The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Bariloche: Part of the 12,000 BCE Monte Verde Culture

Bariloche, Argentina, is a charming city in the beautiful southern Andes, especially popular as winter sports destination. Bariloche is a very old destination, dating back about 14,000 years. Its roots are connected to Chile and the Pacific Ocean.

The First Peoples from Asia arrived along the coast of Chile in about 12,500 BCE and settled at a site now called Monte Verde. Based on a study of the place names around Monte Verde, as well as other early South American sites, I determined that the place names are in a proto-Ch’orti’ (Maya) language. The language that the First Peoples spoke in Asia before leaving for the Americas was proto-Ch’orti’. Later, one group of these proto-Ch’orti’ speakers arrived at present-day El Salvador and become trapped in the Gruta del Espíritu Santo before escaping and founding the Maya-Lenca nations.

Proto-Ch’orti’ was the language the First Peoples spoke when they visited and camped out at Bariloche. There is an obvious clue that this area was settled or visited by the same people who were at Monte Verde: the common presence of the word component “huapi”. The Monte Verde site is on the Chinchihuapi Creek and Bariloche is along Nahuel Huapi Lake. “Huapi”, spelled “wahpi” in the Wisdom Ch’orti’-English dictionary, means “continue” or “keep on” in Ch’orti’. [Click to enlarge map.]

I will examine Bariloche along with four place names around it: Nahuel Huapi Lake; Dina Huapi, a town along the lake several miles northeast of Bariloche; Con Con, a small place halfway between Bariloche and Dina Huapi; and Nirihau, a small place a few miles east of Bariloche. I’ll take a look at the meaning of each of these place names using Ch'orti' meanings.

Bariloche

Bar: weight, heaviness (also bares means “make heavy”)
Lochi: arc, bow, bend, flex, fold

Bariloche means something like “heavy fold” and probably refers to the mountain folds that form peninsulas and islands in Nahuel Huapi Lake.

Nahuel Huapi Lake

Na’: round bowl
   or naht – distant
Wehr – rip, tear (the ‘r’ and the ‘l’ were equivalent at that time)
   or wet – companion, neighbor
Wahpi – continue, keep on

The most likely meaning is “Continuous (long) rip in the bowl” which would be referring to the long tear that the lake seems to make in the mountains. An alternate meaning is “keep distant from companions” which would refer to the distance between companions at Monte Verde and the lake.

Dina Huapi

T’in – inner side of arch, concave bend
Wahpi – continue, keep on

This is not completely clear, but appears to be “continuous concave bend”, which could be a reference to the banks of the lake much of which are lined with high hills.

Con Con

Kohn – small stream

A double kohn would be a very small stream.

Nirihau (also spelled Nirihuau)

Niri – cure
Ha’ – water
Wa’ – being

The most likely meaning is “curing water”. Nirihau is located at the source of a stream that flows in to the lake. Thus, it would be referring to the quality of the water at the Nirihau spring. If, instead, the original place name is Nirihuau, then the meaning would be “being cured”, which is quite similar to former meaning.

There are more place names surrounding Bariloche to be explored but this small sample should make it clear that Bariloche was part of the Monte Verde cultural complex in the 12,500 to 10,500 BCE period. I know that many of the names in the area also might have significance in Mapudungun (Mapuche), but they may have adopted meanings to existing place names.

One branch of the Monte Verde culture might have remained in southern Chile and the Bariloche area of Argentina, but it is clear that the main settlement - the one that maintained the Ch'orti' language line, at least, moved in about 10,500 BCE. Next I’ll explore the various migrations of the Monte Verde First People, starting, surprisingly, with the far north of the continent.

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.

Journey to the Ch'orti' Center

Last week I traveled to the center of the current-day Ch'orti' Maya speaking world, Jocotán, Guatamala, on the road between Chiquimula and Copán, Honduras. I went on a quest which was primarily linguistic - in search of the meaning of the word teosinte or at least the phrase teo.

I believe I know the meaning of teo (island), but I went searching for confirmation. Eight of the 10 known place name uses of the word teosinte are located within 50 miles of the El Salvador - Honduras - Guatemala tri-border point - prime Ch'orti' area. And the only other place name uses of the phrase teo within that region are both on islands. 

