domesticated wolves or coyotes in the Americas. Turkeys are plentiful in the region and it is easy to imagine that they were domesticated. Later we'll find that some of these animals also likely survived the flood.

The survivors most likely made it to Teopan, 42 kilometers to the south. Perhaps one or two generations lived at Teopan and then Lago Güija - Igualtepec - was repopulated with families from each of the four lineages - the Olmecs/Lencas at Lago Olomega, the Zapotecs at Tehuacan, San Vicente, the Quiches at Teopan, Coatepeque, and the surviving Ch'orti' lineage from Teotipa. The Popol Vuh says that 24 people - "24 lords" - repopulated Igualtepec:

It was a long time ago when they all came up onto their citadel, building a score and four palaces there in the citadel of Q'umaraq aj.

... They achieved glory there. ... One by one they took their places:

• The nine lords of the Cauecs.
• The nine lords of the Greathouses.
• The four lords of the Lord Quiches.
• The two lords of the Zaquics. (Tedlock, pg 184)

While the 24 lords could refer to 24 heads of household, each with a house (palace), I am inclined to believe that it is 24 people total. The Cauecs would refer to the Quiche and indicated that 9 people (lords) moved from Teopan to Igualtepec. The Greathouses refer to the Ak'bar (Ch'orti') lineage originally at Teotipa, so there were 9 people from a later generation of the surviving Ch'orti' lineage who moved back from Teopan to Igualtepec for the repopulation. The Lord Quiches is a generic reference, equivalent to "Mayan lords" and, by process of elimination, would refer to the Olmec/Lenca lineage, so that four people from Lago Olomega moved to Igualtepec. Finally the Zaquics refer to the Ik' lineage, the Zapotec ancestors at Tehuacan, at the mouth of the Lempa. Two people from this lineage made the move.

After some amount of years, the landslide-formed crest of land that was Igualtepec, with its perpendicular trees, was prepared for settlement. With these 24 seed people Igualtepec became a great Mayan center. One of the first tasks to prepare Igualtepec for settlement may have been to clear a channel for the water to leave the lake. The exit river out of the lake appears to be hand dug like a canal.

Here's another view of the exit river just as it is leaving the lake. This would need to be explored more.

The new settlers at Igualtepec appear to have begun a tradition at the time of a death. The dead person's body was placed on a boat and taken across the lake and in the water just above the site of Teotipa their body was laid to rest, joining the ancestors who died there in the November 1 tsunami.
In fact they built a boat ramp of specially selected smooth stones next to Teotipa which would allow a boat to dock at various depths of the lake, depending on the rain. (The modern monument at the top of the photo seems out of place next to the thousands of years old stone ramp in the foreground.) The dead were taken across the lake by the boatman not so much to the underworld as to their ancestors who lived and died at the ancient village of Teotipa buried under several feet of water. This is where the ritual started and the source of the image of the boatman ferrying the dead across the lake.

Igualtepec is famous for its carved stones. More will be shown in my next blog entry. The stones have been catalogued and analyzed. There are many animals, like the monkey and the parrot on this stone. It seems clear that the stones are a memorial for the ancestors lost, the victims of the tsunami disaster at Teotipa. And a memorial for the pets, including monkeys and parrots, that died in the tsunami as well. The stones are on the west-northwest point of the Igualtepec peninsula, directly facing Teotipa as one looks out toward the lake. In the photo the trees of the taller part of the Teotipa island can be seen on the right and the village site of Teotipa is just left of center. Ironically, the carved stones of Igualtepec were the leading edge of the mudslide that created Igualtepec and created the tsunami that wiped out Teotipa.

Finally, there is the name for Igualtepec in the Popol Vuh: Q'umaraq aj. It is translated as Rotten Cane by Tedlock. It is the place that the Maya went to following Chi ismachi (Teotipa). In Ch'orti' the translation is:

K'um : rinsing, cleaning, washing
Arak : domesticated animal, cultivated, tame
Ak' : covering, load, object resting on another

So it means "washed domesticated animal(s) resting on an object". Washed here referring to a long swim from Teotipa to Igualtepec. Apparently one or more domesticated animals survived the tsunami and made it to shore at Igualtepec by resting on wood or thatch.

The commemoration of this event as the Day of the Dead helps to provide a date for the flood. The word for Day of the Dead in Ch'orti' is sik'in, which literally means "series of days". But more importantly sik'in is a near equivalent of the Ch'orti' day sign Tzi'k'in, which means "day count". They choose the name sik'in for Day of the Dead because it sounds like Tzi'k'in, or 2 Tz'ik'in the period in the Mars retrograde calendar that corresponds from 7849 BCE to 7834 BCE. A related clue is provided by the phrase kotz'b'alam, translated as Crunching Jaguar by Tedlock. Koht is a numerical classifier and in front of b'alam could easily refer to the Mars long-count date of 1 B'ahram, which immediately follows 2 Tz'ik'in. This would indicate that the flood happened just before 7834 BCE. What Tedlock translates as Tearing Jaguar, tukumb'alam, translates in Ch'orti' as Spittle Washing Jaguar, a slightly different image.

When I was at Igualtepec in August 2012 I was told that up until 25 years ago the lake level was much higher, until a damn was built in Guatemala on one of the feeder rivers. So Teotipa has been buried by water for most, if not all, of the last 9,000 years. Now, at least most years, it is revealed so that the world can know of its glory and its suffering.

