Nicaraguais a very rich field for research to the student of American Archæology, and so I found it during my two years stay in Central America. I had there the good fortune several times to meet with localities more or less rich in remains from the prehistoric or rather pre-spanish period. Not very much being known about Central American antiquities, and the literature on this subject being very poor, especially with regard to the Nicaraguan ones, I purpose here to describe briefly and to figure the more important statues, rock-carvings, ceramic objects etc., found by me in Nicaragua and partly delineated or photographed on the spot, partly brought home to Sweden. Unfortunately I wanted the means of carrying home any of the statues; but my Nicaraguan collections contain a number of more easily transportable relics, mostly examples of pottery. These are now deposited in the ethnographic collection of the R. Swedish State Museum. The accompanying plates are all executed after my original sketches or photographs taken on the spot. Most of the statues have never before been figured or described; some of them are mentioned and figured byE. G. Squier[1]in his splendid work on Nicaragua. As it turned out, however, oncomparisons being made by me on the spot, that some of Squier’s figures do not quite agree with the originals, I have thought fit to publish also my own drawings of these previously figured statues, 6 in number.
Although this sketch is certainly not the place for an account of the history of Central America or Nicaragua, yet I may be permitted to give a brief statement of those few and disconnected notices that we possess with regard to the nations inhabiting Nicaragua at that period, when the antiquities here spoken of were probably executed. The sources of our knowledge of these people and their culture are, besides the above quoted work ofSquier, the old Spanish chroniclers,Oviedo,Torquemada,Herrera, andGuarros, the memoirs ofLas CasasandPeter Martyr, the relation ofThomas Gage, and scattered notices in the works ofGomara,Ixtlilxochitl,Dampiera. o.
At the time of the Spanish invasion under the command ofDon Gil Gonzales de Avilain the years 1521 and 1522, the region now occupied by the republic of Nicaragua and the north-eastern part of the republic of Costa Rica, was inhabited by Indian nations of four different stocks, which very probably may be considered as being of different origin and having immigrated into the country at widely separated periods.
The Atlantic coast with its luxuriant vegetation but damp climate and the adjacent mountainous country with its vast primeval forests were the home of more or lessnomadic tribes, remaining at a low stage of civilization. It may be inferred, however, from certain indications in the account of the third voyage of Columbus, and from the scanty notices of several of the so-called buccaneers or filibusters, that those Indians were more advanced in culture and manner of life than the hordes, that may be regarded as theirdescendants at the present day: theMoscos, theRamas, theSimoosorSmoosa. o.[2]
Between this strip of country on the eastern shore and the two great lakes,Xolotlan(Managua) andCocibolca(the lake of Nicaragua), the intermediate highland, which shelves gradually towards the lakes, was inhabited by losChontales, as they are denominated byOviedo. The name is still preserved in «Departemento deChontales». They lived in large villages and towns and were agriculturists. Possibly they were of the same stock as, or closely related to, the largeMaya-family which extended over the eastern parts of Honduras and Guatemala and furnished the population of Yucatan. This guess acquires a certain probability by the fact of several words in their language being similar to the corresponding ones in some Maya-dialects. ThePoas,Toacas,Lacandones, andGuatusosmay possibly be their descendants. These also are living at a decidedly lower stage of civilization than their supposed ancestors.
If the eastern part of Nicaragua, on account of its almost impenetrable forests and damp climate, is less fit to be the dwelling-place of a highly cultivated people, the western portion, on the contrary, is muchmore happily endowed in this respect and seems to be marked out by nature itself to become one of the centres of mankind’s civilization. By its smiling valleys, fertile plains, and thinner, but shadowy forests, by its splendid lakes, gently flowing rivers, and verdant mountains the country appears well able to tempt even the most exacting people to settle in it. Indeed the country, on the arrival of the Spaniards, was found to be very densely populated, and divided amongst a great number of small sovereignities, which could however be referred to two separate stocks, differing in language and character. One of these, the third one of those stocks from which has sprung the population of Nicaragua, was losChoroteganosorMangues. They occupied the territory between the two large lakes and all the fertile level country west and north of Lake Managua down to the Pacific and Bahia de Fonseca.Oviedoasserts that they were the aborigines and ancient masters of the country, without being able however to state any proofs in support of his opinion. Of losChoroteganosfour groups are usually distinguished: 1:0) LosCholutecason the shores of Bahia de Fonseca; their principal town was the presentCholuteca. 2:0) LosNagrandanosbetween Lake Managua and the Pacific; their capital wasSubtiaba, near the present Leon. 3:0) LosDirianosbetween the lakes Managua and Nicaragua and down to the coast of the Pacific. Their largest town wasSaltebanear the present Granada and 4:0) LosOrotinasfar separated from their relations, inhabiting the peninsula of Nicoya and the territory of Guanacaste, which comprises the north-eastern part of the republic of Costa Rica. Opinions vary, however, with regard to these groups, several authors being inclined to regard losCholutecasas a detached branch of los Pipiles in El Salvador; they would then be of Toltecan origin. Certainly there is a number of local names within their district which seem to corroborate this opinion. Other writersare disposed to ascribe a Mexican origin to the Orotinas and lastly Dr.Berendt[3]suggests that the whole Chorotegan stock may be considered as a Toltecan offspring, the name Choroteganos being only a corruption of Cholutecas.
