The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Set Down by the Itza, Massacre in Chalatenango

After the Itza settled in the balsam forest near the coast of present-day La Libertad, most likely at Teotepeque and then Tamanique, they continued the practice of first born sacrifice. Just as with the Cho before them, Itza women, pregnant with their first child, began to flee. Because the Itza lineage started with just two people, the rest dying in the Guija flood, it took several generations for the Itza to have a population which allowed them to begin to guard against the women running away. Perhaps 120 to 160 years passed following the Lago Guija flood, about 7700 to 7660 BCE, before the Itza could effectively begin pursuing the women who escaped.

The escaped (rebel) Itza women and their first born children began to form a community, which likely spanned several generations. The place names indicate that this first rebel Itza community was located above the Sumpul River, on or around the mountain called La Montañona between Las Vueltas and Ojos de Agua, Chalatenango.

The Itza organized an assault, perhaps military in nature, on the rebel community. Several dozen place names record the assault. Nearly all names were named by the Itza guards and reflect the cruelty of the perpetrators of a massacre. The trail of the assaulting campaign begins along the Lempa River at San Jose Cancasque. It is tza an cho os tze ka an k’as k’er or “current at the beginning of esteemed ones slashing those who broke away running from being set down by the upright at the shiny.” The phrase “set down by the upright” suggests that women were being raped at the Itza community in La Libertad. This phrase is used repeatedly by the Itza in the sequence of place names of the assault.

The Itza stayed near the river reaching Hacienda - as si (p)en ta - “remains of many spirits practiced on in the wild.” A little further north along the river seems to be where there was a group of Cuscatlan protecting the women. A battle broke out between the Cuscatlan and Itza but the Itza were able to break through the Cuscatlan. Yurique is yur ri ik’ k’er or “Beside where the slashers broke through the wind (Ik’),” where Ik’ signifies the Cuscatlan. The main group of Itza seems to have broken off here to the west toward Las Vueltas. A smaller group went north/northeast toward Ojos de Agua. Ironically this area is within a kilometer of the Sumpul (Las Aradas) Massacre of May 14, 1980, in which 600 civilians were killed by the Salvadoran military, with assistance from the Honduran military and the U.S. government.

Following first the Ojos de Agua route, we find El Portillo, four kilometers north of Yurique, is el po or ti il lo or “see the women free of openings of the hole by the men.” While this name could refer to sacrifices by the Itza, it seems more directly to talk about the rapes that took place in the Itza homeland. The Itza warriors saw up in the hills the women who had freed themselves from being raped. El Portillo has a double meaning of “squeeze,” indicating that the Itza pinched the women - had men on each flank - as the men drove the women forward. Five kilometers later at Ojos de Agua the killing started. Ojos de Agua is och cho os sak wa or “entrance of the esteemed ones (Cho) setting down beings they searched for.”[1] [1] The ‘j’ in Spanish nomenclature is equivalent to a ‘ch’ in Mi nomenclature.

Other women continued to run north-northeast, some being caught at El Tablon: el ta ab bel lo on, meaning “remains from swinging at other (women) harvesters who were previously free.” A kilometer to the east is El Sitio - el si it ti or - “several women opened by the blows of the leaders.” It has a double meaning of “dancers from the foam (balsam),” linking the massacre again to the Itza. Two kilometers west is La Montañita or la am mo on ta an ni it ta, meaning “remains in the hills of those trapped by the spiders, previously a remnant that had run tired of the blows.” It is likely from this village that the mountain, La Montañona, between Las Vueltas and Ojos de Agua took its name. La Montañita has a double meaning of “powder” indicating that the Itza may have chopped the bones into powder to keep the beings from reincarnating, a practice mentioned in the Popol Vuh.

Still some of the women and their offspring escaped and continued north two kilometers to La Trinidad, reaching safety. Here the surviving Itza women borrowed from the name Nueva Trinidad, Chalatenango, a name given by the famous Cuscatlan woman who escaped the Cho and Kiche leaders more than 500 years earlier. Here La Trinidad is la at tar ri in ni it tat or “woman/women and first born offspring arrive from the hills beside tired of/from the blows of the fathers.” The survivors - there were at least two - continued west through the mountains until reaching a place they would name Comalapa. Their story will be rejoined later.

While one group of Itza warriors ran north pursuing the Itza women to Ojos de Agua, the other group ran to the west, first arriving at Coyolar. This name recalls Coyolito found both on Zacate Grande island near Isla Tigre and in far southeast El Salvador, linking this massacre to the beginning of human sacrifice practice by the Cho/Itza perhaps 600 years earlier in the Gulf of Fonseca.[1] Coyolar is koy yol la al or “time of those tired of the strikes of the chewers.” Chewers refers to tobacco users, but it also refers to tobacco being linked to human sacrifice on Isla Tigre. While the Kiche were more commonly called “chewers,” both Itza and Kiche were the traditional tobacco users. El Zapotal is two kilometers further northwest, el tza ap pot tal, meaning “arrival of the swingers from the wetness (La Libertad wet forest) to squeeze the women.” Like with El Portillo, it appears that the military strategy here was to pinch (squeeze) the movement of the women from each side and behind to force them into the center of the valley. [1] At least the beginning of this phase of human sacrifice. It is possible that their ancestors had a similar practice from time to time in the Aleutian Islands, on the journey to Monte Verde, and in Chile itself.

The south side of the pincher went to Conacaste or k’o on nak’ k’as te or “at the tree, blade to the sperm of the ancestors who practiced on the beginners.” This indicates that a child of an escaped Itza woman was killed here. Its double meaning of “break through the trees” indicates that most of the group was able to escape, perhaps due to the sacrifice of the one killed. This name also lends itself to the conacaste tree, a western El Salvador variation of the more common name guanacaste tree. The Itza caught up to some of the women and their offspring at Las Vueltas: la ab bu el ta as or “remains of the broken apart women tired of the practice of swinging.”

Those of the rebel group who survived at Las Vueltas seemed to separate into various groups here. One group went southwest while another went south and east. This group reached San Jose - tza an cho os tze - “upright ones set down those who ran from the esteemed at the wetness.” Using upright and set down together seems to indicate a woman or several women was/were raped before being killed. Some also reached La Laguna - al la ak kun na - “disappear and forget about the tender skin of those tired of the corn people.” And finally, Aldea Vieja - al te ab bi etz cha - “time of two companions who had observed the swinging at the trees.” The women had observed the sacrifice practice at the balsam trees of La Libertad and run away. Companions would seem to indicate as spouses or partners of two of the Izta pursuers. The two husbands killed their wives here.

Another group of survivors ran southwest from Las Vueltas down the Tumulasco valley followed by Itza pursuers. Arriving at La Ceiba one or more were killed. La Ceiba is la as tze eb ba - “body (ies) of those who separated due to the practice of the upright.” And then at Las Minas an offspring(s) of an Itza rebel women was killed: Las Minas - la as mi in as - “cats practice on the first born tired of the practice.” This suggests that the Itza warriors took out the heart(s) of the offspring - the sacrifice practice. The Rio Tumulasco which begins above Las Vueltas and flows past Las Minas and down to the Lempa was named for this event. Tumulasco is tu mul la as ko’ and means “mound(s) of corpses of those tired of the practice of the blade.” This name gives an idea of the magnitude of the Ojos de Agua / Las Vueltas massacre.

The north side of the pincher from El Zapotal caught some of the rebels at Los Naranjos: lo os nar ra an cho os or “esteemed ones set down those who freed themselves running, tired of being set down by the corn people.” This name implies that women were raped (set down) at Libertad and then again before the Itza killed them near Las Vueltas. The Itza called themselves corn people because they first hybridized corn not far from here. Next, some of the women made it west two kilometers to El Sicahuite. The Itza were borrowing a name referring to their discovery of teosinte near Arcatao at least 500 years earlier as they chased a Cuscatlan woman. This probably means that the Itza discovered teosinte at this spot, although not clear if it was at the time of this massacre. However, the name El Sicahuite has meaning in this context: el sik ka wi it te, meaning “blow from the source searches for the women and first-born in the trees. Blow (it) and source (wi) are both ethnic identifiers for the Itza.  Since the Itza warriors were searching for the women, the name El Sicahuite indicates that a group of women and their offspring continued running west through the mountains toward Comalapa.

This group of surviving women and offspring made it to El Llano Verde, although it appears that some Itza warriors were still pursuing them. El Llano Verde, named by the Itza, is el la an no op per te or “women harvesters tired of the dancers run to the big trees.” The women and offspring split up here into at least three groups, with one (or more) running toward Concepcion Quezaltepeque and being caught at Conacaste. Like the previous Conacaste, it is “at the tree, blade to the sperm of the ancestors who practiced on the beginners.” Here or nearby the Itza warrior encountered one or several Olomeca man/men who probably paddled up from the Lempa, given the name nearby Olosingo. Olosingo is ol lo os si in k’o and means “blade to the man who set down many free first-born.”[2] The Olomeca killed the Itza and then continued north to gather survivors of the massacre. Next to Olosingo is a colonial era name, Concepcion Quezaltepeque. [2] There is no subject-object rule in Mi, so this could also be the Itza killing an Olomeca man. However, given that this name repeats in Honduras just north of the escaping point of the women, it seems more likely to refer to the Olomeca killing an Itza warrior.

Concepcion Quezaltepeque, given its obvious Spanish and Nawat meanings, seems to be a colonial era name. However, it seems to be named by someone explaining the events of the massacre and this end point of the massacre to a Spanish official, who together with the indigenous person(s) gave it the name Concepcion to mark the beginning of the military precision of Itza campaigns throughout history - as the indigenous would have explained. It is paired with a village of Concepcion in San Isidro Labrador, a beginning point of this massacre. Concepcion Quezaltepeque is ko on tze ep si on k’er etz tza al te ep ek’ k’er and means “time of the blade of the several ancestors who observed under the stars those who previously separated to the upright trees, slashed those who separated from the slashing at the wetness.” “Several ancestors” - cion - refers to the Cho and Xinca ancestry of the Itza. The conception of the Quezaltepeque. A double meaning is “wall,” a nickname of the Itza stemming from the tsunami at Guija.