Teopan - Ancestral Home of the Quiches

When the Mayan ancestors left Isla Tigre following the advent of the 3rd sun, marked by a triple star event in 8207 BCE, each of the four lineages went to an island, in order to be safe from their fierce enemy the Xibalbhans at Corinto cave who were afraid of water. [Click to enlarge map.] Two lineages remained to the east - the Lenca/Olmeca lineage at Lago Olomega (Teomeka) and the Zapotec lineage at the mouth of the Lempa River (Teoakan). The Quiche lineage and the Ch'orti' lineage went to the west of El Salvador - the Quiches to Lago Coatepeque (Teopan) and the Ch'orti's to Lago Güija (Teotipa).

All of the four destination regions are beautiful, but Lago Coatepeque and Teopan are spectacular. Today Teopan is a private playground of some of El Salvador's wealthiest families. In the photo Teopan can be seen just to the right of center. Coatepeque is a crater lake and the serpentine nature of the hills surrounding the lake is especially clear, although a similar phenomena is found at Olomega and Güija. The hills became seen as a ringed serpent that protected the islanders. This led to another name of Coatepeque: Tamakchan, which means "deep inside the rainbow", where rainbow (makchan) means "serpent that stops up" (the rain). It is easy to see where the rainbow serpent originated. The name Tamoanchan is associated with western El Salvador (Arocha, 1990) and is found in Huasteca songs. It is possible that Tamakchan changed to Tamoanchan over the years among the Huasteca Maya.

The name Teopan means "island of sprouting", as in a plant breaking the soil. Teopan today is ringed with private yards and expensive homes. Only the eastern part has relatively few homes, as well as the top half of the island. One needs the permission of one of the island's residents to access the ferry (below) onto the island. Modern day Quiches would have to work at one of the homes in order to access their ancestral home.

While it is possible that Coatepeque is a Nahua (Pipil) overlay on the original name of the lake, meaning "serpent hill", Coatepeque does have a possible meaning in Ch'orti'. (The Quiche ancestors would have spoken proto-Chorti until they left for Mexico in about 2300 BCE. The two languages did not begin separating before that date.)

Ka- - our (prefix)
Wet - companion, fellow neighbor

Or "our neighbor", from the perspective of the Ch'orti's. The later Pipils would have changed this to something meaningful in their language, adding the "tepeque" and changing vowels somewhat to go from Kawet to Coat.

Teopan and the Coatepeque lake shore have an abundance of ceramics and stones that date from the Classic or post-Classic all the way back to the pre-Classic or earlier. More are demonstrated in the photo gallery at the end. Some of the oldest ones include rocks that are carved in a way that enhances natural features, such as the one at right above found near the ceremonial mounds on Teopan. The mounds, below left, were scheduled to be excavated starting December 2012. I believe that these mounds will be dated, at their earliest level, earlier than any pre-Classic Mayan site. Most of the carved stones and ceramic pieces on Teopan and Coatepeque have found their way into private homes, including the wealthy homes on Teopan.

The Quiche ancestors lived on Teopan from about 8200 BCE until about 2300 BCE - 5,900 years. At the latter end of that span they no doubt spilled over to the lakeshores of Coatepeque as the population increased. The Quiche are referred to as Cauec or Kawik in the Popol Vuh, a reference back to Hakawitz, the origin of tobacco. The Quiche probably were the first to cultivate tobacco.

Further evidence of the link with tobacco comes from the name of the wife of Quitze, the founder of the Quiche lineage. Her name is Kaqa Paluma:

Kah - start, beginning
K'ah - happiness

Pahr - shaping, fashioning
Lum - earth

The name means "start of happiness" and "shaping the earth". Start of happiness is a clear reference to Hakawitz, near the present-day Salvadoran town of Alegria, and the finding of tobacco. We also see that the Quiche seem to be the first mound and pyramid builders, done in homage to Hakawitz.

I have previously written that the elite Quiche leaders were the first to suffer from pellagra - or a lack of niacin, which resulted from a diet too heavy in untreated corn. Pellagra causes skin lesions, dementia, and death, as well as other symptoms. As a result of the symptoms of pellagra, with cause still unknown, the Quiche ancestors were sent into exile to the northwest coast of Mexico in about 2300 BCE to an island called Teacapan, which means "remembering Teopan." Later the Quiches were a primary formative group at Teotihuacan and tried to return to El Salvador before settling in western Guatemala.

When the Quiche ancestors left Coatepeque it seems likely that the Ch'orti' ancestors sent some families of their lineage at Güija to Coatepeque. These families became the Huasteca lineage and the same thing happened to them as the Quiche - they ate too much untreated corn and also began to suffer from pellagra. I believe that they were sent into exile along the northeast coast of Mexico, to their present-day home isolated from the rest of the Maya. Soon the Ch'orti' Maya discovered ash or lime as a way to treat corn and prevent pellagra; this process is called nixtamalization. Perhaps they first learned of these substances as fixing agents with natural plant dyes.

It appears that a remnant population of the Maya remained along the lake. These people are the ancesors of the present-day community of Coatepeque: one version of their oral history says that they lived along the lakeshore, then moved about ten kilometers from the lake and carried the name Coatepeque with them.

Two other local places have interesting histories. Congo means "Joint Tooth" in Ch'orti': K'om - "joint, splice"; K'o - "tooth, molar, beak". I believe that this is the place called Split Tooth in the Popol Vuh.

The second place is Siete Príncipes (Seven Princes). The name sounds like it comes from Classic Mayan days but the oral history suggests it was given by a foreigner who lived in the area in the 1950s and 1960s and wanted to highlight the seven cultural mounds grouped together so that he gave the place the name Siete Príncipes. The local people say that there are seven mounds - my colleagues and I were able to locate five of the seven on a visit in August 2012.

The mounds are obviously cultural and likely date to a period immediately after the Huastecas' departure in about 2000 BCE. The Siete Príncipes mounds would have represented the departure from Isla Teopan and more generally the expansion out from the four islands in El Salvador to the Pacific coast, ranging from Chiapas to El Salvador, as well as to the Atlantic Coast in Belize.