First I went to Radio Ch'orti', one block from my room at the only hotel in town. The radio station quickly redirected me to the Académica de las Lenguas Mayas de Guatemala and the Comunidad Linguística Ch'orti'. After a little time there, I ended up speaking with José García. He let me know that neither teo nor teosinte exist in Ch'orti'. He encouraged me to learn Ch'orti' and I told him that someday I might be back to do that.

It is a little disappointing that I still have not confirmed the meaning of the very important word teosinte, the grass that is the predecessor to corn. But it is not surprising since it has not been used in hybridizing corn for hundreds, and more likely, thousands, of years by the Ch'orti'. In addition, the current Ch'orti' area is devoid of islands so it is not surprising that they may have lost the original word for island. The search will continue in Mexico, with the linguistic cousins of the Ch'orti': the Ch'ol, the Chontal, the Tzeltal, and the Tzotzil.

José also gave me a list of the 20 tzolkin day sign names in Ch'orti'. Apparently these are not necessarily the original classic-era Choltian names, but rather Ch'orti' translations of the current day sign names in either Quiche' or Yucatec. As such they are likely closer to the original names than the Quiche' or Yucatec names but still might be off. I will introduce them through this blog, but still mention what I think may have been the original day sign names.

Entering the Underworld Hell - a Look at the Cave Beginnings of Xibalba

It is not by accident that I reached the point in my series on El Salvador indigenous history and got stuck at 600 AD, with the description of Joya de Cerén, the Pompeii-like Mayan classical site which was frozen in time following a volcanic eruption which covered the farming village. The next topics to cover - the spectacular building of Cihuatán in the mid 8th century, its violent destruction about 100 years later, and then the arrival of the Pipiles from Mexico - did not make sense. The Pipiles, for example, told early Spanish chroniclers that they resettled in El Salvador as a form of retribution against all the Olmecas for causing them so much suffering. How does that fit? The Olmecs were from the Gulf of Mexico coast of Veracruz and Tabasco. And who would have attacked Cihuatán in such a fashion? The Pipiles did not have that military capacity.

That is why I have needed to take a big step back and look at the history of corn and the world of the cave dwellers. The history of corn has included an examination of the distribution of teosinte as a place name which was found to be centered in the Guatemala-Honduras-El Salvador triangle area (i.e. Chorti Maya area). Then by determining that teo means 'island' in Chorti' Maya, it was possible to see that teosinte, in fact, means 'plants in a row on an island'. The two islands of Lago Coatepeque ('serpent hill lake') and Lago Güija ('navel' or 'source' lake), both in western El Salvador, were used to continually hybridize corn with teosinte from a variety of local sites. Corn had undergone significant hybridization by 1500 BC, therefore these two islands are extremely early Mayan agricultural sites, i.e. pre-Pre-Classic.

And now the cave. The Popol Vuh offers a very detailed view of Xibalba, the underworld, the cave that the Mayans came out of. Dennis Tedlock, in his very good translation of the Popol Vuh into English, states that the first part of Xibalba means 'fright'. That's an important clue. Xibalba is an evil place, as described in the Popol Vuh, perhaps similar to Hades. Tedlock translates the leaders' names as One Death and Seven Death. Other leaders are called Demon of Pus, Blood Gatherer, Demon of Jaundice, Bone Scepter, Skull Scepter, and so on. You get the picture. And this is men describing Xibalba - you can only imagine what life was like for the women.

The Xibalbans did not just stay in the cave. The Popol Vuh discusses the road(s) to Xibalba as crossing various rivers, but especially mentions Pus River and Blood River, and says that they were traps put there by the Xibalbans. Given the leader names of Demon of Pus and Blood Gatherer, it is clear that the Xibalbans used rivers to ambush people and keep control of the roads, as is typical in "pre-civilized" societies. They controlled the countryside.