From El Llano Grande another Itza woman (or women) ran to the west toward El Rosario where one (or more) was caught by an Itza warrior. El Rosario is el ro os sar ri op/or/om or “dancing man from the foam (balsam) sets down the free woman beside the wall (cliff).” The wall (sar) is one of the nicknames of the Itza. At least one Itza offspring ran straight north from El Llano Grande toward Las Pacayas, where they were caught. Las Pacayas is la as pa ak ka ya as or “time of pain due to practicing on the body(ies) of beginner(s) who was/were tired of the practice,” indicating that the heart of the offspring was taken out. It also has a double meaning of “bones.” Pacayas is meant to rhyme with Maya to indicate who was responsible.

A different group of at least two - a woman and an offspring - arrived safely to Candelaria, two kilometers north of El Rosario. Candelaria is ka an te el la al ri ha and means “time of tired woman/women and beginner(s) run to trees beside the stream.” Given that this name was repeated by the Cuscatlan near Lago Ilopango, it seems possible that a Cuscatlan man met the survivors here to help them. Perhaps he survived the attack at Yurique and ran to this point seeking survivors. This name and the remainder from here on were made by the survivors not by the Itza attackers who named the previous names.

One kilometer northwest of Candelaria is Comalapa - k’om ma al la ap pa - “join those tired of the bad ones swinging at the bodies.” It was here that they joined the Ojos de Agua survivors, signifying that there were at least four survivors in total. Comalapa has double meanings of “the sea” and “rub” - indicating that hands were lain on the wounded to help them heal and the decision was already made to take them by ocean to a refuge far away from the Itza. Just north of Comalapa is El Morro: hel mo or ro or “women free of being trapped by the leaders.”

Three kilometers northeast of Comalapa is La Laguna, a second instance of this name. The survivors began to move northward together to reach safer territory deeper into the mountains. La Laguna is not near a lake or lagoon. Its name comes from Mi, the ancient language. La Laguna: la al la ak’ k’un nar, meaning “tired of the corn people, tired of points on the skin of the young ones.” It has a double meaning of “tender” indicating some of the survivors were injured. It has another second meaning of “disappeared,” which was probably a message for the Itza that they couldn’t be found. The name also indicates that some of the survivors heard the name La Laguna given by the Itza warriors earlier. The survivors used it again but with a different meaning, to link the massacre with their escape.

Four kilometers further northeast is Vainillas or ba in nil la as, which is “heal the bodies of the first born and those tired of the practice.” It has a double meaning of “see in the hills.” This name was likely given by the Olomeca who saw the survivors in the hills, helped them descend, and began to heal the injuries of the Itza women and offspring. Four kilometers to the east is El Carrizal, a name which may have been given as the northern group of Itza rebel survivors left La Trinidad. El Carrizal is hel k’ar ri is sal or “movement of the detained women beside wall.” “Wall” is a nickname for the Itza - the wall of wetness at Lago Guija. Carrizal also contains the destination of the women who had been detained: Cari or Cali - California.[3] For the Itza attackers, the phrase “movement beside” may have thrown them off - looking for the survivors in Honduras. [3] The ‘r’ and ‘l’ are interchangeable in the ancient language.

But for a few days the survivors did go to present-day Honduras. Potrerillos is one kilometer north of Vainillas. Potrerillos is pot tar re er ri il lo os or “see the arrival of the women, free from being set down, who were squeezed out by the paddlers.” Like Vainillas, Potrerillos was named by the Olomeca who happened to arrive there, probably after hearing about the massacre.[4] Two kilometers north of Potrerillos at the Sumpul River is Petapa. This name comes from the Itza survivors not the Olomeca. Petapa is pet ta ap pa and means “remains poured from the swinging at the bodies,” describing the horror of blood and body parts pouring out of the bodies attacked by the Itza. It has a double meaning of “covering” referring to the blood covering the ground. The Peta- prefix is unusual and would be repeated by the survivors once they reached their destination in California. [4] The syllable re would normally have been rep to describe Itza paddlers, however the Olomeca, and related ethnicities, alone among the Mesoamericans, used the syllable ren. Re was a suitable compromise for the Olomeca when speaking of the Itza. Later the Otomi, partially related to the Olomeca, used a similar approach when naming the state of Guerrero.

The survivors and those who accompanied them crossed the Sumpul River at Petapa and went three kilometers northeast to Olosingo. It appears that at least one of the Itza warriors still pursued the survivors because Olosingo means “blade to the man/men who set down many free first-born.” The Olo prefix tells us that it was the Olomeca who killed the pursuer. At this point the survivors and the Olomeca who accompanied them appeared to no longer have much fear of being pursued because they turned east parallel to the Lempa River and then eventually southeast to the Lempa.

Eleven kilometers east of Olosingo and slightly north is the village of Coyolillo. It is k’oy yol li il lo or “see those beside, free of the strikes of the chewers.” The chewers could refer to either the Kiche or the Cho (Itza) who were the two original tobacco users. In fact, this name references Coyolito, found on Isla Grande de Zacate right next to Isla Tigre where the early Mesoamerican people lived. Coyolito, from about 600 years earlier, speaks about the Kiche and Cho gaining tobacco from the Xibalba in exchange for a human sacrifice. Here, Coyolillo links the massacre in Chalatenango to the first human sacrifice in the Gulf of Fonseca. It also references Coyolar, the beginning point of the Las Vueltas portion of the massacre. Because Coyolillo contains the syllable for “beside”, it seems that it was named by people already at the location, not by the Itza survivors themselves. These may have been Lenca but more likely were Ulua (Cuzcatlan) from nearby Arcatao.

Tomala is two kilometers southeast of Coyolillo. Tomala is to om ma al la or “time of those tired of the evil sacrifices at the foam (balsam).” It has a double meaning of “open space of water” or “ocean,” indicating that there was already knowledge that the survivors were to be transported by ocean. At this point, 15 kilometers from the Ojos de Agua massacre, the survivors and their Olomeca companions turned to the southeast to meet the Lempa River. Tambla is one kilometer south of Tomala. Tambla is ta am bel la or “remnant of the harvesters tired of the spiders.” It has a double meaning of “boats on waterway to deep water,” again indicating that they were on their way to an ocean retreat. Tambla was meant to signal the name Tamanique, the home base of the Itza in the balsam hills of La Libertad, El Salvador - original home for both those who escaped and the warriors who pursued them.

San Francisco del Aceituno is three kilometers southeast of Tomala. It provides an indication where the Itza survivors were going to - San Francisco or what we now call northern California.[5] San Francisco del Aceituno is tza an bar ra an si is k’o ot te el as tze et it tu un no or “challenge of the women and children tired of the practice of the upright on the children at the large trees, who ran from many corpses from the blades and blows, movement to the boats.” The name references the first-born sacrifice practice at the balsam trees and the massacre in Chalatenango. The name has a double meaning of “tired of running on the stones of the uprights (steep hills),” describing the difficult journey through the mountains of southern Honduras. The name also makes two references to the Olomeca, indicating that they accompanied the Itza women and children. [5] San Francisco (California), would have been named later, when this group of Itza survivors arrived in the San Francisco Bay. Therefore, the name of San Francisco del Aceituno was named after news came back of the safe arrival of the Itza refugees to northern California, to a place they named San Francisco.

Gualcixe is four kilometers southeast of San Francisco del Aceituno. Gualcixe is wal si is che or wal si ik tze - the x can be either a k’, ch, or s. It means “Sky observe many who handled the movement uprights - hills.” Sky is an ethnic identifier meaning Ulua (Cuscatlan). It has a double meaning of “guides” or “Olomeca”. Valladolid is two kilometers south of Gualcixe. While it might be a colonial era name coming from Spain, its meaning fits here. It is ba al la at to ol li it or “time of being beside the bodies tired of the blows and sacrifices of the leaders,” with a double meaning of “loaded onto boats.”

Eleven kilometers south of Valladolid is Guajiniquil, seven kilometers east of Arcatao. It takes its name in part from Manaquil, one of the names of the river that flows through Arcatao. Guajiniquil is wa ach chi in ni ik’ ki il or “Sky see the dear ones and turtle beings in the large hills.” Turtle beings refer to pregnant women. Putting the qualifier “large” with “hills” is another indicator for the Olomeca accompanying the dear ones and turtle beings. The name recalls the Ulua’s own ancestral woman who escaped the Itza (Cho) of her day by the Manaquil River.

Less than three kilometers south of Guajiniquil is La Virtud. It is la ap pi ir tu ut or “see the companions tired of the swinging and the opened corpses.” This unusual name confirms that the Itza warriors dismembered bodies after they killed them. La Haciendita is four kilometers southeast of La Virtud. It takes its name from Hacienda near San Jose las Flores, so it may have been named a little later. It is la as si ir ren ti it ta or “see the (Olomeca) paddlers with the several remaining of those tired of the practice of opening by the blows.”

Finally, the Itza survivors together with Olomeca reached the Lempa River near where the Rio Mocal joins it.  Mocal is mo ok’ Cal or “those trapped split for Cal (California).” K’al - “retained” - has basically the same meaning as mo - “trapped”, which indicates that cal is meant to be a geographic identifier. In addition, Mocal shares three of the same letters with Miwok, another clue who they became when they reached California. On the El Salvador side of the Lempa near the Mocal River is Santa Catarina, or tza an tak’ k’at tar ri in ha, which means “those who ran from the wetness and their firstborn crossed on dryness arriving beside the river.” To cross on dryness means that they arrived overland not by boat on the river.

Once the Itza survivors reached the Lempa River, they were likely taken by boat by the Olomeca downstream to the Pacific Ocean. At the mouth of the Lempa the Itza survivors, soon to become Miwok, were taken by sail raft, again by the Olomeca, up the Pacific Coast to the San Francisco Bay, where they would have been met by the Ohlone, relatives of the Olomeca.

The name that most links the Miwok to the survivors of the Ojos de Agua / Las Vueltas massacre is Petaluma, a Miwok village name near the center of the coastal Miwok area. Petaluma shares a prefix with Petapa, El Salvador, a village just northwest of Ojos de Agua. Petaluma is pet ta al lum ma or “the time of the bad ones pouring the remains on the ground,” nearly an identical meaning as Petapa, describing the massacre with the graphic phrase “pouring the remains.” In addition, Peta is a very rare indigenous prefix in the Americas, increasing the likelihood of a link between these two names. Petaluma has a second meaning which describes the way the tide comes up the Petaluma River all the way to the site of Petaluma, from pet tal lum ha or “arrival of the water pouring over land.”