What may be most interesting about Siete Príncipes is that it lies close to the midpoint of a line connecting Tazumal (Chalchuapa) and San Andres Mayan sites. This suggests that Siete Príncipes was the first step away from Lago Coatepeque and Lago Guija and that Tazumal and San Andres were the next step before major expansion along the Pacific Coast to Chiapas once the nixtamalization process was discovered.

From Coatepeque the Quiche ancestors could walk north-northeast to the Lempa River. Going downstream they would arrive at the meeting place called Arcatao, where they would gather regularly with the other four lineages. Further downstream at the mouth of the Lempa was Tehucan, the home of the Zapotec ancestors and later a Mayan community. Going upstream by canoe they could arrive at Lago Guija and the Ch'orti's - although they probably more commonly walked or ran there. The fascinating mysteries of Guija are the next thing I will explore in this blog.

Photo Gallery

Carved stone from Lago Coatepeque, using natural features of the stone:

Another carved stone, possibly dating to before the pre-Classic:

The next carved stone probably dates from the early pre-Classic and one can see how the sophistication grew:

Here's a carved stone from the Classic era. This one is doing a yoga pose which serves as a based for the carving.

Other pre-Classic or Classic carved stones were found by the private landowners on Teopan and now serve as trophy pieces.

Another Classic-era carved stone on Teopan:

There are other vestiges of the Mayan presence at Teopan, including this mound:

Close to the mound were these rocks which appear to be the corner of an ancient rock wall.

The steps going to the top of Teopan appeared to be of the pre-Hispanic era:

At the very top of Teopan was this etched stone which appeared to have an astronomical formation on it:

Like the carved stones, the ceramics from Lago Coatepeque appear to span from pre-pre-Classic (on the left, below) to pre-Classic (on the right, below) to Classic to post-Classic. One also sees a range of East Asian faces to perhaps European faces on the ceramics.

 

The left and middle appear potentially pre-pre-Classic while on the right is likely pre-Classic.

More ceramics from either pre-pre-Classic to early pre-Classic.

This is a fascinating assymetrical ceramic face that may date to the time of the Quiche or Huasteca pellagra outbreak. Pellagra can cause insomnia, mental confusion, and dementia.

This pre-Classic or Classic-era ceramic figure is also doing a yoga pose.

The ceramic face on the right is a clear transition from the earlier pre-pre-Classic or early pre-Classic ceramics to the Classic-era ceramics.

The piece on the left may date from the post-Classic, with its Mexican influences.

Here is one more of the seven mounds of Seven Princes, just outside of the Lago Coatepeque crater.

The above mound is on the property of this señora, who spoke of the mound with great reverance.

Tehuacan - The Learner. Origin of the Zapotecs

In this blog post I will establish the Zapotecs as one of the four Mayan heritages that had their beginnings at Isla Tigre, Honduras, and then on four islands in El Salvador. The Zapotec-ancestor island, at the mouth of the Lempa River (left), was called Teoahkan, which changed over time to Tehuacan among the Zapotec ancestors. Due to the rising ocean level the Zapotec ancestors moved to the area now called Puebla, Mexico, and brought the Tehuacan name along with corn seeds with them. It seems they found avocados in the Tehuacan valley and sent them back to El Salvador.

The four grandfathers of Mesoamerica are Akbar, Kinche (Quitze), Maix (Majukutaj), and Ik, the latter translated as Dark Jaguar by Tedlock. Another translation is Evening and refers to the shift that Ik took in leading the four rafts from South America to El Salvador. The Popol Vuh says that Ik had no sons:

"These three had sons, but Dark Jaguar had no son." (Tedlock, pg. 174)

But Ik is mentioned many times in the Popol Vuh, including the more than 500 years on Isla Tigre when the Mayan ancestors learned how to cultivate (tobacco) and first domesticated animals, starting with the macaw parrot. Clearly the original Ik had offspring and his lineage continued. For much of the time that the Popol Vuh speaks of the four Mayan founders it is speaking of their lineage not the person directly.

So what does the Popol Vuh mean when it says that Ik had no son? It is a reference to the Maya losing track of Ik's lineage when they left. Ik is the founder of the lineage which became the Zapotec and Mixtec people. The Kiowa and the Hopi also partly share this lineage. Depending on the inflection and context, Ik' can mean air, atmosphere, wind, dusk, or dark. From about 8200 BCE to 6800 BCE Ik's lineage lived on various islands at the mouth of the Rio Lempa in El Salvador, each or at least the first called Teoahkan - "island of the learner" in Ch'orti', a language very similar to what they spoke in 8200 BCE.

Symbolically it was important for the Ik' lineage to live at the mouth of the Lempa - the Ak'bar lineage lived at one of the sources of the Lempa, Lago Guija. To have people at each end of the great river of the land they lived in completed the symbolism. Even more it was important in a practical sense: the Ak'bar and Kinche lineages would cut logs far upstream for the construction of ocean-faring sail rafts. Someone had to be at the mouth of the river to intercept the logs and assemble them into rafts.

The lower Lempa River is a volatile, changing place, especially when the Ik' lineage moved there in about 8200 BCE. The ocean was quickly rising from climate change and glacial melt. No doubt the island that they first lived on was submerged after several hundred years, or even quicker. But they had to continue to live on islands to escape their arch-enemies, the Xibalbhans, who had earlier captured them and who were afraid of water.

The constant floods and the rising water are supported by the Ik's partner's name: Kaqixaja. Tedlock translates this Macaw House. It is:

Kah - start, beginning
Kiix - already, by now, by then
Aja - water

This could be translated "already water and beginning of the (rising) water" referring to living at the side of the ocean and then having the ocean continue to rise.

