Abstract

In order to remove some unknowns about the protochibcha geographical location and spatial and temporal spreading of the protochibcha offspring languages, linguistic, ethnological, archeological, Indian trade and nautical facts have been studied. It has allowed the formulation of a hypothesis about the existence of a maritime communication between the present southeast of Costa Rica/ west of Panamá and northeast of Colombia during the Little Ice Age/ Warm Medieval Period, partially supporting the Chibcha B emigration very likely induced by a violent explosion of Turrialba volcano, located in the middle part of Costa Rica.

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Chibcha languages spoken in the Intermediate Region, extending from the Honduras territory to Ecuador or maybe Pero (1), compared to their neighbors ( Meso-American and Inca cultures) have been scarcely studied. However, some research has been conducted on the subject. E. Weisshar (2) proposes a promising analysis about the grammar and vocabulary of Central and South America Chibcha languages, with the purpose of having a better understanding of the historical development of the human groups that used to - or use to - speak these languages. Among the most relevant issues we find the protochibcha geographical location and the spatial and temporal spreading of the protochibcha offspring languages. In order to remove some of these unknowns, linguistic, ethnological, archeological, Indian trade and nautical facts have been studied.

The Constenla Hypothesis. In 1990, as a result of nine years of research on the subject, this author concludes that "... the present territories of Costa Rica and Panamá appear as the best choice to be considered as originally occupied by protochibcha inhabitants. In particular, southeast of Costa Rica and west of Panamá we find representatives of Chibcha A and Chibcha B, while northwest and east of these territories there is just a Chibcha B representation" (3),(4).

Archeological Evidence. Different authors (5) discuss the possible relation between the Tairona culture of Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta (Colombia) and the Guayabo of Turrialba (east of Costa Rica) one. The architectonic characteristics show a connection with the mesoamerican cultures for what the use of light wooden beams are concerned, and one with the Tairona culture for what the cobble-paved causeways, the circular stone house foundations and the aqueducts are concerned (6).

Ethnological Evidence. The Kogi or Kagaba, descendants from Tairona Culture (7), still located at Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, say "they are not original from Sierra Nevada. They arrived long time ago from a country located 'at the other side of the sea'. Such a country was called Mulkuama or Mulkama. In this country the Sun does not cross the sky too high, it rather approaches the horizon. It happened that Mulkuama was on fire and many inhabitants had to escape. The land was burning and those who attempted to run away had to go across rivers of fire. Kogi ancestors ran away towards the edge of the sea and there they boarded nine canoes. After a long trip they reached the Palomino River mouth, between the present Santa Marta and Riohacha. The chief commanding this migration was called Kukulyéxa; he was "Lord Jaguar" , son of 'Kaxsáta', the present Lord of the Earthquakes. They first founded Kukulméizi ( the present Hukuméizi) and populated the Palomino River valley. Thereafter they spread towards the present San Miguel River valley and founded Takina. According to these traditions they brought from their former country some objects made of gold, cocaine and knowledge about the art of textiles. The chief Kukulyéxa was able to write.

Besides this, the informers added the following commentaries: According to them, kuku or kukul means old stone and refers to the tribal ancestors who turned into stones or stone statues (hárldeka), thus becoming immortals. The migration, they say, took place 52 generations back. Personally I just want to point out that I believe it is possible that during that period - 900 years back - a central American group, chibcha spoken,with a culture highly influenced by th Mayas, has migrated after they realized their land was menaced by a volcanic eruption. It has to be remarked that the tremendous importance Kaxsáta, Lord of the Earthquakes, has for the Kogi, keeps no proportion with the low frequency of earthquakes in Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. On the other hand, it is well known that Kukulkán is the Maya name for Quetzalcoátl." (8),(9).

On the other hand the Bribris say "they are original from Talamanca" (10).

Our Hyphothesis.The Caribbean Little Ice Age (LIA) - or eventually the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) - surface currents patterns favored the Chibcha B emigration from southeast of Costa Rica / west of Panamá to Santa Marta area (Colombia).

The Great Caribbean surface currents during LIA and MWP.

Figures 1 and 2 reflect the present Great Caribbean bi-seasonal circulation patterns. In this case, for what the Colombian basin and the transect Nicaragua-Colombia current patterns are concerned, we see how the navigation is favored on this direction during most of the year ( just on December the cyclonic gyre shrinks and the eastward coastal current turns back before reaching Colombia). In fact, during some periods (see fig.2) the coastal current approaches the continent almost reaching the Colombian Santa Marta coast. Then, according to note 2 and the ethnological evidence, the question is how similar or different to the present were the past Great Caribbean circulation patterns. If our hypothesis - supported by note 2 - is taken into account, we have to say that during the LIA (with a maximum temperature change of about 1°C) tidal currents are dominant (11). In addition, considering the tidal constants of 45 regional locations (12) and the east coast of America NOAA/NOS tide tables (13), we have estimated the Caribbean tidal circulation patterns. The result resembles figure 1. On the contrary, if we were to accept an emigration during the MWP ( with extremes relative sea level 40 cm lower and air temperature 0.25° C higher), then the surface motions are slightly more energetic and the bi-seasonality somehow more differentiated; however the mean general motion is very similar to the one shown in figures 1 and 2 (11).

Caribbean sea commerce during the LIA.Yucatán Maya objects (ornaments of jade and metal) made in Panamá and Colombia show there was a wide regional trade. The Mayas also imported semi-finished objects, like golden sheets from Veraguas (Panamá) (13).