In Chorti' Maya, which is the oldest and purest Mayan language and the language of the inscriptions at Tikal and most Classic-era sites, xib is a plural male pronoun, as in 'those men of' or 'those men who'. It is pronounced similar to 'she' in English, with a 'b' at the end. But xib also correlates with the syllable xi. To show the impact of xi in the Mayan psyche or culture, it is helpful to see how it shows up in various words, with meanings in English:

• baxi        'pull out'
• haxi        'roll into a twist'
• ha'xi       'snare with a rope'
• hixi         'pull off with the fingers'
• huxi        'pluck'
• k'uxi       'gnaw on'
• muxi       'grind on the metate'
• see quxi  'lay an egg'

Following Tedlock's lead, in Chorti' the middle syllable is ba'k' which means 'fear' or 'fright'. The 'a' at the end could be ah, as in 'one who does'. But that is only used as a prefix in Chorti', not a suffix. The closest suffix sound is ha, which means 'water'. So Xi-ba'k'-ha means 'men who make water afraid' or more likely 'men who are afraid of water'. This is a derogatory name, something seen over and over again in the names of one's enemies in the Popol Vuh.

But more importantly, putting it together with the fact that some of the earliest Mayan settlements were built on islands, a very clear picture comes about. The earliest Mayans escaped from Xibalba, were pursued, and were only safe after entering water and swimming to safety to islands, because xibakha, the men were afraid of water. The islands were the only place that the Mayans were safe from the xibakha reign of terror. This is made even clearer by the Chorti' verb 'to swim', which is luhxih, giving a directional reference point, i.e. away from xih.

I write this as tears fall down my face. One can only understand the meaning of Xibalba if one understands El Mozote massacre, the Rio Sumpul massacre, the matanza of indigenous of 1932, the nearly 200,000 Guatemalan indigenous killed in the 1980s, the suffering caused by the US government in Central America, the repression of anti-coup leaders in Honduras, and the current murders against Salvadoran anti-mining activists. And then learn to swim.

I recently wrote about various caves in the Mesoamerica region, including La Gruta del Espíritu Santo cave in eastern El Salvador. The Popol Vuh also offers clues regarding the location of Xibalba. The Popol Vuh describes two early Mayan leaders being killed at Xibalba and buried nearby at 'Place of Ball Game Sacrifice'. The Popol Vuh was written in Quiche. Some of the words and syllables have changed from the original, which would have been Chorti' or very close to Chorti'. In Quiche, the 'Place of Ball Game Sacrifice' is Pusb'al cha'j. But let's look at it in Chorti'.

In Chorti', just as in English, there is a connection between the words used for hunted animals and a ball game. In Chorti' korom is hunted animals and kor is ball or pellet. Perhaps the subjects of the Xibalban lords were actually forced to "play" each other, as wild animals, to the death. This may have been both a form of entertainment and a means of population control. The naming of one of the rooms or houses in Xibalba as 'jaguar room' gives this connotation. This interpretation also would be consistent with the evolution of the later ball game fields at Mayan Pre-Classic and Classic sites.

In addition to kor, 'place' is irah, and 'sacrifice' is toy. So the full name would be kor-irah-toy. Two kilometers from La Gruta del Espíritu Santo cave is the town of Corinto. Further confirmation of this connection is the word for 'game place' in Chorti', koromtar.

This placement of Xibalba is consistent with the Popol Vuh. The early Mayans in the Popol Vuh always traveled east from their homes to Xibalba when summoned by the lords there. The Xibalba cave is in northeast El Salvador and one of the roads to Xibalba went from Isla Teopán and Isla Teotipa in west and northwest El Salvador. But the Popol Vuh makes it clear that there were four Mayan clans that escaped from Xibalba. And it turns out that they each went to a different island to escape the men afraid of water.

How Corn Was Hybridized by the Early Maya in Central America

Biologists have been studying the development of corn in Mexico and Central America and have recently discovered that corn was originally hybridized from the Balsas teosinte that is found at mid-range elevations - 500 to 1,5000 meters - in western Mexico, mainly from western Guerrero north to Jalisco. In addition, the earliest traces of corn were dated back to 6700 BC in this area. [Click to enlarge map.]

By tracing the origin of the word teosinte, the precursor of corn, to the Chorti Maya area of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, by mapping all occurrences of it as a place name, and by determining that teo means 'island' in Chorti and teosinte means 'plants in rows on an island', I have been able to isolate two islands in the Chorti area that appear to be very early biological stations in a deliberate effort to perfect corn. These islands are Teopán (meaning 'Sprouting Island') in Lago Coatepeque, in western El Salvador, and Teotipa (meaning 'Food Island') in Lago Güija, which straddles the El Salvador-Guatemala border. Both lakes are within 20 kilometers of Chalchuapa, one of earliest known Mayan sites. Güija would be wihha in Chorti, meaning 'source of stream': a stream drains out of the lake joining the Lempa River.