The Lempa itself often changes course during floods, cutting new channels, such as the Izcanal (left), and creating new islands. It is interesting that the name Iz canal is so similar to Ik', the lineage founder of the Zapotec. An example of the changing course of the Lempa is that it seems probable that the Lempa used to empty into the Bahia de Jiquilisco, seen on the right of the photo. And the Lempa, center of the photo, carries a large amount of silt downstream, depositing it at the mouth. This is seen in the name of the community Zamoran, about 14 kilometers from the current mouth on the east side of the river.

San - swelling (Ch'orti')
Mohr - pile, things brought together
Ahn - a running; race

Ahn could refer to a current, which would make it "swollen pile formed by a current" - an area silted over. Recently the ancient bones of a woman and a child were excavated at Zamoran.

And then there is the place called Nancuchiname, now a national forest on the east side of the river 15 to 20 kilometers north of the mouth.

Nak - side of (Ch'orti')
Kuchi - carry on back, transport
Nam - vanishing, disappearance

It was beside or across the bank from the place of transport that disappeared, either from a river flood or the rising ocean. Nancuchiname reminds us of the significance of the lower Lempa in the transportation system of the Mayan and Zapotec ancestors.

One more example of the volatility of the lower Lempa, and the reason why the Zapotec ancestors may have seen the need to migrate away, is the lagoon called Talquezal.

Tal - a coming, arrival
Ker - dividing in half
Tz'ah - wetness

"Coming of the wetness which divides in half." Perhaps this is referring to a Lempa flood where half of the river over-ran the banks and divided itself in two. When the flood was over the lagoon was left.

A long time after the Ik' lineage left for Mexico, the Maya built a structure in remembrance of them and called it Tehuacan - "island of the learner". It is built on the flank of the Chichontepec volcano. No doubt Tehuacan was important for the Nahuat (Pipil) people who migrated from Mexico in between 1000 and 1500 CE, some from the area of Tehuacan, Puebla. It was like coming home. In a way, it was coming home. The search was over.

The Popol Vuh refers to the Zapotec ancestors as the Saqik (Tedlock, 1996, pg 184). The translation in Ch'orti' is pertinent:

Sahk : a hunt, a search
Ik' : the wind, dusk

Wind-hunter or wind-chaser. One who travels, who eventually sought out the future in the direction of the dusk, the west. But there is a double meaning, Ik' was also the name of the lineage-bearer of the Zapotecs, who became separated from the Maya. So Saqik also means "to search for the lost Ik' lineage".

I think that when the Zapotec ancestors left for Mexico in about 6800 BCE, that the Maya seeded a new community in the lower Lempa, partly to continue to receive the logs for the ocean rafts floating down the Lempa, but also due to the very good soils in the floodplain. However, while they planted close to the river, the community was likely a day's half walk away at the higher elevation to avoid both the ocean which was continuing to rise due to climate change and the river which frequently floods. The ocean was much higher then in than now in relative terms because of the historical trend for the Central America coast to be rising, caused by the Caribbean sub-continental plate rising above the Cocos sub-plate. The location of the new Ch'orti' community was likely at the Tehuacan archeological site on the flanks of the Chichontepec volcano or the nearby Tehuacan Ecological Park. The Maya kept the name Tehuacan, due to their belief in the sacredness of names.

Later the Maya would build structures at the Tehuacan site. There are at least four structures visible under the planted corn and the double-coned volcano of Chichontepec, literally the "breast peaks".

When the Tehuacan Ecological Park was being built many old and very old pieces of ceramic and formed rock were found. Many of these are found in their viewing room - photos are in the gallery below. A swimming pool was excavated and when it was filled with water, it leaked out over several hours. The floor was examined, a hole was found. It was chipped away to create a hole big enough for persons to lower themselves in. They found a rock-lined tunnel - a tunnel going in the direction of the Tehuacan ruins, a tunnel that runs for who knows how many kilometers. They were not prepared to adequately and safely explore it so they sealed it up and re-filled the stream-fed swimming pool by diverting a stream that flows from a spring up the volcano.

Not all the pieces at the Ecological Park's viewing room are from the Classic or even pre-Classic period. Some are much earlier, like the carved rock at right. This likely dates to a period earlier than 2000 BCE. Perhaps it was created to remember the Zapotec ancestors who moved to Mexico.

To where did the Zapotec ancestors migrate about 6800 BCE from the lower Lempa River? They probably scouted out various places on many trips before moving. Puebla's Tehuacan valley must have been attractive for its cool climate and avocados. That was one location. But it appears that they moved around and one other location without a doubt was the Balsas River valley where corn dated to 6700 BCE was found, in an area near the border of Michoacan, Guerrero and Mexico state (map, below). This is within the current natural range of balsas teosinte. It was necessary to continue hybridizing the corn with teosinte to make it more resistant and a stronger plant. By 6800 BCE it is possible that the range of balsas teosinte had shifted definitively northwest from Central America to southwest Mexico. The Balsas valley is 350 to 400 kilometers west of Tehuacan.

Tehuacan also gave its name to Teotihuacan, as the Zapotecs were one of the primary components of the Teotihuacanos. In Tehuacan valley the Zapotecs may have stayed at a cave called Coxcatlan. They definitely used it as a rain shelter and food storage. Plant matter has been dated within the cave starting in 8000 to 7000 BCE until just before colonial times, including avocados. Coxcatlan is highly likely to be a derivation of Cuxcatlan, the name that the Zapotec ancestors gave to the central region of El Salvador. When they arrived in Mexico they named their first home after their homeland. While the Zapotec language was already moving away from Ch'orti' when they left it is possible to gain a good idea of the meaning of Cuxcatlan.