Other names indicate the first arrival of the Olomeca and Itza survivors, now Miwok, into San Francisco Bay. At Sausalito they were greeted by the Ohlone who likely showed them where to settle. Sausalito is tza us sal li it to or “beside those capable under the blows and sacrifices of the Sal at the wetness.” Sal (“wall”) is a nickname for the Itza. Sausalito also describes the cliffs there. The Ohlone likely directed the Olomeca and Itza survivors to the San Pablo Bay and the Petaluma Bay. San Pablo is tza an pa ap lo or “wetness (bay) of those who ran, free of the swinging at the body.”

Towering above San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay is Mount Tamalpais. The name Tamalpais originated with this story. Tamalpais is ta am ma al pa is or “the time of moving from the remains of the bodies from the bad spiders.” The first syllable tam was meant to recall the Itza home in El Salvador, Tamanique, as well as Tambla, the name they gave a place in Honduras as they were fleeing Chalatenango and heading toward the Lempa River boats to freedom.[6] [6] Tamal might also be a much older name, referencing the Tamal of India and might indicate a similar flight by boat by their ancestors escaping the Tamal, perhaps to Burma, 45,000 to 50,000 years ago.

Olompali is a large hill on the west side of the Petaluma River, inland about five kilometers from the San Pablo Bay. Olompali obviously borrows from both Olomeca and Ohlone. It is ol lo om pal li or “boats beside those free from the leaders at the foam (balsam). Olo indicates that the boats were Olomeca. It has a double meaning of “the time of the crest beside those free of the bodies at the foam (balsam).”

Other Miwok names around Petaluma are consistent with this interpretation. Payran, a Petaluma neighborhood, is pa ar ra an or “time of those tired of running from the bodies.” The ‘y’ in the name gives it a partial rhyme with Maya, indicating who they were running from.  San Antonio, a creek south of Petaluma, is tza an nan to on ni or or “hills of the women ancestors who ran from the sacrifices of the leaders at the wetness (balsam).” Kastania is two kilometers south of Petaluma. It is kas ta an ni ha, meaning “river of those who broke away running from the remains in the hills,” with a double meaning of “breaking away from practice on the beginners (first-born).”

The name San Francisco also originates with the Miwok. It is sa an bar ra an si is k’o and means “movement by boat of several who ran, tired of the blade, on the swollen current (Pacific Ocean).” It has a double meaning of “the cold” indicating moving to a colder climate than they were used to. Another double meaning is “harvesters on the waterway” San Francisco would become a buzzword name in El Salvador and Honduras for Itza women escaping to the west coast of North America.

At the Pacific Ocean at the Salmon Creek mouth is Pulyalakum, which has a double meaning. On one hand it is pu ul ya al la ak’ k’um or “at the rinse, time of explaining growing tired of the pain from the cutting the skin into pieces.” This describes their running away from the Itza guards. The second meaning describes the run of the salmon. It is quite possible that the Miwok named the salmon here. Salmon is sal mo on or “previously trapped by the Sal,” where Sal is an ethnic identifier for Itza. This name describes the Miwok situation. But Salmon also describes the movement of the salmon: sal mo on: “previously trapped by the wall.” The salmon jumps over the wall or barrier that it was previously trapped behind.

The Itza men did not just leave alone the Itza survivors (Miwok) at Petaluma. After some time - months or years - a group of Itza men sailed up the coast from El Salvador in search of the Itza women and offspring who survived the Las Vueltas / Ojos de Agua massacre. The first name that points toward the arrival of the Itza warriors is the name of a park, Big Sur. There is no convincing origin for the name Big Sur.[1] [1] For example, the wikipedia entry on Big Sur says that “the original Spanish-language name for the unexplored mountainous terrain south of Monterey, the capital of Alta California, was "el país grande del sur" meaning, "the big country of the south." It was Anglicized by English-speaking settlers as Big Sur.”

In Mi, Big Sur is bi ik’ sur or “foreign companions on the wind.” This indicates that the “foreigners” were sailing. It is interesting that they are called “foreign”. The Olhone, having arrived from Central America less than 200 years earlier, likely would not have called the Itza foreign. This likely makes the name have a Chumash origin. Further evidence of a Chumash origin comes from the syllable for foreign: sur. The Ohlone version of Mi would have used sun.

A few kilometers up the coast from Big Sur is Bixby. Bixby is bi is bi or “companions of the companions who moved.” I think that the first “companion” here means from the same ethnicity and maybe also partner. The second companion is a friendly way of referring to the Miwok. Given that this name also starts with bi, like Big Sur, I would guess that this is also a Chumash name.

Five kilometers north are the names Soberanes Point and Garrapata Creek. These names have a much more Mesoamerican sound to them, likely marking the change from Chumash to Ohlone territory. Soberanes is highly likely to be an Itza name that the Ohlone kept alive later. Soberanes is so ob ber ra an ne es or “dancers observing for the tail of the harvesters who ran since they were tired of the curves.” The use of the term harvesters is condescending and something the Itza men used to describe Itza women but that Ohlone would be unlikely to use. The syllable ran is a clue that the Itza were talking to Ohlone here since ran is an ethnic marker for Olomeca (and Ohlone). The “curves” relate to blades but could have a phallic double meaning. Garrapata is k’ar ar ra ap pa at ta is “time of the remnant in the bath (Pacific Ocean), here to detain those who grew tired of the swinging at the body.” Later this same word, double meaning of tick, was used by Poto women (relatives of the Ohlone) in Guerrero, Mexico, to describe Kiche men as part of the new Otomi ethnicity.

Further north is Point Lobos, which is lo ob bo os or “dancers in the hole (Pacific Ocean) to set down the free ones;” likely an Itza-given name. Carmel by the Sea is an usual name for the western U.S. It seems likely that is derives from an indigenous name given the consistent meaning with the remainder of this narrative. Carmel by-the-Sea or Carmel Bithese is k’ar mel bi ix che etz tze or “uprights observing for the companions who moved and that they (uprights) failed to handle detaining.” Uprights refer both to the sails on the sail raft(s) and to the Itza men. Carmel alone would be “failed to detain” - telling part of the story, but Carmel Bithese tells a more complete story and is likely the original name given by the Itza sailors.

More names along the Pacific Coast indicate that the Ohlone spotted the Itza search party and eventually detained them. Monterey is mo on te er re or “paddlers who previously trapped the women in the trees (balsam trees of Tamanique).” The Ohlone and the Itza used different syllables for paddlers but Monterey uses a neutral syllable re, consistent with the Ohlone seeing Itza paddlers. Further up the coast at present-day Half Moon Bay, the original name was San Benito. San Benito is tza an ben ni it to or “those who gave blows in the hills (Chalatenango) to those who ran from the sacrifices at the wetness (Tamanique).” It has a double meaning of “paddle to the lost harvesters,” indicating that the Itza were looking for the Itza Miwok, who were lost to them.

Continuing up the coast from San Benito (Half Moon Bay) is Miramar or mi ir ra am ma ar, “the time of seeing the bad cats tired from spidering.” The next name is El Granada or el k’ar ra an nat ta, meaning “tired remnant from a distance who detained the women who had run.” The name uses a syllable ran that is consistent with the Ohlone giving this name. In the hills above El Granada is Rancho Corral de Tierra. This is ra an cho ok’ k’o or ra al te et ti er ha or “time of the challenge in the water with the tired esteemed leaders who, in the trees, took the blade to the women who ran tired of the openings (injuries), then split.”

Above Rancho Corral de Tierra is Scarpet Peak. It is sak k’ar pet or “searching for those they had detained and poured.” This name reveals who the Itza were looking for - the pet - those “poured” were those who escaped through Petapa and found their way to Petaluma - the Miwok. Back near the coast a little further north the name Capistrano shows up. It is ka ap pi is ti ir ra an no - “No (Ohlone) see arrival of those who swing at the beginners and those who ran and moved, tired of the openings.” The no (“large”) syllable is one of the ethnic identifiers of the Olomeca (and Ohlone). The “swing-at-the-beginners” (double meaning “hold-in-mouths”) could refer to either the Itza or Kiche. This name has a double meaning of “women in the trees,” linking it to the events in Chalatenango.

Montara is a name along the coast just south of Pacifica and the name of a mountain about five kilometers inland. Montara is mo on tar ra or “arrival of those who previously trapped the tired ones.” The tired ones refers both to the physical state of the Itza survivors (Miwok) and that they were tired of the sacrifice practice. Montara was also known as Montoro originally. This name also fits the story. Montoro is mo on to or ro or “leaders who previously trapped those free of the sacrifices.”

San Pedro is located on the south side of Pacifica, where the story arrives to its climax. San Pedro is tza an pet tar ro or “arrival of those who poured those who ran from the wetness.” It has a double meaning of “women in the trees,” referring to the Itza women who were killed in Chalatenango. Nearby Linda Mar is li in ta am ma ar, meaning “time beside the remnant of spiders who were bad to the first born.” It has a double meaning of “one in the deep sea,” indicating that there was only one sail raft. The last two syllables of Linda Mar are tamar or tamal, referencing that the bad spiders were looking for those near Mount Tamalpais (the Miwok). Like Tamalpais, Linda Mar (Lintamar), with its middle syllable tam, also references the Itza home in Tamanique, El Salvador, where it is likely the Itza sailors came from.

Two kilometers further north in Pacifica is Calera or k’al le er ha or “retain the other paddlers in the water.” The use of “other” here means that by this time the Ohlone considered the Itza to be others or foreigners. The Calera Valley indicates where the Ohlone captured the Itza out in the ocean. The neighborhood a little inland here is called Vallemar. Vallemar is bal le em mar or “boat of the paddlers descended into the sea.” The Ohlone were able to submerge the Itza sailing raft and capture the Itza swimming in the water.

One kilometer north is Mori Point, a name that is neither English nor Spanish. Mori is mo or ri or “men (leaders) trapped beside,” with a double meaning of “mound (ridge) beside.” One of the main streets in Pacifica is Palmetto. In Mi it is pal mer re et to or “time of the sacrificers of the body failing the challenge of paddling” and a double meaning of “boats.” It indicates that the Itza could not out-sail or out-paddle the Ohlone. Lake Merced, a couple kilometers north, tells the same story. It is mer tze et or “upright (sails) fail in the challenge,” with a double meaning of “to slash.” Inland from Mori Point is Milagra Ridge, a name that sounds Spanish but would be Milagro. Milagra is mi il la ak’ k’er ra or “see the tired cats who slashed the skin of those who were tired,” with a play on “tired.” It has a double meaning of “detain,” indicating that the Itza were captured rather than drowned.