I am guessing that the dates of the hybridization with teosinte were taking place between 4000 BC and 2000 BC. The start date could be earlier or later. The end date corresponds pretty closely with the date when biologists have determined that corn was approaching a level where it could support higher population densities.

It is no surprise that some of the earliest Mayan villages would be on islands. An island would isolate the experimental fields from most pests and many animals that could harm them. Islands also would have afforded early peoples a measure of safety from predators or enemies.

In addition, both La Venta and Teotihuacán, early civilization sites in Mexico, were built on islands, so there was a tendency for early Mesoamerican people to build on islands. Furthermore, in the case of Teotihuacán it is clear that the Maya were somehow involved in founding the city, given the prefix 'Teo', identifying it as an island. There is no other instance of a place name in Mexico starting with 'Teo' referring to an island. The Aztec god 'Teotl' and all other 'Teo' place names in Mexico were created in reverence for Teotihuacán.

From the two islands, the early Mayans or pre-Mayans identified various sources of teosinte in the area and named the places 'Teosinte' so that they and future generations would remember their location. While the teosinte grass in this area could not be converted into corn, it was, and still is, extremely useful to hybridize with corn plants. Persistent hybridization with teosinte grass was done to continue selecting desired traits, to make different varieties of corn, including popcorn, and to make the corn more disease resistant.

There still is a need to discuss how the two outlier place names of 'Teosinte' ended up in far western Jalisco (see the map), but to do that I will need to discuss the 260-day tzol'kin calendar more, as well as the Mayan sacred text, the Popol Vuh. And I will also take a closer look at both Lago Coatepeque (Lake Serpent Hill) and Lago Güija. Is it possible that western El Salvador was the founding place of all Mesoamerican civilizations, just as the Salvadoran historian Antonio Arocha suggested in El Salvador, La Antigua Patria Maya?

[Post Script: I now believe that the hybridization process may have begun as early as 8300 BC. Feb. 25, 2010]

Joya de Ceren, the Pompeii 'Jewel' of Mesoamerica

The Joya de Cerén, or jewel of Ceren, is an archeological site of an extensive Mayan farming community in west-central El Salvador buried under volcanic ash in about 590 AD. It is nearly perfectly intact and presents the best example of everyday life during the Mayan classic period of any site in Mesoamerica, hence the moniker, the 'Pompeii of Mesoamerica'. It is also significant in that it provides a fossilized record of manioc which had just been planted.

There are already some great websites on Cerén, so I'm not going to repeat all the information here. The University of Colorado - Boulder has a website dedicated to Cerén, on which one can take a virtual tour. Dr. Payton Sheets, a Professor at the university, encountered Cerén in 1976. UNESCO declared Cerén a world heritage site in 1993 and also has some information on its website on it. Travel Radio International did a video visit of Cerén. Finally, you can read reviews of the site on the Trip Adviser website.

The Joya de Cerén area was first developed into a farming community by at least 900 BC. The San Andrés ceremonial center was founded about 1000 BC, about five kilometers west. San Andrés itself was a satellite of the important early pre-Classic site of Chalchuapa. Between 600 AD and 900 AD San Andrés may have had a population of 10,000 people.

Ironically, Joya de Cerén was covered by volcanic debris - ash - twice in the 1,600 years prior to the final covering of lava in about 590 AD, including the Ilopango eruption in about 210 AD which caused the Chorti Mayan elites to emigrate north to Belize and the Peten. Later, in about 400 AD, some of the Chorti elites returned to the Cerén area.

Some of the old Chorti place names of this area have remained through the Pipil and Spanish times, such as Tehuicho and Masajapa. And then there is Yulpico, which means a type of gourd. The Pipiles changed it to Opico and then the Spanish added a saint's name, making it San Juan Opico, in case there was any doubt who thought they controlled the territory.