Indian navigation during the LIA. Since Columbus« fourth journey there has been found evidence of the Indian navigation during the LIA. In fact, from R. Iglesia (14) it is known that "... Columbus arrived to Guanaja, one of the islands in the Bay, on the North coast of Honduras, few days later he found an Indian canoe big as a galley, 8 feet wide; it was loaded with merchandise from west, probably Yucatán (15), just 30 leagues from there or few more; right on the middle there was a hut made of palm's mat, known as sleeping mat in New Spain; inside of it there were women, children, holdings and merchandise, with no chance for the water from the sky or sea to wet them..." (16).

Final Remarks. Even though the nautical evidence is just a partial (not exhaustive) support for our hypothesis, it certainly sustains the possible occurrence of such emigration.

A terrestrial emigration is not sustainable because the well known "Darien Stopper". In addition, it is also well known that "the rise of Guayabo was also due to its strategic location as a transition point between the Atlantic lowlands and the high central plateau". (5). This fact certainly facilitates the escape from Mulkuama.

The 2000 year date for a large eruption of Turrialba volcano, supporting the ethnological evidence, is based on radiocarbon dating. This eruption generated a large air-fall deposit and pyroclastic flows that inundated the summit region of Turrialba and areas to the east. A small branch in the air-fall deposit from the summit of Turrialba have a radiocarbon age of 1,980 ± 45, which corrects to a real age of 1,935 BP + 100 -80. (17).

It would be very helpful a more precise determination of the Chibcha language spreading period leading to a more reliable determination of the emigration date.

References and notes

1. J.A. Mason, Handbook of South American Indians .Ed. by Steward. Vol. 6, 167-317. Washington.

2. E. Weisshar, 1987. Die Chibchan-Sprache: Geographische Ausbreitung. Estudios de Linguística Chibcha. Serie A. Tomo VI. Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, San Joséâ de Costa Rica.

3. A. Constenla, 1981. Comparative Chibchan Phonology. Ph.D.Thesis. University of Pennsylvania.A. Constenla U. (1990): Filología y linguística. XVI(2):111-123. Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, San José de Costa Rica.

4. The migration discussed on this work concerns the Chibcha B "arhuacic" group that finally settled down on the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, spreading point of this language (3).

5. C.H. Aguilar (1972): Guayabo de Turrialba; arqueología de un sitio indígena prehispánico. San José, Editorial Costa Rica.192p.C.H. Aguilar (1974): Un monolito zoomorfo en el Parque Arqueológico de Guayabo de Turrialba. Instituto Geográfico Nacional. Informe semestral julio-diciembre, p.23-29. O. Fonseca (1979): Informe de la primera temporada de reexcavación de Guayabo de Turrialba. Vínculos 5(1-2):35-52. O. Fonseca (1981): Guayabo de Turrialba and its significance. In precolumbian art of Costa Rica. New York, Harry N. Abrams, p.104-111.

6. J. Alcina-Franch (1965): Manual de Arqueología Americana. Editorial Aguilar S. A.

7. A. Oyuela-Caycedo (1986): De los Tairona a los Kogi. Una interpretación del cambio cultural. Boletin Museo del Oro 17, agosto-diciembre, 32-43. Banco de la Repoblica. Departamento Editorial.

8. G. Reichel-Dolmatoff (1975): Templos Kogi. Introducción al Simbolismo y a la Astronomía del Espacio Sagrado. Revista Colombiana de Antropología 19: 199-245.

9. G. Reichel-Dolmatoff assumes an emigration 900 years ago; however, we think this emigration might have taken place just before the Conquest, because right before this period - at the beggining of XVI Century - the Guayabo area was inhabited by "indians called 'pococes' who died out and died". ( C. Aguilar, 1972).

10. M. E. Bozzoli (1979): "El Nacimiento y la muerte entre los bribris". Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica.

11. A. Gallegos (1995): Personal communication based on the "Scenario Modelling of Climate Change on the Ocean Circulation of the Intra-Americas Sea" article by A. Gallegos et al.(included in "Climatic Change in the Intra-Americas Sea", ed. by G. Maul. UNEP,1993.)

12. B. Kjerfve (1981): Tides of the Caribbean Sea. Journal of Geophys. Res. Vol. 86. N° C5, pages 4243-4247.

13. NOAA (1991): Tide Tables 1991. High and low water predicitions. East Coast of North and South America. U.S. Department of Commerce. NOAA/NOS.

14. W. Haberland (1974): Culturas de la América Indígena;Mesoamérica y América Central. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, D.F.

15. R. Iglesia (1947): Vida del almirante don Cristobal Colón, escrita por su hijo Hernando Colón. México.

16. Complementary archaeological data to this historical evidence may be found on: Romero Rivera, M.E., 1991. Aspectos de la Navegación Maya. La costa de Quintana Roo. Arqueología 5, Enero-Junio and Sabloff, J.A. and W.L.Rathje, 1975: The Rise of a Maya Merchant Class. Scientific American, 233, 4 72:82.

17. M. Reagan (1995) Personal communication.

Figures Capture

Figure 1: The present caribbean probable drift circulation regime during January. Values in knots ( Based on USA Defense Mapping Agency 1984 data).

Figure 2: The present Caribbean probable drift circulation regime during November. Values in knots ( Based on USA Defense Mapping Agency 1984 data).

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