Names further inland indicate that the captured Itza were likely taken inland from the coast at Pacifica to the area near Serramonte and Colma, just south of present-day Daly City, perhaps because that is where the peninsula Ohlone leadership was located. Serramonte is ser ra am mo on te and means “bind the spiders who previously trapped the tired ones in the (balsam) trees.” Consistent with Mori Point, this name confirms that the Itza leaders were captured and bound and brought to Serramonte. Nearby Colma is k’o ol ma or “bad bladed leaders” with a double meaning of “transport the bad ones.” This seems to indicate that the Itza were tied to a lattice and carried that way. The syllable ma often indicates death so it is possible that the Itza leaders were killed here, ironic given Colma’s present status as a host of multiple cemeteries and almost no live people.

Finally, the name of the Ohlone on the peninsula indicates the fate of the Itza captives. The peninsular Ohlone are called the Ramaytush. This is ra am ma it tu ux or “corpses of the three bad ones who wished to give blows to those who were tired of the spiders (Itza).” By using the syllable may, the name indicates that it was three Maya corpses and the syllable it is associated with the Itza. The name also pays homage to the Rama of the Chibchab, relatives of the Ohlone, since both came from the Olomeca line. The Rama escaped from the Itza (Cho) at Isla Tigre about 600 years earlier. Tuch also has a meaning of “snub tail,” often associated with a rabbit, perhaps hinting at the form of death for the Itza.

The Miwok at Petaluma were no doubt afraid after the arrival of the Itza raft even though the Itza men were killed. They chose to move by boat to the San Joaquin Delta, by way of the Sacramento River, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. The former village name of Anizumne is located near the present-day town of Rio Vista on the west bank of the Sacramento River. Anizumne is an ni is sum ne or “move running to the hills on the winding tails.” The use of “running” indicates that they were pressured to move - the threat of Itza sailors.  The syllable zum is a reference back to their ancestors who ran from Tamanique up to the hills above Rio Sumpul.

From there the Miwok did not go up the more obvious Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers. Instead they chose the winding and more hidden Mokelumne and Cosumnes rivers.  A very similar name to Anizumne is found at the confluence of the Mokelumne and Cosumnes, the village of Unizumne, which is un ni is sum ne or “move the children up the winding tail to the hills.” This name could not be any clearer about the reason that the Miwok moved up to the Sierra foothills from the coast - to keep the children safe from Itza threats. The use of the syllable zum again refers back to the massacre in Chalatenango.

Sakayak-unni on the Mokelumne River is sak ka ya ak un ni or “warriors pain in the skin search for the first born, to the hills.” The use of the syllables kayak reveals that the Miwok were transporting themselves by canoe or kayak and that they may have been the ones to invent the kayak, which would have been about 7600BCE. Mokelumne is mo ok’ k’el lum ne or “trapped and slashed ones split from the land (lum) for the tail.” Lum is mostly a geographic marker for Petaluma - they left Petaluma for the San Joaquin valley. Mokelumne also describes the river being formed after the Ohlone broke open the Carquinez Strait allowing the large lake to flow out of the San Joaquin valley. Mokelumne’s second meaning is “Tail after the constricted earth gashed and split open.” The downstream portion of the Mokelumne would not have existed if the Ohlone had not drained the central valley.

The Miwok also moved up the Cosumnes River to the Sierra foothills. Cosumnes describes the river coming down from the Sierra - ko os sum ne etz or “observe the winding tail setting down on blades (rocks). But the double meaning of Cosumnes also describes Miwok history: “observe the blades who set down the tails (first-born) at the Sum (Sumpul).” This indicates that they saw the Itza looking for them - most likely referring to Colma - and because of the Itza threat moved to the foothills. A village on the Cosumnes is Chuyumkatat. It is the most direct name describing the feelings of the Miwok toward the Itza. Chuyumkatat is chu yum k’at tat or “cross from the guards of the controlling (owner) father(s).” They crossed from Central America to northern California to get away from both the guards and the leader father(s) - describing a hierarchy.

An interesting name on the Cosumnes River, near the eastern border of present-day Sacramento County, is Michigan. While it is possible that it is a settler era name, it is likely that it is a name created here by the Miwok and later borrowed by their relatives, the Ojibwe, in Michigan (state). Michigan is mich chi ik’ k’an or “scrape the large yellow in the open air.” This would indicate that they were mining. Giver that this was in the middle of gold country, yellow likely indicated gold. Later in the state of Michigan it indicated copper.

The name Miwok uses the letter ‘w’ as a wild-card that is primarily an ‘r’ but with secondary meanings coming from ‘m’ and ‘p’. Miwok is mi ir ro ok and means “see the loose cats split open.” It matches the name Cosumnes in speaking about seeing the Itza warriors who sailed up from Central America looking for them. But Miwok is more specific in referring to the Itza who were captured by the Ohlone at killed at Colma. Using the ‘m’ and ‘p’ adds secondary meanings: “trapped in the hole (ocean) and blasted, the spirits.” Calling the Itza ‘loose’ means that they came up on their own rather than with a larger, organized group. Miwok is also an onamonapia - i.e. “cats wokked”.

The Miwok were just the start of Itza women and first-born escaping the Itza Maya of El Salvador to the west coast of North America, from the lower San Joaquin valley to Washington, between 7700 and 7400BCE. All the nations who speak a Penutian language, except the Ohlone, have their origin with escaping Itza women at this time. By perhaps 200 years later, by 7450BCE, the Itza finally stopped their practice of first-born sacrifice, likely in large part due to the resistance of the Itza women.

Origins: Cacao, Corn, Cotton, and Calabasa

The ancestors of the Maya were always on the gatherer side of the hunter-gatherer spectrum, leading them to be the probable first culture to begin cultivation - horticulture. The Maya began horticulture by first learning cultivation of tobacco on Isla Tigre, Honduras in about 8300 BCE. Tobacco led to the darkest time in Maya history, resulting in the escape of the Miskito and Chibcha people. The Maya soon risked moving off the protected island to the mainland in order to pursue their destiny - horticulture, the cultivation of plants for food and other human use. The risk was that their enemy Xibalba would challenge their living on the mainland - El Salvador. But since the Xibalba were generally afraid of water, the Maya moved to four islands to have a greater level of protection from their enemy, approximately 8207 BCE. They immediately began to search for plants to cultivate.

El Salvador: Four Island Homes and Agriculture Origins (click to enlarge)

This blog post will look at the origin points for the domestication of squash, cotton, cacao, and corn. Corn was probably the earliest of the four, around 8200 BCE, with squash quickly following. The research for this is based on place names, keeping in mind the places of habitation and meetings at the time.

Squash

Squash were important to the Mesoamerican diet. They provided starch and were a major source of anti-oxidants. Squash would have helped the Maya to live longer and prevent memory loss. The first squash to be cultivated was a striped squash, perhaps the cucurbita sororia, which was hybridized into cucurbita argyrosperma (below).

By Shaun Case (nl:Afbeelding:Hindu2.jpg) [GPL (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

The first squash used for domestication was found near Sesori, El Salvador, based on an examination of place names. Sesori is a municipal seat located in the northern part of San Miguel department, in the eastern part of El Salvador. It is 200 meters above sea level and about 60 kilometers north of the Pacific Ocean. It's curious how close the sound of the name c. sosoria is to Sesori. Sesori in Ch'orti' is: tze' tzori or "squatted in rows." The term "squatted" or "squat" was used to describe the way that the squash plant grows very close to the ground. The fact that the Sesori name also includes "in rows" shows that squash was planted there, most likely the first place it was planted, although surely the seeds were soon planted at the four island habitations.

(click to enlarge map) The place names around Sesori point toward the municipality being the origin of squash. About five kilometers to the northeast is Charlaca, which would be ch'a'ar lahch kah in Ch'orti' and "start of the horizontal striped one" in English. This indicates that the first squash was striped, like the cucurbita sororia and its domesticated offspring, above. The hill above Charlaca is called Chequere or tze' kere, "open up the squat one" - the place the wild squash was split open. About a kilometer to the southeast is a village (and creek) call Caulote. Caulote is k'a ur lo' te' or "explain the desirable dangling plant." It was likely the lineage which found the squash which explained how to grow and use the
squash to the other three lineages. Finally, south of Sesori is a touri-center called Chagüite. It is possible this name came from elsewhere in the municipality. Chagüite is ch'a' wih te' or "source of the horizontal plant" - one more indication that Sesori is the source of the first squash to be cultivated.

The Maya used the seeds from a very early time, mashing up the toasted seeds into a paste. That paste is called alguashte, which is ahr wax te' or "time of the round gourd plant." It is possible the round gourd is referring to c. sosoria or its offspring c. argyrosperma.

Up until now, the earliest known location for domesticated squash is Guila' Naquitch cave in the Oaxaca Valley. Domesticated squash dates from no later than 6000 BCE there. This is about 2000 years after the squash domestication in El Salvador. The Zapotec-Otomi ancestors likely took squash seeds and the know-how to grow squash when they migrated from the San Vicente region of El Salvador to Oaxaca/Puebla in about 7000 BCE.

Cotton

In BC or Before Cotton, people had to wear animal hides no matter the weather. That may not seem like a big deal in a temperate climate, but in a tropical climate, a jaguar or puma skin must have been nearly unbearable. From a translation of place names in El Salvador, the second home of the earliest ancestors of the Maya, it is possible to determine that the origin of cotton is from Intipucá, El Salvador.

Intipucá is a municipal seat in La Unión department that is 10 kilometers north of the Pacific shore - in those days it may have been even closer to the shore. It is 101 meters above sea level and is in the very hot part of eastern El Salvador. Intipucá in Ch'orti' is in tih buhk k'a = "first desirable clinging clothing".

