Archaeology

Participating in an archaeology project that forms part of the larger tourism project on which I’ve been working here in Perquín, I learned to spell the word correctly.

The tourism project aims to increase awareness of the culture and history of the Lenca—the preColumbian ancestors of the current inhabitants of Perquín and Morazán—and to make Lenca history and culture a part of the tourism offerings in Perquín.

I’ve gotten to go for long grueling walks with Marcelo, an archaeologist from the Ministry of Culture in San Salvador, and with locals who are familiar with sites where vestiges of a preColumbian civilization might be present. The prehispanic civilization that would have left evidence of its existence in this area would be the Lenca culture. The Lenca arrived in the area about 4000 years ago from South America and settled eastern El Savador, western Nicaragua and southeastern Honduras.

The Lenca left behind a signficant number of cave paintings. The best example from our region would be the cave known as La Cueva del Espíritu Santo (Ti Ketau Antawinkil in Lenca-Taulepa), located in Corinto, about an hour from Perquín.

We’ve found pieces of ceramic and obsidian in caves and on trails here in Perquín. Obsidian is a mineral form of lava. There are many volcanos in El Salvador but none large enough to produce what the Lenca might have called “weapons-grade obsidian.” That means that the obsidian we’ve found must have arrived via a trade route from what is now Guatemala and Honduras. The Spanish had no need for obsidian since they brought steel and iron with them. So by deduction we know that there must’ve been a preColumbian presence in Perquín. PreColumbian cultures were the only cultures that made use of obsidian in the production of arrowheads and spear points.

The figure below represents Balám Colóp, a Lenca prince who, according to legend, brought language to the culture. It’s said that the Lenca goddess Ish-Manahual called together all the princes of the regions controlled by the Lenca. She placed upon the tongue of each prince a leaf from a sacred tree called “Tanawapate” and commanded the princes to return to their villages. All but one spat out the leaves after leaving Ish-Manahual’s presence but one kept the leaf upon his tongue as she’d instructed. That prince was Balám Colóp. When he reached his village he found that he’d acquired the ability to speak a language.

Balám Colóp then instructed all other princes from all other Lenca villages to seek out the tree called Tanawapate and to bring back a leaf to their villages. That’s how the Lenca languages were born. The painting represents Balám Colóp and the staff or stick in his hand the Tanawapate tree.