The last or fourth of the tribes inhabiting Nicaragua was losNiquiranos. The territory occupied by this people was the smallest of all, viz.; the narrow isthmus between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific, together with the large islands, Ometepec andZapatera, inLake Nicaragua. But although comparatively small in extent this territory was perhaps the most richly blessed of all in this country, the darling one of nature. According to the concurrent testimonies of the old chroniclers the Niquirans were a Mexican people settled in the country at a comparatively late period. It is not clear whether they were Toltecs or Aztecs, and this question cannot probably be decided until the ancient remains, surely very numerous, that they have left behind them, shall have been accurately studied and compared with the better known Mexican antiquities. For my own part I incline to the opinion that they were Aztecs, and had immigrated into the country rather late, perhaps little more than a hundred years before the Spanish invasion. They lived in a state of permanent hostility with the Chorotegans and had probably, on their irruption, expelled the Orotinas, who were thus cut off from the main stock of the Chorotegans. The intelligent and well built Indians on the island of Ometepec are doubtless the descendants of the Niquirans; this is corroborated by their language, which the successful investigations ofSquierhave shown to be of Mexican origin and presenting a very close similarity to the pure Aztec tongue. They are now a laborious andpeaceful race, somewhat shy of strangers; in general they speak Spanish, but may be heard occasionally to talk Indian dialect with one another; with regard to this dialect they are, however, extremely unwilling to afford any explanations, generally answering «es muy antiguo» «no sé nada». The Indians of Belen and the surrounding region remind one of the Ometepec Indians, but are evidently intermixed with foreign elements.
According toOviedo,Torquemada, andCerezeda, the last one of whom accompaniedGil Gonzales de Avilain his expedition 1522, and thus is able to speak, likeOviedo, from his own personal observations, the Niquirans had reached a higher degree of civilization than their neighbours. However, the Chorotegans were also pretty far advanced in culture.
Indeed, reading the scanty descriptions of the last days of these nations, one feels tempted to assert that in harmonic development of the mental faculties they were superior to that nation, which, by its crowds of rapacious and sanguinary adventurers, honoured in history with the name of «los Conquistadores», has fixed upon itself the heavy responsibility for the annihilation of this civilization. For indeed so swift and radical was this annihilation, through the fanatical vandalism of «christian» priests and the bloody crimes of a greedy soldatesca, that history knows of no similar example. Thus the investigator of the comparatively modern culture of Central America is obliged to travel by more toilsome and doubtful roads than the student of the ancient forms of civilization of Egypt and India, although these were dead several thousands of years ago.
So much, however, has come to the knowledge of our time, as suffices to prove that the nations of Central America were very far advanced inpolitical and social development as well as in science and art. But no other way is left to us of gaining an insight in this culture, than to search the country perseveringly for the purpose of disclosing the monuments, hidden in the ground or enviously concealed by the primeval vegetation, that now reigns alone in many of those places, which were formerly occupied by populous and flourishing cities, and artistically ornamented temples.
By comparing these monuments with those of Mexican culture, somewhat better known in certain respects, we may hope finally to arrive at the solution of some of the intricate problems concerning the ancient nations of Central America and their history.
The antiquities figured by me were found for the greatest part in theisland ofZapatera, the rock-carvings in the islet ofCeibaclose to Zapatera, only some few ceramic objects are from the island ofOmetepec. All these localities are contained within the territory occupied by the Niquirans, and on this account may probably be considered as specimens ofAztecart, or of an art very closely related to this. Those few statues that I have seen in the neighbourhood ofGranadaand inLas Isletasimmediately off Granada, as well as the statues and high-reliefs in the little volcanic island ofMomotombitoin Lake Managua, the former belonging probably to losDirianos, the latter to losNagrandanos, appear to me to be much more rudely executed, without any attempt to copy the human body; whereas many of the statues ofZapateratestify to a pretty accurate study of the human body, often presenting faithfully elaborated muscle portions etc., so as to make it probable that the Niquiran artists used models. There certainly are found rather fantastic figures even among these statues, but in general their originators prove to be artists of a more realistic conception, and at the same time of more developed technicsthan the Chorotegan artists. From the monuments etc. found farther northwards atCopan,Quiriguá,Uxmal,Palenque, and other places in Central America, the works here described differ most considerably, indeed so much that it is not easy to point out more than a few common artistic features.