The place names around Intipucá fill in more details of the story of cotton. Chichipate, about 7 kilometers north of Intipucá, is ch'i' chih bah te' = "growing body fiber plant." This might be the first place of planting the wild cotton. "Body fiber" describes a fiber placed over the body (clothing). Chirilagua, west of Intipucá (click to enlarge map), may have been the first place to weave cotton. It is chir ir ak' wa' - "see covering being woven." This might have been named by a visiting member of another community since it uses the verb "see".  

Where did the Maya learn to weave? Either they figured it out on their own or they learned in South America. Woven containers from plant fibers, dating from before 8000 BCE, were found in Guitarrero Cave in Peru. But place names indicate that the Maya might have learned in Chile rather than Peru. The first clue is the name Chile, which just as likely may have been Chili, which in Ch'orti' is "to weave." While it may seem presumptuous that the Maya would name Chile, the Maya appear to have named many countries in South America. The village in Chile where the Maya may have gone to learn weaving is Pichilemu, on the coast about 200 kilometers southwest of Santiago. Pichilemu is pi chil ehm uh or "companions' sacred descending weaving."

By ArtProf (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Other place names in the region of Intipucá hint about cotton and how much people liked cotton compared to their previous skins. The beach just south of Intipuca is Icacal or ik' ak' ahr - "time of the breathable coverings". Ik' means air or wind but I think breathable is a good translation here. A creek several kilometers to the west is Icaco or ik' ak' ho(y) - "pleasurable breathable covering." Cotton clothing in the tropics was a big deal. Both of these names use the noun ak' which is "skins" or "covering" - they didn't seem to have a word yet for clothes or shirts.

The oldest archeological record of Mesoamerican cotton is at Guila' Naquitch cave in the Oaxaca Valley and at Tehuacan in Puebla. Both of these are Zapotec-ancestor sites and the Zapotecs migrated from El Salvador to Mexico in about 7000 BCE. This is a strong indicator that cotton was discovered and domesticated prior to 7000 BCE in El Salvador. The short distance from Olomega to Intipucá - less than 15 kilometers - should indicate that cotton was first found closer to 8200 BCE, when Olomega was settled, than to 7000 BCE. It also indicates that it was the Olmeka-Lenca lineage which found cotton, since they were based at Lago Olomega.

Cacao

Next to corn, cacao may be the most important food product in Mesoamerica. Cacao in Ch'orti' is k'ahk' ka ho or "beginning of heated pleasure" - cacao was usually consumed hot. The first cacao was found by the Miskito people, originally Maya, they escaped the heart sacrifice period in about 8250 BCE to Nicaragua. Because the words describing the discovery of cacao are still in Ch'orti', it is likely that cacao was discovered within 1000 years of the Miskito arriving in Nicaragua, or by 7250 BCE.

Cacao was first found in or near Matagalpa, Nicaragua. Matagalpa is mat ak' k'ar bah or "retain the brown one from wrap-around skin." This describes the process of shelling or de-skinning the cacao beans. Matagalpa is about 700 meters above sea level. The hill just south of Matagalpa is Cerro Apante, ap ban te', "good swinging plant." Swinging is the word used for fruit or any seed that hung from a tree. The Miskito also found cacao at Jinotega, now a city 25 kilometers to the north. Jinotega is hin ot te' k'a or "picking the satisfactory sheltered tree." Cacao trees are somewhat delicate and often sheltered from the wind or sun by larger trees. Nearby at Apanas the Miskito planted the cacao. Apanas is ap ban as or "practice the good swinging one."

The Miskito also discovered chocolate, grinding the toasted cacao beans and mixing with hot water. Chocolate is choh kor ha' te' and means "freeing the esteemed plant in water." "Freeing" could also be translated "loosening" and describes the process of mixing up the crushed cacao with hot water. They found a word chocolate that sounds like cacao but shares none of the same syllables. Just west of Matagalpa is the town of Waswali. In Ch'orti', it is wax wahr ri or "blow air beside the gourd cup." This could be from making the first cups of hot chocolate.

The small village of Yasica is about 15 kilometers northeast of Matagalpa. In Ch'orti', Yasica is yatz' tzik ka or "beginning of counting the squeezed ones." This most likely refers to cacao beans and their use as currency, which was common in the pre-Classic and Classic eras. Yasica gives an indication that cacao may have been used as a currency very early and that this practice may have begun by the Miskito in Nicaragua. Because Yasica is translatable in Ch'orti', this practice likely began before 7000 BCE, that is, before the Miskito language diverged from its parent tongue. The Miskito who lived in Matagalpa - the cacao growers - became known as the Matagalpa people.

At some later point the Maya appear to have invited a group of the Matagalpa-Miskito cacao growers to El Salvador to grow cacao there. This group settled alongside the Torola River and named their village Cacaopera, cacao ber ha' - "cultivate cacao at the river." Interestingly, the land that the Maya gave them is very close to the Corinto cave and likely not desirable to the Maya given the history of Xibalba at the cave. It is difficult to determine the date of the arrival of the Cacaopera-Matagalpa. They had to have arrived before 2000 BCE, though, when the Ulua separated from the El Salvador-based Cacaopera and went to the Atlantic coast of Honduras. The Cacaopera can say that they are half-Maya and half-Miskito.

Another community settled at the same time by the Cacaopera is Joateca, about 15 kilometers to the northeast. Joateca is wat te' k'a and means "return home with desired trees." Even if they spoke a different language by then, they still used Ch'orti' as the naming language. The Joateca name is also interesting in that it makes it clear that they considered El Salvador to be home even after hundreds of years in Nicaragua. And it makes it clear that they came with the cacao trees.

Corn

The Maya were born from corn - it was their key cultural crop. Corn was hybridized from teosinte. There wasn't one hybrid moment - it took repeated hybridizing over thousands of years. Earlier I mapped the teosinte place names which tell us at least some of the sources of teosinte that the Maya used to continue to hybridize corn. Aside from two in western Mexico, the "Teosinte" place names are clustered near where Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador come together, that is, around Lago Güija and Teotipa, the site of the senior Maya lineage. This is not inconsistent with the Balsas teosinte theory since the range of Balsas teosinte could have drifted northwest in the several thousands of years of warming temperatures following the Ice Age.

By Mbhufford (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The most likely of the Teosinte sites for early Maya activity is Arcatao, in the mountains of eastern Chalatenango, El Salvador. This is because Arcatao was the location of the get-togethers of the four Maya sites, probably on an annual basis. This is known from the meaning of Arcatao: "the beginning of the gathering times." In addition, the Lempa River near Arcatao is nearly the mid-point, from a water travel point of view, for the four Maya sites. The annual Maya get-togethers at Arcatao probably started as soon as the Maya moved from Isla Tigre in about 8207 BCE.

The place names surrounding Arcatao leave almost no doubt that Arcatao was the place that teosinte, the predecessor to corn, was found. The first clue connecting Arcatao to teosinte is the name of the village Teosinte there. Teosinte means "plants in a row on an island" and refers to the rows on Teotipa island, where hybridization first took place. Just a mile west of Teosinte is Sicahuite, si k'a wih te', which means "origin of the desirable row plant." This is an indication that Sicahuite is likely the place that teosinte was first found.

The river just next to Sicahuite is Gualsinga. It also forms the boundary with Honduras here. Gualsinga is wa'ar sin k'a or "desirable rows rising/standing." The Gualsinga River area may have been the first place where teosinte was planted. The nearest town in Honduras is Zazalapa, which is tzatz ahr lab pa' or "time of pounding hardness to masa." Teosinte may have first been pounded into water and meal - masa - near Zazalapa.

The Guayampoke River goes through present-day Arcatao before it flows to the Sumpul. Guayampoke is wa' yam bohk ker, which means "pull wild vegetation from circle being broken open." After the circle was cleared they would have planted teosinte. This was probably the first step before it was later put in rows. Plant circles were also made at Teotipa (left, in photo) dating to about the same time as the one(s) at Arcatao (~8200 BCE).

In addition to the initial corn hybridization, I wish to discuss two innovations: grain storage and large-size corn cobs. The grain storage moves us back to Nicaragua. Several place names are based on a trip of the Maya from El Salvador to the former Maya, the Chibcha, in southern Nicaragua, to investigate grain storage. Sometime previously the Maya had shared corn seeds with the Chibcha.

Perhaps the first place they visited was Tipitapa, not far from Lake Managua (see map above). Tipitapa is ti' pi t'a'b pa' or "companions' storage of mouth food." "Mouth food" means corn, from the syllables ti' and pa' and is found in the name Teotipa as well. Next stop was the department of Chontales to the southeast. It is choh on tal ehtz or "arrive to observe the previously reputed thing." When combined with the department seat of Chontales, Juigalpa, we understand what the reputed thing is. Juigalpa or wih k'ar pa', "the origin of the retention of food."

Three other towns around Juigalpa fill in more details on the food storage, with the best description provided by Tecolostote: te' k'or os t'ot' te' or "tap the plant matter to fit into wooden carrying box." This makes it clear that the storage unit was mobile. Likely it was strapped on the back - they didn't have any pack animals. Supporting the idea of flattening the corn, Rodeo is lo'ht' te' ho - "flatten liked plant matter." Further north is Teustepe, in Boaco, which may have been the source of the wood to make the corn carrying boxes. It is te' us tep or "useful hardwood."

It took thousands of years for corn ears to reach a large size. In fact the ears stayed quite small until about 1100 BCE, at least in Mexico. It is likely that the larger ears pre-date that by several hundred years in El Salvador. Place names in El Salvador indicate where the large corn ears first appeared: Copinalapa, Cabañas. Copinalapa is the name of the primary river in central Cabañas, flowing north into the Lempa, as well as a village about 15 kilometers north of present-day San Isidro. Copinolapa is k'op in nol lab pa' or "gathering the first large rubbing masa (corn)."

El Salvador and Nicaragua were key for many of the plant products that were so important to Mesoamerican cultures - squash, cotton, cacao, and corn. With the place-name research highlighted here we are able to know much more about how these plants developed.

 

The Tao of Chalatenango: Path of the Great Ones

[Major edits Nov. 27, 2016] The founding lineages of the Cho Maya, Kiche, Olomeca, and Cuzcatlan began their Mesoamerican culture on Isla Tigre, Honduras. Soon after splitting into the four communities, each by water, the leaders of the communities - Olomega, Tehuacan, Güija, and Coatepeque - decided to meet together in a central location perhaps once a year. They chose a spot that is roughly halfway (by water) between the mouth of the Lempa, the Cuscatlan base, and Lago Güija, where the Cho (Chorti/Itza) were located. This was essentially where the Sumpul River enters the Lempa River. This is known from the name Arcatao, a name that used to be associated with a place along the Sumpul River a few kilometers upstream from the Lempa.