Most interesting are a number of place names with the word serpent (chan) in them. Chan is the totem spirit of the Chortis and the place names seem to indicate that this area was very special to the Chortis. Five kilometers southeast of Joya de Cerén is Laguna Chanmico. About five kilometers north is the village of Chantusnene. Tutz means 'extended' and neh means 'tail', so this village name means 'extended tail serpent'. Finally, about 15 kilometers west of Cerén is Lago Coatepeque, on the way to Chalchuapa. It is a beautiful volcanic crater lake which is 10,000 to 100,000 years old. Coatepeque means 'hill of serpents' and was an important site to the Mayans - more on that later.

Return of the Mayans, the Repopulation of El Salvador in 400 AD

Soon I hope to discuss the Joya de Cerén, one of the most important archeological sites in El Salvador and sometimes referred to as the 'Pompeii of Mesoamerica'. But to set the stage, first it is necessary to talk about the repopulation of western and central El Salvador in about 400 AD. Remember that this region was depopulated after the Ilopango volcanic eruption of about 210 AD, which caused the decline of the entire Pacific coast region and the subsequent rise of cultures to the north, such as Petén, in part due to the immigration of Chorti Maya elites from western El Salvador following the eruption.

With the power vacuum in the southern Maya area following the Chorti movement north, the Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu, near present-day Guatemala City, became the predominant power. Perhaps this role of Kaminaljuyu/Guatemala City remained in the collective memory of Central Americans when Guatemala City was chosen as the capital of the Federal Republic of Central America in the first years of this short-lived republic following independence from Spain in 1821.

By 400 AD, the thick Ilopango ash in western El Salvador was transformed back into soil and the area could be re-inhabited. Pocomam Mayas moved into the extreme western part of the country around Itiquizaya, most likely from western Guatemala. In addition, many Chorti Maya moved back, probably from Copán, but possibly from the Petén.

Copán itself received an influx of elites from the Petén between 300 and 400 AD, its start date as a ceremonial center. Perhaps Copán was chosen as a halfway point between the Petén and the old Pacific Coast centers, like Chalchuapa. Or Copán may have given the Tikal Chorti access to the jade along the Motagua River Valley and allowed them to challenge the supremacy of Kaminaljuyu in the south. Soon Copán would be a regional power on its own.

The Chortis resettled San Andres, Chalchuapa, Santa Leticia, Cara Sucia, and surrounding areas, as well as the present-day area of San Salvador. It is likely that during the time period that Chalchuapa was a bilingual Pocoman-Chorti city. By 400 AD, there was likely significant divergence between these two Mayan languages. It is also likely that some local Chorti elites settled in Matamaras in northern Chalatenango and the Lago Güija in northwestern Santa Ana at this time. Both Chalchuapa and Lago Güija would have given the Chortis access to the obsidian at nearby Ixtepeque, to the northwest.

While Tehuacán along the eastern slope of Chichontepeque volcano in San Vicente may have been a Chorti Maya site prior to 210 AD, or, more likely, a bilingual Chorti-Lenca ceremonial and trade center, it is likely that the Chorti elites left with the other Chortis to the north post-Ilopango. In the early classic period of 210 to 600 AD, Tehuacán was clearly a Lenca site and related most closely to Quelepa to the east, with similar jaguar rock sculptures as Quelepa.

E. Wyllys Andrews, one of the first archeologists to study the Quelepa site, noted that there was no evidence of contact between Quelepa and western El Salvador between 200 and 600 AD. On the other hand, prior to the departure of the Chortis in 210 AD, there had been significant trade and cultural contact between the Chortis in western El Salvador and the Potón Lenca in eastern El Salvador. In the interceding 190 years, the knowledge of each other's languages must have disappeared, as well as Chorti memory of Quelepa as a source of obsidian. Ironically, Andrews found that the Lenca continued to trade with the Olmec/ Totonac people of the Veracruz Coast. There is little evidence of the Lenca having contact with peoples on the overland route to Veracruz so it seems that they traveled by ocean canoes or rafts north and then crossed the Tehuantepec isthmus to Veracruz.

The history of the Salvadoran region would take another major twist in 590 AD, when for the second time in 400 years, a volcano would erupt and interrupt the development of civilization in the region. The history of immigration and disaster recovery would continue for Salvadorans.