Kux - birth, sprouting, come to life
Kat - super natural being
K'at - cross, crossing of two objects
Katu' - moon
K'uxkatu' - lunar eclipse
Waran - light, shiny, radiant

There is no phrase lan in Ch'orti', but waran seems plausible. The 'r's and 'l's would have been interchangeable. So the difference is the wa at the beginning. There are three related possibilities: "birth of radiant super natural being", "birth of crossing of two radiant objects", or "radiant lunar eclipse". The first one seems like a more abstract use of language than I have seen at ~7000 BCE, so I discount it. The second could be describing a lunar eclipse, so the third one is my inclination. It could be referring to a powerful lunar eclipse or perhaps when they first began to predict the eclipses.

Cuxcatlan is a Mayan-Zapotec word that seems to be referring to a radiant sky event, most likely a lunar eclipse. In Mexico the Zapotecs then pronounced it Coxcatlan, but it is the same word as what became Cuscatlan in El Salvador.

The Otomi are from the same background as the Zapotec, both speaking an Oto-Manguean language. Otomi is a name that originates from the move from El Salvador. It is ot ohom mi or "shelter for cats from the foam." Cats refer to the Maya (and Zapotec/Otomi) people. Foam refers to the ocean and the fact that the Zapotec/Otomi were fleeing the rising ocean when they moved to Mexico.

The Zapotec ancestors moved to the Oaxaca valley, perhaps between 3000 and 2000 BCE. Others of their lineage stayed in the Tehuacan valley, while others moved to the Cholula or the central Mexico area.

The Zapotec ancestors found avocados in the Tehuacan valley, likely on their scouting trips before they moved there according to the archeological evidence. At some point they brought avocados back to the lower Lempa River. We know this because "West Indies" avocados, a lowland avocado, developed separately from the Mexican highland avocado. From the El Salvador-Guatemala coast the avocado was taken at a later point to the Guatemalan highlands, creating the Guatemala variety of avocado.

But there is more convincing evidence for the avocado being brought to the Lower Lempa and that is the name of the village of Pacun near the Lempa about 25 kilomters north of the current mouth. Pacun refers directly to avocado cultivation: (in Ch'orti')

Pak' - planting
Un - pear, avocado

This name could have been given by the Zapotec ancestors before they left for Mexico and their language was still very close to Ch'orti'. But more likely it was given by the Ch'orti', a portion of whom moved to the lower Lempa when the Zapotec ancestors left. In this scenario the lower Lempa Ch'orti' would have gone from their homes each day at the site of Tehuacan, San Vicente, high enough to be definitively safe from the rising ocean, and walked to the flat floodplain of Pacun to the cultivated avocados and various plants. It is likely that avocados were cultivated in the lower Lempa prior to or at the same time as avocados in the Tehuacan valley of Mexico - most likely between 6800 BCE and 6000 BCE. A later transference of the avocado from Mexico to El Salvador is doubtful since the Maya said in the Popul Vuh that they lost contact with the Zapotec ancestors. It is more likely that avocados were brought back to El Salvador by the same generation that migrated to Mexico. It is also possible that they were first found in the region of El Salvador and then taken by the Zapotec ancestors and cultivated in Mexico. This is doubtful given that some of the avocado remains in the Tehuacan valley have been dated prior to 7000 BCE. For more background on the beginnings of avocado use and cultivation: Amanda J. Landon or Galindo-Tovar, Arzate-Fernandez, Ogata-Aguilar, and Landero-Torres.

To finalize, I will look at three more names along the Lempa River: the Acahuapa River, which runs east through San Vicente to the Lempa, the Titihuapa River which forms the boundary between San Vicente and Cabañas departments, and Guayojo name of a village and forest north of Pacun. The huapa or "wapa" suffix is common to both of the rivers.

Acahuapa

Ahka - rumble
Wahp - continuous

Titihuapa

Tihti - shake
Wahp - continuous

So wahp or huapa was a suffix commonly used with rivers that had a continuous flow. What's interesting is that the same suffix was used to describe the creek next to the Monte Verde site in southern Chile that dates back to 12,500 BCE - the Chinchihuapi. This demonstrates the continuity in language from the moment of arriving in Chile from Asia until settlement in El Salvador in about 8200, at least with the branch of the American family that became the Ch'orti' Maya.

Finally, to conclude is Guajoyo, just upriver from the lower Lempa and the island of the learner.

Wa' - being, being in a place
Hoy - liking
Hoyi - make satisfactory, to please

Guajoyo is "being in a place of liking". Some photos from near the place of liking follow.

Photo Gallery

Mangroves on Montecristo Island at the mouth of the Lempa River. Montecristo may be the closest thing there is to a symbolic representation of the first Teoahkan, which is likely buried under many meters of silt.

 

Protecting serpents on a home in California, Usulutan, not far from the mouth of the Lempa River

The largest mound at the Tehuacan archeological site.

The top of the same mound at Tehuacan, planted with corn.

View to the west from main mound. Mounds visable at the end of the field in the mid-ground. Chichontepec left flank in the distance.

The view north, where structures are outlined under the corn, possibly including a ball field.

Finely cut stone at the Tehuacan site

Likely remains of a very old rock wall about a kilometer from the Tehuacan site could indicate settlement here 7,000 to 10,000 years ago.

Guanacaste trees at the entrance to the Tehuacan Ecological Park, administered by the municipality of Tecoluca, 2 kilometers from the Tehuacan site. It had been a plantation until the 1980-1992 conflict when the FMLN gained control and used it as a base throughout the conflict.

In addition to restaurant, cabins and gardens, the Ecological Park has a viewing room. One of the more interesting and perhaps one of the oldest was this carved rock sphere.