The first meaning of Arcatao in Mi is ar k’at ta or, “the time of the crossing of the leaders of the remnants.” The ‘a’ followed by the ‘o’ is an unusual construction, saved for a special place. It is likely the early names Teotipa, Teopan, and teosinte were meant to mirror the ending of the name Arcatao.

The name Sumpul also explains a reason that the four remnants came together. On the surface the name is sum pul or “up and down twisting,” which does describe the motion of the Sumpul River as it comes out of the mountains of Chalatenango. However a double meaning is revealed by a hidden, dropped ‘r’, a somewhat common linguistic trick in Mi, in the first syllable. In this meaning Sumpul is sur rum pu ul, or “explain the land of the foreigner who slashes.” The foreigner was the Xibalba based in Corinto to the east. The four remnants came together to discuss what they had learned about the Xibalba and to defend themselves from the violent Xibalba. They probably hid this meaning so that the Xibalba themselves, who spoke the same Mi language, wouldn’t know the purpose of the Sumpul meeting place, which would be relevant if the four leaders planned to continue to meet regularly at the Sumpul River.

It may seem ironic for the Mesoamerican leaders to call the Xibalba “foreigners” since the Mesoamerican leaders were in the land of the Xibalba. But “foreigner” doesn’t relate to whose land but rather simply that the Xibalba were foreign to them, that is, from a different migration from Asia from them. This would seem to connect the Xibalba to the Zuni who were also called foreigners by Lakota-related people.

The use of sur in the hidden meaning of Sumpul explains who was doing the explaining - the Olomeka.[1] Based in the east at Lago Olomega, this makes sense - they were the closest to the Xibalba at Corinto. If Sumpul was named at the first gathering of the four lineages since they left Isla Tigre, the Olomega might have needed a year or two, but not too much time, to scout out the trails, hunting and other routines of the Xibalba. This would place the Sumpul-Arcatao encounter right around 8200 BCE.

[1] The Olomeka lineage identified culturally, or at least linguistically, with the n-mtdna division of the two migrations that left Africa about 60,000 years ago. The n-mtdna division used sur for “foreigner”, while the m-mtdna division used sun for “foreigner.” The n-mtdna identity for the Olomeka could stem from either the indigenous Taiwanese lineage or the Xibalba lineage or both, but not from the Torok, Siberia, lineage.

The place names around the Rio Sumpul tell the story of what happened next. At the confluence of the Sumpul and the Lempa is El Dique. In Mi this is ti ik’ k’er or “slashed and opened Ik’.” A member of the Ik’ party, from Tehuacan near the mouth of the Lempa, was killed. Next to El Dique is San Benito, tza an ben ni it to, “run from the sacrificing blows at the wetness to the wild hills.”[2] This name indicates that the men pursuing the woman still desired to carry out the sacrifice of the woman’s child. It also tells that it was the slain Cuscatlan leader’s child that the two shaman wished to sacrificed, but which he stopped.

[2] San Benito may be the first use of the prefix “San” in a name in Mesoamerica, usually indicating the death of a person or people. This usage of San may stem from a visit by the Mesoamerican people to the San people of southern Africa, the first human dissident group to flee the main group of humans over 100,000 years ago. The San name uses “san” in a similar way tza an or “run from the shiny (wetness).”

Northeast a couple kilometers is El Candungo or hel ka an tu un k’o or “other (woman) and beginner (young child) run from the corpse from the blades.” The wife of the Ik’ man and their child(ren) fled from the river up into the hills toward Candungo.

Who was this Ik’ leader? The ethnic name Ulua tells us more. Ulua is ul uh ha’ or “explain to the sacred (shamans) at the river.” It seems that the Ik’ leader (Ulua) was stopping a sacrifice process by one or more shaman at the Sumpul River. This tells us that the sacrifice practice did not stop at Isla Tigre. A link between the Ulua and the Cuscatlan is the name Usulutan near the mouth of the Lempa River which has a similar, but rare, structure: ulu.

The surviving woman and her family may have been pursued because soon they sought a more remote hideout. North is Eramon Mountain (left) and along the river, San Antonio de la Cruz.

San Antonio de la Cruz provides some detail about events: tza an toh on ni ot te hel la ak’ k’er ruz, or “shelter for the woman in the trees on the hill tired of the slashing of the skin of the swimmer.” Calling her husband a swimmer indicates that he was trying to escape in the river when he was killed. Nearby Eramon echoes these events: her ra am mo on is “woman tired of the previous trapping by the spiders.” “Previous” indicates the events did not happen while she was resting at Eramon. “Spiders” refers to the paddlers who killed her husband. Generally “spider” is used in a derogatory fashion. The wife of Ulua hid in the thick woods on Eramon Mountain.

Near the base of Eramon is El Zapote or hel tza ap po ot te, which means “shelter in the trees for the woman from the swings of those at the wet hole.” It has the double meaning of “rub” indicating that the woman rubbed her muscles from the difficult hiking. To the east a couple kilometers is the place name Tequeque, a curious name that indicates the woman played a trick on her two pursuers. Tequeque is te ek’ her k’er or “woman slashing the trees under the stars.” It repeats the slashing syllable twice to over emphasize it. I believe this name indicates the woman cut a false path through the trees to fool her pursuers and then doubled back toward the Sumpul River. Tequeque has double meanings of “strengthen” and “to flatten on the hills.”

About four kilometers northwest of Tequeque is El Zacamil. This indicates the direction of the two leaders following the false path of the woman. It is hel sak’ k’a am mi il and means “Woman satisfied to see the searching cats spidering along.” The leaders - the cats - continued walking, spidering, on the false path. El Zacamil became a well-used name in indigenous El Salvador and this was very likely its first usage. El Zacamil has a complete double meaning, hel tza ak’ k’a am mi il, “woman satisfied to see the skin of the cat at the wetness.” The woman doubled back from near El Zacamil, going west to the Sumpul River and saw the body of her deceased husband there.

The woman arrived to the Sumpul River perhaps near where the Manaquil River pours into the Sumpul, about four kilometers southwest of El Zacamil. Manaquil is ma an ak’ ki’ il or “run from the badness, see the skin of the dear one at the current.” This name seems to indicate that for some of her journey she followed the Manaquil River and upon reaching the Sumpul River saw the body of her husband. This also seems to imply that the Olomega leader in the boat with the body moved the boat upstream to the Manaquil confluence. Manaquil uses the nak’ syllable for a double meaning of “planets,” indicating that the same leaders who saw the spectacular triple planet alignment on Isla Tigre in 8208 BCE seem to be the ones who killed her husband and who now pursued her. The Kiche day sign of Manik seems to have been named for this woman, playing off the name Manaquil. Manik would mean “Ik’ who ran from the badness into the hills.” The Mars retrograde calendar moved into the Manik’ position in 8199 BCE, nine years after the triple planet event.

The second name of the Manaquil River, the Guayampoque tells more of the story of the woman fooling the pursuing men, wa ya am po ok’ k’er - “being who slashed (the brush) splits to the hole (Sumpul) from the painful spiders.” The prefix “Guaya” (Waya) was meant to sound like Maya, linking the name Maya to the two men who killed her husband. Guayampoque has double meanings of “night”, “circle”, and “rinse,” so during the night she circled back to the rinse of the Sumpul River.

The name of the patron saint of Arcatao, San Bartolome, tells us that the wife of the Ik’ (Ulua) leader attempted to secure the body of her husband at the river. San Bartolome is tza an ba ar to ol lo om mer or “time of the failure to free the shiny (bloody) body of the one sacrificed by the leaders at the foam.” In her first attempt and perhaps more, the Ik’ woman failed to secure the body of her husband. The name has a double meaning of “boat” indicating that the body was in a boat. Perhaps in a boat at the Manaquil.

The names Nombre de Jesus and Escalante on the Lempa River slightly downstream from the Sumpul confluence tell us that the body of the Ulua leader in the boat with the Olomega leader was also located there, probably after its Sumpul location. Nombre de Jesus is no om ba ar re et te che es su us or “the time of being capable of the challenge of observing the large paddler at the foam with the body from layer of trees.” The use of re at the end of Nombre helps to confirm it was an Olomega paddler since the Ulua women would have said rep while the Olomega man would have said ren; dropping the last letter - resulting in re - is consistent with one describing the other. A double meaning is “boat”.

Escalante is es k’al la an te or “observe the retained in the fatigued current from the trees. “Fatigued current” - lan - is a specific ethnic marker for the Olomega. Another indicator that it was an Olomega man with the body. The village just north of Escalante is Los Henriquez: lo os sen ri ik ker re ez or “beside the loose sky one (Ik’) who observed the (Olomega) paddler to free the gashed wise one.” This village is beside where the Ulua (Ik’) woman observed the boat with the body. It makes it clear she was attempting to free the body at the Lempa River.

Patanera is six kilometers north of Nombre de Jesus and seems to indicate the direction that the woman fled with the body, into the steep hills. Pa at ta an ne er ra - is “other (woman) runs with remains of body from the tail bath (Lempa) tired.” Pat has the double meaning of “pod” or “husks” which seems to indicate how the woman drug the body.

To the east is Quipure, which is ki ip pu ur re or “explain to the paddler the splitting open of the dear one.” Quipure indicates that the woman used persuasion with the Olomega paddler to free the body. Quipure has a double meaning of “lever on the up and down,” which seems to indicate that the woman used branches as levers to move the body up and down the hills. Los Sitios, about 10 kilometers north of Nombre de Jesus, seems to indicate the first camp of the Ulua woman on the run with the body. It is lo os si it ti os and means “the one who freed the one set down and opened by the blows from several (more than one) sets down.” This indicates that both Maya leaders (Cho and Kiche) attacked the Ulua man at the Sumpul River. Gualcimaca is two kilometers east of Los Sitios, in present-day Honduras. It is wa al si im ma ak’ ka, meaning “time of the being with beginner and the one blasted several times on the skin by the bad ones.” This meaning helps to confirm that the woman was carrying a (first-born) child while she was dragging the body of her deceased husband. Gualsimaca has a double meaning of “observed the trapped (body) at the river,” linking the name to the events at Nombre de Jesus.