Salvadorans, an Immigrant People since 200 AD

Many commentaries and histories of El Salvador refer to its indigenous “pre-Hispanic” past in a static way, as if the indigenous peoples and their geographic distribution at the time of the arrival of the Spanish was the way it always was. In this typical history, the western part of El Salvador is presented as though it were always occupied by the Pipiles. For example, Elsa Ramos provides a very thoughtful historical overview of El Salvador’s indigenous people during the colonial time period, but presents a more static view of the pre-Hispanic history.

During the classic and post-classic Mayan civilization periods – 200 AD to 1100 AD – nothing could be further from the truth. There were numerous immigrations into and emigrations out of El Salvador. The most important was the arrival of the Pipiles, a nahuatl-speaking people from central Mexico, toward the end of the period mentioned earlier. But there were also immigrations of Chorti Maya, Pokomam Maya, Quiche Maya, and Lenca that I will be discussing along the way. Many of these groups intersected at the multi-ethnic city of Cihuatan, just north of present-day Aguilares, by far the most important site in El Salvador during the Classic period.

The reasons for all the movement have to do with specific events both within El Salvador as well as throughout Mesoamerica, including central Mexico. However, the underlying cause relates to the fact that El Salvador is one of the richest parts of Mesoamerica, able to support a very dense population. As one of the birthplaces of the Mayas, El Salvador also held a lot of spiritual and cultural importance for all Mesoamerican peoples. But it is also a land of frequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods. This caused many emigrations. Earlier I discussed how the newly formed Lenca federation of villages, formed in about 900 AD, avoided the earthquake- and eruption-prone volcanic valleys of San Miguel and Usulutan, and instead populated both the coastal areas and hills along the northern tier of central and eastern El Salvador.

A major emigration from El Salvador occurred in about 210 AD following the massive eruption of Ilopango volcano, one of the largest eruptions the world has seen in the last 2,000 years. In fact, this ended the preeminence of the Pacific coast as the Mayan cultural center, based in Chalchuapa, and coincides with the rise of the Classic period Maya in Copan, Tikal, and other sites in Guatemala and Mexico. For example, the very first monument at Tikal was built in about 200 AD.

It was the Chorti Maya who lived in western and central El Salvador at this time. Chalchuapa, Santa Leticia, and San Andres were in the debris path of Ilopango’s ash and were totally depopulated for nearly 200 years, according to the archeological record. The Chorti elite dispersed north and west into the classical Mayan areas, especially to western Belize and the eastern Peten. Some Chortis of a more common status likely followed to Copan and the Peten, but many migrated locally into the safer hills of Chalatenango, which helps explain the smaller ceremonial site of Matamaras along the Sumpul River. It appears that Xinca communities (non-Mayan) in far western El Salvador were also depopulated at this time.

The Lencan sites of higher civilization at Quelepa and Tehuacan were not covered in ash and remained during this period. The Lenca continued to trade extensively with the Cacaopera people as well as Matagalpas in Nicaragua. By extension, the Lencas were connected with indigenous of Costa Rica, Panama, and South America. But the close link between the Lenca and Chorti in El Salvador was broken, cutting the trade of the Mayas with areas to the south to a trickle. The Lencas also continued to trade with central Mexico during this period as well as with other Lencas near Lago Yojoa in northern Honduras.

By about 400 AD, the thick Ilopango ash was finally transformed into tillable soil. Mayans from Guatemala and Honduras began to drift back in – the next series of numerous immigrations in El Salvador’s history. We will see that Salvadorans have always been a people who have adapted well to immigration, but not until now have they ever been considered 'illegal'.

Transforming the Gods

The beginnings of the Mayan religion were tumultuous. As the Chortis, the Mayans along the Pacific Coast, became more adept at agriculture - hybridizing corn, beans, and squash, and introducing yuca (manioc), peanuts, and cacao from areas to the south - adoration was given to Mother Earth, ix, who provided all good things. The Chortis named corn, ixim, which means something similar to 'fruit of Mother Earth'. Corn came from teosinte, ixim ka, 'wild fruit of Mother Earth'. 

But as people ate more corn, a disease appeared (pellegra - a niacin deficiency) and destroyed entire villages. Leaders became lesioned, weak, demented, and died. After many deaths, much sacrifice, the gods seemed to reveal a solution to help the Mayans overcome the awful disease - soaking corn in ash. A new creation narrative was developed to explain how this happened, gods were transformed, and new language was created.