Piece from Tehuacan

These ceramic pieces were the "feet" for bowls

Perhaps this piece provides evidence that the Maya, in addition to the Olmecs, had contact with Africa.

A Mayan character

Part of the permaculture garden at the Tehuacan Ecological Park. Tehuacan means "the learner".

Tree decaying a wall with its roots.  The wall was part of the exploitative plantation here from colonial times until it was ousted by the FMLN in 1981 during the conflict. The plantation was built on a sacred Nahuat-Pipil site. The Nahuat-Pipil site was located at an earlier sacred Mayan site, evidenced by the archeological structures. The Mayan site was located in the area of the Zapotec ancestors, who lived here from about 8200 to 6800 BCE. The sign says, "What is metamorphosis?" and points in the direction of the butterfly house of the Ecological Park.

 

Veracruz Place Names Link Olmecs to Eastern El Salvador

The place names of eastern El Salvador help to place that region as the place of origin of the Olmecs, who likely left El Salvador for Mexico's Veracruz Gulf region sometime between 2000 and 1800 BCE, with a likely stop in between. Further confirming the Olmek link between eastern El Salvador and Veracruz are place names in Veracruz. Most place names in the region have a Nahuatl origin or finish. But there are some older place names that pre-date Nahuatl and are likely the original names given by the Olmecs, which appears to be a Mixe-Zoque language, a close relative of the Mayan languages according to Joseph Greenberg.

Here are some of the place names in Veracruz:

Cosoleacaque    Sayula         Tonala

Nanchital          Mezcalapa    Choapas

Hueyapan         Ostion          Sontecomapan

Cuichapa         Tecuanapa     Guazinapa (Rio)

Coxcoapan      Hiuhualtaja      Nanciyaga

Tepeyaga       Mecayapan     Tatahuicapan

Chacalapa       Macayal         Cahuapan

Nopalapa        El Azuzal         El Manati'

Cobata          Tapalapan       Totogal

All of these are place names that one would not be surprised to hear in eastern El Salvador, where you find names like: Jucuapa, Miracapa, and Uluazapa. Most of the Veracruz names above have a Ch'orti' Maya sound to them but only have a partial, at most, meaning in Ch'orti'. And they have a Lenca sound to them, the language of the people who have lived in eastern El Salvador for thousands of years. This is precisely what one would expect with the Olmec place names. But some names could beyond just sounding similar.

Chinameca is a town southwest of the coastal city of Coatzalcoalcos, Veracruz. Chinameca is also a town in the San Miguel department of El Salvador, likely the first Chinameca. This name still has meaning in Ch'orti', indicating that it was first named at an early date, before the Olmecs moved to Veracruz where their language began to quickly change. This means that the town, or at least the place name, of Chinameca, El Salvador, has existed since at least 2000 BCE. In Ch'orti':

Chinam - pueblo (people, town)
Meka - carry in one's arms (or Olomeka)

Meka likely refers not so much to Lake Olomeka but to the Olmecs themselves, so Chinameca means "town of the Olmecs." Its literal meaning is "town carry in one's arms".

Like the sister language of the Olmecs, the Lenca language began to change quickly once the Olmecs left for Mexico. This indicates that the cultural need to keep the language close to the Mayan no longer was so strong.

Catemaco is another place name with likely ties to El Salvador. I believe that Catemaco was the first settlement of the Olmces in Veracruz. Lago Catemaco undoubtedly reminded them of Lago Olomega. It is nearly the same size and mountains rise up around most of the lake, like Olomega. It is very near to the coast, less than 15 kilometer from the Laguna Sontecomapan.

Catemaco directly harkens back to Olomega:

Ka - to remember
Temaco - Teomeka

To add formality and importance to the name of their first settlement, the Olmecs used the old name - the original Mayan name - for Olomega (Teomeka): Remembering Teomeka. Each syllable changed: teo to te, me to ma, and ka to co. The Olmecs already lost memory of the precise name of Teomeka - and Olomega for that matter. This indicates that generations passed between the departure from El Salvador and the arrival in Veracruz. I think those generations were spent on the Honduran coast at a site called Travesia ("sailing"). From Travesia they would get to know the Atlantic Ocean with their sailing vessels after spending so many years along the Pacific. Those who stayed in Honduras became known as the Uluas.

The Olmecs soon developed their own culture in Veracruz, related but distinct from the Mayan culture they left behind in El Salvador. In their place names they provided clues about where they came from, in order to remember Teomeka.

Ancestral Home of the Olmec and Lenca: Lago Olomega

The Olmec/Lenca were one of the four jaguar founders of the Mayan culture on Isla Tigre, Honduras. The Olmec and Lenca, along with the Ulua, are one people and separated when the Olmec moved from eastern El Salvador to the Veracruz, Mexico, Gulf Coast likely in about 1800 BCE (with a possible stop on the northern Honduras coast).

They came on the same rafts as the Maya to El Salvador, perhaps from Taltal, Chile, and had the same experience as the Maya being captured and taken to the Corinto cave by the Xibalbhans, escaping and finding a joyful home at Alegria/Tecapa, then relocating to Isla Tigre, where several events and accomplishments marked the founding of the Mayan culture: the domestication of animals, including parrots, jaguars, and pumas, the first cultivation of a wild plant - tobacco - used for shamanic purposes, and the triple star, seven rising object event of 8207 BCE which marked the new calendar and the new sun.

Due to the rising ocean level from the glacial melt they were forced to move off Isla Tigre and the triple star gave them the astrological symbol that called for the move. Some peoples - the Tams (Chibchans) and the Ilocs (Misumalpan languages) - rejected the Mayan culture, including the vision of creating agriculture, and moved east and south. Later one Misumalpan group, the Cacaopera, would decide to return to El Salvador and re-embrace Mayanism.