Continuing to move toward Arcatao, Hacienda Vieja probably comes from Asenda Vieja or as sen ta ap pi es cha or “companion with remains observes the two with knowledge of the swinging practices.” She saw the Cho and Kiche leaders from the heights of Hacienda Vieja.

The name Nueva Trinidad, north of Eramon Mountain, and six kilometers from Arcatao, confirms that the woman did succeed eventually in acquiring the corpse of her deceased husband. Nueva Trinidad is ne eb ba at te er ri in ni it tat or “woman and first born separate from the tail with blasted body beside into the dense trees of the hills.” It has double meanings of “husks”, “ridge”, and “father.” The father reference likely refers to patriarch, or the leader of the highest-held lineage, the Cho at Lago Guija, pointing the blame at this leader. Whether the Ik’ couple brought a young child with them to the gathering (Arcatao) or the woman gave birth at the Sumpul, it seems like their child was threatened with sacrifice by the Cho and Kiche leaders. Through the intervention of the Ik’ man the child was saved. Although the Ik’ man was killed.

A few kilometers northeast of Nueva Trinidad is Las Vegas, in the direction of Arcatao. Las Vegas is la as pek’ k’as or “the one tired of the practice broke away into the hills.” The name Arcatao has a second meaning that corresponds to its moved location, its current location, about 10 kilometers northeast of the Sumpul River. Its second meaning is ar k’at ta hor or “the time of crossing the crests with the remains.” The k’at syllable ties Arcatao to the Cuscatlan people. The moving of a place name, like happened in the case of Arcatao, was extremely rare, but the Ik’ woman won that privilege through her strength and bravery.

The changing of the place names, is echoed in the modern day story in Arcatao of San Bartolome. This story maintains that the town of Arcatao was originally along the Sumpul River near Eramon Mountain. The community’s patron saint was San Bartolome, back in those ancient days. The statue of San Bartolome desired to be located at the current site of Arcatao, 10 kilometers away, and mysteriously moved to the current site. The townspeople found the statue there and moved it back to the river. Again the statue moved (or was moved) to the current site. Three times this happened, each time the townspeople moving the statue back to Eramon. Finally the fourth time the townspeople decided to follow the statue and relocate to the current Arcatao.

There are many similarities or at least consistencies between the community folk history and that portrayed in the place names of the region in the Mi language:

• The statue (the body) was moved clandestinely from the river to the hills of Arcatao.
• The community (place name) of Arcatao was moved from the Sumpul River to its current location, with Eramon Mountain figuring in both sources of the story.
• There were those opposing a move to Arcatao in both stories.
• The repeated moves of the statue seems to parallel the many attempts of the woman to secure the body.

The Sumpul-Arcatao incident shows that even though on the surface the Xibalba were the main enemy of the Mesoamerican people, the internal divisions would become the greater threat.

Many of the most common last names in Arcatao are likely indigenous rather than from Spain, with the meanings originating at the time of the Sumpul event. These last names include Guardado, Menjivar, and Dubon, which are rare - especially the latter two - in Spain.

Guardado is wa ar ta at to and means “time of the remains of the being sacrificed at the bath.” Guardado has a double meaning of “observe the fathers (elders)” - war tat, indicating that as the woman carried the remains she (the Guardado) were observing the Maya elders to ensure they weren’t caught. The tat (father) syllable was also used in Nueva Trinidad.

Menjivar is men chi ba ar and means “time of the large one with the body in the shade (nighttime).” Large one in this name refers to the ethnic group, the Olomeka. The Olomeka leader was watching the body of the slain Cuscatlan leader. A double meaning of “boat” confirms the body was in a boat. A second double meaning is “chip,” perhaps indicating that the woman through a rock at the Olomeka man.

Dubon is tu ub bo on and means “listen with corpse previously at the hole.” Dubon indicates that once the woman arrived to Arcatao she continued to listen, perhaps in the caves, for the two Maya leaders. People with the last name of Guardado, Mejivar, and Dubon are all likely descendants of the Ulua woman who grabbed the body of the husband and ran for the hills.

The hill directly behind Arcatao is called La Cañada. This name also seems to originate from these early events. It is ka an ya at ta or “one who ran, beginner, and remains of one pained at the bath,” indicating the presence of the woman, her child, and the remains of her husband. Within the flanks of La Cañada are small creases, some large enough to be caves. In Arcatao these are called “tatu.” This word seems to derive from the time of the woman hiding from the two leaders who searched for her. Tatu is ta at tu or “remains of the corpse from the bath.” It has a double mean of “father shaman” a slightly sarcastic expression for the Cho and Kiche leaders, just as Ulua is.

The Ulua killed at the Sumpul was perhaps one of the better known martyrs in El Salvador until modern times. The Zapotec, part of the Ik’ lineage like the Cuscatlan/Ulua, took this story as their deity, Pitao. Pitao means “remains of the companion from the blow of the leaders” or “companion of Arcatao.” Following this event the prefix “sum” became associated with the Cuscatlan/Ulua ethnicity. The name Chalatenango derives almost certainly from these events. It is cha al la at te ren nan k’o or “time of the woman in the trees tired of the blades of the two and the paddler at the bath.” What especially links the name to these events in the inclusion of paddler, using a syllable en that refers in a hidden way (leaving off the ‘r’) to the Olomega. It also has double meanings of “horizontal” perhaps referring to the woman in the tatu and “load”.

The Settlement of Copan from Southeastern El Salvador

Copan is one of the most important Classic Maya sites, the center of a kingdom from the 5th century CE (AD) until the 9th century CE. Archeologists have determined that Copan's elite were Ch'orti' Maya, but it was a multi-cultural site with many ethnic enclaves. One of those enclaves was the Poton Lenca, with their most important base at Quelepa, El Salvador.

According to Poton tradition, when Copan collapsed soon after 822 CE, the Poton royalty at Copan returned to El Salvador and settled at Sesori, currently in northern San Miguel department. From Sesori they created a Lenca federation with at least 60 affiliated villages. The modern Poton royalty trace their lineage directly from the Sesori leadership.

Before Copan was a Maya kingdom, it was a river valley with at least 1800 years of human settlement. Archeologists have determined, mainly by examining ceramics, that this early settlement of Copan was not Maya but Lenca. See, for example, Cameron L. McNeil, "The Environmental Record of Human Populations and Migrations in the Copan Valley, Honduras," in The Ch'orti' Maya Area Past and Present (Metz, McNeil, and Hull).

The two most likely dates for the settlement of the Copan valley are 2300 BCE (Before Common Era) or 1400 BCE, according to McNeil. Pollen grain has been dated to 2300 BCE that is either corn or teosinte grass. If it is teosinte it could have been either naturally ocurring or cultivated, since teosinte was cultivated by early Mesoamerican cultures to hybridize with corn. Of the ceramic shards found in the valley, the oldest possible date is 1400 BCE. The encountered ceramics that have been dated at between 1400 BCE to 100 CE indicate a non-Maya presence with the closest affinity to the El Salvador Pacific Coast (Lenca) or Olmec (consistent with a Lenca presence).

The 2300 BCE date seems more likely - the encountered seeds could be wild teosinte but it seems like quite a coincidence. The 2300 BCE date is about 300 years before the time of the major expansion for both the Maya and the Lenca out of their homelands in El Salvador to northern Honduras, Belize, northern Guatemala, and the Chiapas/western Guatemala Pacific coast. At the time of 2300 BCE, the Lenca were primarily centered in southeastern El Salvador, at Lago Olomeka (now Olomega) and nearby villages like Tihuilotal. If Copan was settled in 2300 BCE it would have been by the Lenca from the Lago Olomeka area of southeastern El Salvador.

If, instead, Copan was settled in 1400 BCE or soon thereafter, it would have been equally clear a Lenca settlement, given the type of ceramic that has been found there. By 1400 BCE the Lenca had an Atlantic coast settlement near the mouth of the Ulua River at Travesia. They might have had settlements in the Comayagua Valley and around Lago Yojoa as well. But even if some of the settlement push to Copan came from one of these Honduran sites, the major cultural and political push would have been from southeastern El Salvador, either from Quelepa or Lago Olomeka, since this area remained at this time the center of the Lenca people. Given the ceramic record at Copan, it seems that there was contact between Copan and southeastern El Salvador throughout the pre-Classic period.

The Maya arrived in about 100 CE to Copan. While it is more commonly thought that this first presence was Ch'olan from nearby, my belief is that it was a Kanjobal migration directly from Teotihuacan. This would help explain the bat symbolism common at Copan. Bat is the totem of the Kanjobal, who came out of the bat room of the cave with the Quiche, unlike the Ch'olan and Lenca ancestors who came out of the jaguar room. Then with the Ilopango eruption in about 420 CE causing all of western El Salvador to be uninhabitable for at least 100 years, a large migration of Ch'olan people arrived at Copan. Most likely both to assist his Ch'olan cousins but also seeing the opportunity to extend Tikal's influence, K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' led a migration from Tikal to Copan. Under his direction the first dated monument was built in 427 CE, marking the beginning of the Copan high civilization. It is likely that at this time or soon thereafter, the Lenca were welcomed back to Copan since the Ch'olan migrants from western El Salvador were very friendly with the Lenca.

When the Maya created the tremendous Copan kingdom there was a Lenca enclave at Copan. This enclave would have maintained contact with all the Lenca centers in Honduras and El Salvador, including Quelepa. Thus from 2300 BCE or 1400 BCE until the time of Copan's collapse in about 830 CE - that is, for over 2,200 years - the Lenca people travelled between southeastern El Salvador and Copan, with only a small break from about 100 CE to 430 CE.

What route did the Lenca follow? It is possible that they used the length of the Lempa River to travel by canoe at least half the distance of the journey. This might have happened on the downstream journey from Copan to Olomeka, but given the Lempa's current it is unlikely a river journey was used going upstream. Most of the time they likely traveled by foot. The map details what I think is a likely route. The route avoids major rivers, for example, by staying east and north of the Lempa. The route also passes through some villages later well known as Lenca centers, such as Sesori and Arcatao.