While still female, Ix was transformed from mother earth to jaguar god, the spotted (lesioned) god that came from the underworld, the land of death. This was done through creating the legend of Ixbalanque - the spotted (lesioned) jaguar hero twin. Balan means jaguar - clearly the linking of ix and balan in this hero twin was a way of transforming this god from the generous and beneficent Mother Earth to the clever and death-dealing jaguar. Likewise, it is likely that at this time Ixbalba, also written Xibalba, came to mean 'the underworld'. The new theology and philosophy was carried with the Mayans to help convince neighboring peoples to trust their new discovery of the cure for the diseased corn. And it clearly worked, as civilization spread at a tremendous pace from 1500 to 1300 BC.

Everyday language was transformed as well. A new word was created for corn, nar, to differentiate it from the diseased corn, ixim, the corn of the jaguar god. The term nixtamal, the process of soaking corn in ash or lime, was created and means "to cure the corn of the disease ix." Ix refers to pellegra, the disease of spots, the disease of the lesioned jaguar god of death. Nir means 'to cure' in Chorti and nian means 'none' or 'not any'.

Orioles and Suchitoto

One of the last places where the indigenous of El Salvador resisted the Spanish occupiers was in Suchitoto, a large municipality northeast of San Salvador along the banks of the Lempa River. According to the town's wikipedia entry, the Potón Lenca were finally suppressed there in 1537 at the summit of Zinacatlán hill. I can not locate this hill on any map, so any help from readers in locating it would be appreciated.

1537 was also the year that Lempira was defeated in Honduras. Is it possible that the Lencas fighting in southern Honduras were coordinating with the Lencas fighting in the hills around Arcatao and Suchitoto? We know the name of Lempira but we do not know the name or names of the Lenca heroes who fell resisting the Spanish in Suchitoto. There is no monument to their leader.

The Spanish considered Suchitoto to be one of the most important places in the country, locating their first capital in La Bermuda about ten kilometers south of Suchitoto. They wanted their capital to be close to one of the major indigenous trade centers but also knew as occupiers that they could not be too close. Their first attempt in 1525 was short-lived. They faced so much resistance from the local Lenca that they retreated to Guatemala the next year. They returned in 1528 and the capital remained there for 17 years, growing into a small city with a significant indigenous population, as modern excavations have found. The site was abandoned because of a lack of fresh water and the capital was moved to the present location of San Salvador. When I visited the site in 1992 it was clear that it's main attribute was a defensive location. Fortunately for Salvadorans, the 16th Century Spanish recognized its limit.

When the Spanish began their occupation it was likely that Suchitoto was a multi-cultural city, much like its nearby predecessor from the 9th century, Cihuatán. The name Suchitoto is likely Pipil, the dominant group in western El Salvador from the 11th to the 16th century: it seems to be a nahuat name for a yellow bird, also called costototl or oriole. Both the Baltimore and Bullock's orioles migrate to Central America during the winter. But many of the nearby place names are Lenca, including Guazapa, Copapayo, Cinquera, and Aguacayo, while others are Chorti Maya, including Pepeishtenango, Ichanqueso, and Milingo. 

Just as La Bermuda was a symbol of both raw power and resistance in the 16th century, it repeated that role in the 20th century. It was at the Hacienda La Bermuda that human rights leader Marienela García Vilas was killed on March 14, 1983, investigating the use of white phosphorous against civilian populations by the Salvadoran armed forces in the country's conflict. She is one of the heroines of the 20th century for progressive Latin Americans.

Now, Suchitoto is the seat of Progreso, one of the five regional organizations of CRIPDES. In the spirit of the Lenca warriors who were the last to fight the Spanish in 1537, a major protest against the privatization of water took place on July 2, 2007, in Suchitoto. There was major repression against the march and even before it began, 14 people were detained, mistreated, and charged with terrorism, in a new law forced in as part of the global wave of the so-called 'war on terrorism'. Eventually they were released. The spirit of the people and the seasonal migrations of the orioles continue forward.

[PostScript note: 'Suchitoto' does not mean oriole. More to come on the real meaning. Jan. 25, 2010]