But the Olmec and Lenca people embraced the new Mayan culture and each of the four founding lineages found a sacred island to live on. These islands spread the width of El Salvador. The Olmec and Lenca chose Olomeguita and Estrechura, twin islands in Lago Olomega, about 20 kilometers southeast of the present-day city of San Miguel and 15 kilometers north of the present-day Pacific Ocean coast. In the photo the islands are on the left foreground while Chaparristique Volcano is on the right.

The Olmec and Lenca come from the founding heritage of Maix (Majukutaj in the Popol Vuh), which means Not Ready Yet in English. Maix was called this because he was the youngest of the four rafters who made the journey and was not yet ready to lead the group of four rafts. Maix, not yet with a partner, likely found a partner in the weeks or months that they were held at Corinto cave. The Xibalbhans, likely known to themselves as the Manik, were a tall people, sometimes called giants. Maix's partner was probably the woman called Xb'akiyalo, Egret Woman in the Popol Vuh, probably for her long legs. Her name also hints that she was from Xibalbha. It is possible that the Manik were lighter skinned. So the Olmec and Lenca tend to be taller and possibly lighter skinned than some other Mesoamericans.

Egret Woman must have seen the approval of the spirits to have a partner with a name, Maix, so close to the name of her own people, Manik. The oral tradition of the Manik resides with the woman and the Olmec and Lenca people may be filled with Manik stories. Where the other Mayan groups had hostile relations with the Manik, the Olmec and Lenca likely had much better relations. They were probably encouraged to select the island closest to the Manik and the Xibalbha cave, Lago Olomeka is about 60 kilometers south of the cave.

What links the Olmec to Lago Olomega and the Lenca? The first is the reference in the Popol Vuh to the "Oloman" (Tedlock, pg 149), the first half a clear reference to the Olmec. The last syllable "man" is a link to the Manik and to the Lenca who are known as the managuara. Man appears to have the meaning of hand. In Ch'orti' man means exchange or trade, an action which could be linked to the hands. Ma'nah means "work for hire" which also could come from a root of man = 'hand'. Later the Popol Vuh makes a second reference:

"When we divided, there at Tulan, at Zuyua ... And again, some of the people stayed there in the east; Sovereign Oloman is their name. 'We left them behind,' they said. It was a great weight on their hearts." (Tedlock, pg. 162)

This clearly places Oloman in the east, within the region of Tulan Zuyua, Isla Tigre, which has been the region of the Lenca for more than 10,000 years. Thus, the link of the Oloman with the Lenca and with the Olmecs.

Isla Olomeguita, Lago Olomega

The second thing linking the Olmecs to this region and specifically Lago Olomega is the two names appear to have the same origin. In Lenca the 'g' sound transformed from the 'k' sound and it likely happened rather recently. Previously the lake and island (above) would have been known as Olomeca or Olomeka. This is so close to Olmec. And previously we saw that the Popol Vuh referred to them as Oloman, rather than Olman, offering a clue that "Olo" is the original prefix, not "Ol". The Ulua name likely comes directly from Olo - the "o's" transformed into "u's" - "Olo" to "Ulua". This transformation happened probably soon after the Ulua moved (and perhaps the Olmecs) from the Olomega area to the north coast of Honduras in about 2000 BCE, including the site of Travesia.

Here is my attempt to construct the meaning of Olomeka (and Olmec). I believe that "Olo" is a transmutation from the proto Chorti "Teo", which meant "island." This most comes from "Olo" being associated with the island on Lake Olomega, called "Olomeguita". This could indicate that the lake was named after the island rather than the other way around. In addition, when the four lineages left Isla Tigre they went to four islands where they would be safe from the Xibalbhans who were afraid of water. These four islands were all named with the prefix 'teo': Teotipa, Teopan, Teoakan, and Teomeka. Mek'e means to "embrace, wrestle, carry in one's arms or on the hip." This could have been a reference of carrying children to the island on one's hip or in one's arms. One might be able to wade over to Estrechura Island like this but it would only work to Olomeguita Island when the lake level is really low. Teomeke is a beautiful name - island of the embrace or carry in one's arms to the island. Perhaps the Olmec were honoring Teomeka - Olomega - when they built La Venta on an island.

The Olmec likely called themselves Lenca before they left for Mexico. But it may have been a slight variation. I believe that Lenca comes from Lumkah, which means "land from the beginning." I have heard modern-day Lenca say something similar, "We have been on that land from the start." The permutation is simple: Lumkah to Lemkah to Lenkah. This is supported by the Lempa River which would have been Lumpa before it became Lempa, with credit given to the Lenca.

A little tour of the islands. A view from Olomeguita to the rest of the lake:

Drying fish, an old practice on Olomeguita (right). There are 17 families on Olomeguita and they say people have always lived there. Half of the island consists of the houses, packed tight, and a school. The other half of the island is a large hill planted with corn. Every family owns at least one boat.

The school on Olomeguita. It is likely that children have learned and played on Olomeguita for over 10,000 years.

(Below) The view of Estrechura Island from Olomeguita Island - twin islands.

The southern part of Estrechura Island to the right and hills beyond the southern lakeshore in the background. Estrechura may be close enough to the lakeshore to wade across.

On Estrechura island there is a curious rock with three sides carved with various figures. It is carved in the same style as Igualtepec at Lago Guija, linking the two sites. The locals call this rock the "devil's rock" for the carving at the left. Unfortunately it has been chalked and painted which can make it hard to tell what is the original carving. The two sets of arms could be what makes the carving devil-like. This does recall the story of the Xibalbhan who arrived on Isla Tigre with a surf-raft tied to this waist that made him look like a bat. Is this rock carving placed here because of a similar visit by the Xibalbhans to this island? Or is it to simply retell that story to future generations?