In fact, the Quelepa - Copan trail is the best explanation for the concentration of Lenca villages in eastern Chalatenango, far from the main concentrations of Lenca villages in far eastern El Salvador. Six of the 60 named Lenca villages from 900 CE are in Chalatenango, with only a handful between those and the eastern ones beginning with Sesori.

By beginning to explore the possible routes between major trade centers we gain clues to the origin of many places along the way.

From Teosinte to Corn, But Where did Teosinte Come From?

The Mayan, Lencan, and Pipil peoples that now populate much of El Salvador, as well as Honduras and Guatemala, were born of corn. The gods are associated with corn, including both the diseased corn (pellegra), associated with Ixbalamque, and the perfect corn, treated with ash or lime water, associated with Hunapa. And the first Mayan people were made were of perfect corn dough (masa).

Scientists now know that corn was hybridized from Balsas teosinte grass in southwestern Mexico by 6700 BC. The Guatemalan teosinte found in the highlands of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, is similar but was not used at first to hybridize corn.

But where did teosinte come from? When did the very early hunter-gatherers of Mesoamerica first learn that they could eat teosinte? And was it as revered by those early people as much as corn was for the Mayans, Lencas, and Pipiles?

Among many Mesoamerican people teosinte is associated with birds and it is possible that the plethora of bird gods is a collective memory of early peoples learning from birds to eat the teosinte kernels. Certainly teosinte would have been an important food substance at least until about 3000 BC when corn hybridization would have improved to the point where growing corn would have begun to replace gathering wild teosinte. Early peoples ground up teosinte and made it into a drink. It continues to be used by people in parts of Mexico and Guatemala as both a food product and to hybridize with corn to bring out certain qualities - such as resistance to disease.

One of the most surprising things about teosinte, is that nobody today calls it 'teosinte'. Anthropologists have not found any indigenous or Spanish speaking communities that call teosinte grass, 'teosinte'. Among the names used by the Chorti Mayas, for example, are ixim ka, wild corn. So where did the name come from? To help answer that, I have mapped the ten occurrences of the place name 'teosinte' or 'teocinte', 'teocintli'. [Click to enlarge]

Most of the occurrences of Teosinte are located in the Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador tri-border region. There is also one southeast of the area on this map in Nicaragua, Cerro Teosintal. Surprisingly, there are two place names of 'teosinte' many hundreds of miles away in Jalisco, just south of Puerto Vallarta. Many assume that the name teosinte comes from the nahua, teocintli. However, there is only one place with that name in Mexico. In addition, very few place names in the areas surrounding the eight Central American places are of nahua origin (pipil in the case of El Salvador).

This indicates that the name probably originated somewhere in the Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador region and that perhaps this was the first place that the very early indigenous, in the 12,000 to 7000 BC period, began gathering teosinte kernels. As such, teosinte must come from the proto Mesoamerican language that gave rise to the Mayan, Lencan, Chibchan, and other language groups. What is remarkable is that these place names still exist. That would mean that these places have been remembered for perhaps 10,000 years of continuous human settlement as sources of sustenance. So how did the name teosinte get to Puerto Vallarta? More on that another time.

I have been to the two Teosinte villages in central and eastern Chalatenango. In eastern Chalatenango, Teosinte is a village outside of Arcatao, in an area that was Lenca at the time of the Spanish occupation. There is a lot of wild grass growing in the hills above Arcatao, like La Cañada.

In central Chalatenango, Teosinte is a village northeast of Tejutla, in an area that was Chorti Maya in 1525 AD. It is a beautiful village. Teosinte, like Arcatao, is an organized community, part of CRIPDES, and a sister city to Arlington, Massachusetts. In 1991 I took a hike up into the hills above Teosinte and found wide expanses of wild grass. It may not have been 'teosinte' but for 10,000 years this has likely been a source of sustenance for the peoples of El Salvador. Considering its location so close to the Matamaras cave along the Sumpul River, this area should be investigated for signs of very early human activity, like the Corinto cave in eastern El Salvador.

Arcatao, Inspiration of the Maya, the Lenca, and the Bloque Popular

Arcatao, retroguardia of Lempira and the FMLN
inspiration of the Maya, the Lenca, and the Bloque Popular (social movement)

Anyone who has been to Arcatao knows that it is a magical place. It is a place alive with the spirits of those who have gone before. Every tree and rock seems to ooze wisdom, humor, strength, and a humble confidence. So many great leaders of the revolutionary movement have come from Arcatao - Violeta Menjívar, Facundo Guardado, and María Chichilco, to name only a few. Perhaps going back to the beginning will help to explain why.

In Arcatao there is a story about the creation of the town that a long time ago a priest came to people living on a nearby mountain, Iremón, and eventually convinced them to move down to the valley where Arcatao is now located, involving some theatrics of the mysterious moving of the statue of the town's patron saint.

There is likely to be truth to this story, but it might not have been Catholic priests, as is currently believed. The line of the Potón-Lenca royalty, based in Sesori, San Miguel, traces its lineage back to 900 A.D., when the Chorti Maya city of Copán was collapsing at the end of the Maya Classic period, due to overpopulation and resource depletion. The Chorti people, including leaders and scientists, moved in many directions, including a significant migration to western Chalatenango. One Chorti group went to Sesori and joined with the local Potón Lenca to reinvigorate the Lenca civilization.

The Lenca story says that the civilization was created by founding many towns, stretching from La Unión in the east to eastern Chalatenango. Three towns were created in Chalatenango - Potonico, Guancora (now renamed Comunidad Ignacio Ellacuría, and Arcatao. Who settled these towns? Generally, there may have been a few educated Chortis from Copán who moved to each town in order to provide direction and teach people more advanced agricultural techniques, astronomy, and the rhythm of Mayan life. However, most of the people would have been from the surrounding hills, including La Cañada, Gaulcimaca, and Iremón. The Lencas sent out organizers to live among people, learn from them, but also to help teach and guide them. The social movement of the masas (people of the corn) was already being created in 10th Century AD.

So, it may have been a Chorti or Lenca priest, not a Catholic priest, that helped to found the town 1,100 years ago. However, there is a vague clue that Arcatao may be even older than that. The Salvadoran archeologist and historian, Antonio R. Arocha, has a map in his book, El Salvador, La Antigua Patria Maya, of the Mayan temples and towns that were built in El Salvador, each representing a region and together being a federation of regions. One of the 12 sites on the map is Arcatao. Unfortunately there is no narrative or explanation.

A second source, the entry for Arcatao on Wikipedia in Spanish, says that there are Mayan ruins, including a temple, on top of the Iremón mountain, eight kilometers south of Arcatao. No source is listed for this information. I checked on google earth and I didn't see any temple on Iremón, so I’m not so sure. More importantly, the Mayans were not know to build religious sites on the tops of mountains.

Finally, a third source also points to this possibility. In colonial times the Spanish bishops kept detailed records. In the 17th century El Salvador was part of the Diocesis of Guatemala. The Bishop would make the rounds to various portions of the Diocesis and one year ventured to Suchitoto. From there the Bishop went 10 leagues to the northeast and there visited an old indigenous community where there were also the ruins of a Mayan religious site. Each league for the Spanish was 4.2 kilometers, approximated by how far one can walk in one hour. Arcatao is located approximately 36 kilometers (8.5 leagues) northeast of Suchitoto, but I would guess it would take more than 8 1/2 hours to make that hike, even with a mule.

If there are Mayan ruins in the Arcatao area, they would have to date from the Classic Maya period (400 to 800 AD) or earlier, since the Lencas in the post Classic period (after 900 AD) were not known to construct ceremonial religious sites. I believe that if there is a large Mayan site in Arcatao it is not located up on the mountain but underneath the town’s central plaza and Catholic church. Every time that I have trudged up the steep approach to the plaza I have been reminded of the steep pyramids at Copán and Chalchuapa.

For those who have travelled extensively in Latin America it is typical to hear stories of the Spanish building churches or cathedrals on top of the ancient ruins of holy indigenous sites. This was obviously to wipe out the old religion and replace it with the new, hoping that the veneration for the old religious site would stay associated with the place and the new religion. Could it be that the Bishop who visited the area of Arcatao in the 17th Century ordered that a church be built on top of the old Mayan ruins that may be located there? Perhaps the goats that roam the churchyard know the answer.

One time when I was visiting Arcatao, a Mayan merchant of clothing and cloth ventured into town and stayed for many days. I was struck by how this man arrived in the first place, but even more so by how at home this man was and how he seemed to know the town. It seemed as if it wasn’t by chance that Arcatao was on the trade route of this Mayan merchant. Maybe Arcatao is part of an ancient trade route been Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

One more history of Arcatao is worth telling. In the first century of Spanish occupation, the local viceroy kept meticulous records of the Spanish settlers in order to exact heaving tributes to go to the King of Spain. There is record that Arcatao was settled by Miguel Diaz. In 1548 he was growing cotton, cutaras (can someone translate?), and algarpatas (plant to make rope) there. There is an unclear reference that Arcatao may also have been called ‘Xuzclan’, a Mayan name. It could be that ‘Xuzclan’ is its Chorti Maya name, while ‘Arcatao’ is clearly a Lenca name.

The Spanish colonial records of the 1540s also state that Arcatao was in the area that recently been at war. This clearly refers to the efforts of the Spanish to subjugate the indigenous peoples. To call it a war means that the subjugation of Arcatao was not a simple, quick process. The Chorti Maya, based out of the area of Nueva Concepción, Tejutla, and Citalá were known to have fought against the Spanish from about 1527 to 1530, when they were defeated. However, the Lenca, led by a joint female-male command of Antu Silan Ulap and Lempira, also fought the Spanish in Honduras and El Salvador from 1528 to 1537. Because Arcatao was primarily a Lenca town and because of its proximity to many Lenca towns in Honduras, I think that the reference to war in Arcatao was part of the war that Lempira fought.

Some of the roots of the struggle for social justice that are so strong in Arcatao are linked back to Lempira and the struggle by the Lenca against the Spanish occupation – roots that Arcatao shares with the current struggle of the people of Honduras for social justice and true democracy against a coup government and those in the international community who support its farcical electoral process.

Today, Arcatao, as described in a community blog, is part of the rural organized communities of El Salvador, CRIPDES, perhaps similar to the Lenca federation that it was part of 1,000 years ago. It received support in the past from Copán and Sesori, today it is supported by the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project.