Here is one of the sides of the same stone. The most interesting aspect of this carving is that the figure on the top appears to be sitting on a circle or a wheel. This may be another retelling of history, although I am not aware of any Popol Vuh stories that speak of a wheel, cart, or chariot. One would need more specialized tools to discern the original carving and then begin to interpret it.

Finally, here is the third side of the Estrechura carved stone. This side resembles the Igualtepec carvings the most.

There is one nearby geographic feature that appears to indicate a high level of technology among the Olmecs before they moved to Mexico - the many apparently human-made lakes and lagoons. There are two scattered lagoons to the west of Olomega - Laguna Jocotal to the west, south of Chaparristique volcano, and Laguna Aramuaca toward San Miguel. To the east about 12 kilometers are a series of four named lagoons: Managuara, Maguique, Pilon, and Negritos, and two smaller ones.

Laguna Jocotal is the largest of the lagoons, perhaps 1-2 kilometers wide and 3-4 kilometers in length. The formation of the lake is clear from the name: (in Ch'orti' Maya)

Hok'ot - excavated, hollowed out
Tal - arrival, place

So Jocotal means "hollowed out place", implying hollowed out by people.

The meaning of Aramuaca is not so clear but appears to include spiders.

Ahr - time, occasion
Am - spider
Muak - serious ailment
or Waka' - bark string, cord

So it either means "time of serious ailment spider" or "spider web occasion." Neither meaning speaks about the origin of the lagoon.

Managuara is an important name in the Lenca tradition, originally in Ch'orti':

Mah - weak
Ahn - current
Na'k' - ball, pellet
Wa'ar - standing, erect
ha' - water

Managuara means "pellets in erect (land) (form) weak current pond." Laguna Managuara is another place that the Maya (Lenca/Olmek) practiced with gunpowder (pellets). The high bank on the southeast side of Laguna Negritos was blasted out and an opening was created to extend the lagoon to form the new Laguna Managuara. Because of the importance of the name Managuara, this was probably the first lagoon created by the Lenca/Olmek.

Laguna Maquigüe also has a revealing name: Maquigüe - mak ik' wehr - "rip the above-surface plugging up." Like Managuara they were testing gunpowder. Perhaps in this case they attempted to open up the lagoon. Maybe the smaller lagoon to the south of Maquigüe is the result.

The Olmek/Lenca practiced on the lagoons, using gunpowder blasts to break open the lagoons, in some cases creating smaller neighboring lagoons. The lagoons were likely practiced on at the same time as gunpowder testing in central and northern La Union, which was about 7650 BCE.

Literary support for the lagoon building works of the Olmec/Lenca comes from the wife's name of the Olmec founder Maix. This is actually the second wife name for Maix and should be thought of as the feminine side of the lineage or even attributes of the lineage in general. The name is Tz'ununija, translated at Water Hummingbird by Tedlock, meaning Green Kingfisher. I most agree with Tedlock but would say Water Hummingbird Beak:

tu'u' - sip
tz'unun - hummingbird
ni' - beak
ha' - water

The motion of the beak of the kingfisher diving into the water provides a visual for the tools and movement of the Olmec and Lenca as they dug out the lagoons.

 

Astrological Chart of the Maya Culture

Phase 1 of the Maya Culture

Previously I detailed the amazing planetary show of October-November 8208 BCE that the Maya were watching on Isla Tigre, Honduras. The Maya had already acquired many cultural components by that time, including the gods Ahwilix (a baby raft), Hacawitz (a flat-topped volcano where they discovered tobacco), and Tohil (the tobacco god), jaguar spirituality, the domestication of animals, and cultivation.

So when the planetary show happened the Maya took it as a sign, a new sun, as the Popol Vuh says. In order to understand more deeply what this new sun meant, I have calculated the astrological chart with the help of Solex software.

In addition, Ceres is at 27 1, Gemini, Pallas is at 27 42, Scorpio, and Vesta is at 18, 3, Cancer. This is day -1276244.5 Julian. Venus and Mars were conjunct on Oct 27 at 18, 59 Cancer; Venus and Jupiter were conjunct on Oct 29 at 21, 9, Cancer; and Mars and Jupiter were conjunct on Oct 31 at 21, 25 Cancer.

The main two subjective decisions I made with the chart were whether to make the chart for Oct 31, when the Moon was part of the multi-conjunction in Cancer, or Nov 1, when the moon had passed. I decided to go with Nov 1, which is mainly due to my interpretation of the Tiguilotada stone where the moon is a much shorter line than Venus, Jupiter, and Mars, which I think means it wasn't part of the conjunction being recorded. The second decision was whether to make the ascendant at sunrise or before sunrise when the planets could be seen. I decided that it should be when the planets are visible since the name of this event was "Seven Greetings, Seven Rising Objects".

What does the chart tell us? I'm not an astrologer, but I would say the multi-conjunction in Cancer, a water sign, highlights the importance of water to the Maya and with Jupiter part of it, could indicate foreign travel by water. The multi-conjunction takes place in the 11 house, which emphasizes friendship and social organization. Pluto is opposite the multi-transit, emphasizing the transformational nature of the Maya. The Mars-Pluto opposition, which normally might indicate violence, is tempered by Venus and Jupiter. Finally the Virgo rising sign and Virgo sun indicate attention to detail and a scientific disposition. The Uranus-Neptune opposition indicates curiosity, keen intuition, and proclivity to the psychic.

Communication with the Mayan ancestors is facilitated for those with bodies making strong angles with the angles indicated in the chart.