With the exception of the meagre notices, communicated byOviedoandCerezedaand their compilers, the source of our knowledge ofNicaraguanantiquities isE. G. Squier’sinteresting work «Nicaragua: its people, scenery, monuments and the proposed interoceanic canal». AfterSquiersome other American investigators have followed in the road opened by him; Dr.Earl Flintof Rivas has during many years searched for and collected antiquities, partly in the Department of Rivas, partly in the island of Ometepec. I am obliged to Dr.Flintfor much valuable information on the present subject, kindly communicated to me, when I had the pleasure of meeting with him at Rivas in January 1883. He has sent the collections gradually brought together by himself, to theSmithsonian Institution. In «Archæological researches in Nicaragua»[4]Dr.J. F. Bransfordgives a highly interesting description of his researches in Ometepec, where he made a large collection of grave-urns, other vessels of pottery, and smaller relics of stone and metal. He occupied himself principally in investigating burying-places on the west side of the island and he has thrown a new light on this part of Niquiran archæology. His very large collection, of 788 numeros, is deposited in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. He has also figured several rock-carvings from Ometepec; these seem to be a little ruder and less complicated than those delineated by me from the island of Ceiba.Dr.Bransfordalso describes several ancient relics fromTalmac,San Juan del Surin the department of Rivas, and some localities in Nicoya, in the republic of Costa Rica. From a linguistic point of view Dr.Berendt[5]has given very valuable contributions to our knowledge of the ancient civilisation of Nicaragua by his sharp-sighted and successful investigations into the Indian idioms of that country and into those of Mexico and of the northern parts of Central America.
In the night of the New-Year’s-eve 1882-1883 I arrived atOmetepecfrom Granada, and took up my head-quarters at the little borough ofMuyogalpa, in the north-west corner of the island. From this point excursions were made in different directions, and, although my time was pretty severely taxed by zoological researches, I found however some opportunities of undertaking archæological diggings.
Hardly one kilometer to the west of the burying-place examined by Dr.Bransford, a symmetrical mound, rising one meter and a half above the ground, was dug through (Station 1). It contained a little bowl, pieces of a larger urn of an unusual thickness, feet and fragments of a tripod vase, and a little bronze figure of a saint, the last one evidently a foreign guest among the other objects. AtLos Angeles(Stat. 2) two statues, both very badly frayed, were measured and sketched; some insignificant fragments of pottery were digged out. At a bay (Stat. 3) on the north side, betweenMuyogalpaandAlta Gracia, in a place said by the Indians to have formerly been a town, fragments of divers small pottery, two stone chisels, one «molidor», and perforated and polished shells of a species of Oliva and a species of Voluta, from the neighboring coast ofthe Pacific, were dug out. In a valley, or rather ravine (Stat. 4), nearAlta Gracia, where a heap of pretty large, partly cut stones seemed to indicate the site of a large building, several fragments of pottery were found together with a cup of earthen ware, and a well preserved little sitting image of painted terra cotta, pretty similar to that figured byBransford, l. c., p. 59. At a height of nearly 350 m. above the level of the lake on the west side of the majestically beautiful volcanic cone (Stat. 5), while digging in a rather extensive stone-mound, a very pretty, vaulted earthen urn with lid, painted in three colours, was found, and, besides, a great many fragments of pottery. I made excavations also at six other places in Ometepec, for inst. in the isthmus between Ometepec and Madera, but without any results worthy of record.
I stayed in this charming double-island for more than a month, roving through it on horse-back and on foot in all directions, ascending the volcano, rowing and sailing over the delightful lagoons and bays, that border its shores, and amongst which I shall late forget that very paradise for the hunter,Laguna de Santa RosaandCharco Verde. Having left Ometepec about the beginning of February, my next visit was to «tierra firme», where I made some easily executed, but not very successful excavations, immediately to the north ofSan Jorge. FromDepartemento de Rivas’ I sailed toLas Isletas, also calledLos Corales, an extremely beautiful little archipelago, just southwards ofGranada. The whole group owes its existence to the volcanoMombacho, which towers high above it, the islands consisting exclusively of the remains of one or more eruptions ofMombacho. But the vegetation here is so powerful and luxuriant, that it has changed those piles of blackstones into smiling islands, which the traveller is never tired of admiring. Only on the outside of the archipelago, where the often angry lake of Nicaragua has checked the development of the verdant cover, the black, gloomy basalt is still open to the view, lashed by white-foaming waves. In several of the islets statues were measured and delineated, but unfortunately the photographic apparatus could not be used on this occasion. After a stay of some days amongLas Isletasand a short visit toGranadafor the purpose of completing my photographic outfit, I set sail forZapatera. On my arrival I encamped for a long time on the playa ofBahia de Chiquero. Along the playa of the semi-circular bay there are now five houses, the homes of as many families, being the only inhabitants at the present time of this large and fertile island, which was, no doubt, formerly populated by many thousands of Niquirans, possessing rich towns and splendid temples. The islet ofCeibais situated off Bahia de Chiquero (see map 2). According to my opinion,Zapaterais certainly a volcanic island, but in this manner, that its north-western part is the summit of a sunken volcanic cone, Bahia de Chiquero being the crater itself, the narrow, elevated mountain ridge which surrounds the bay, forming the edge of the crater and the islet of Ceiba the continuation of this edge,Laguna de Apoyo, situated scarcely one kilometer from the shore, may then be regarded as a side-crater.
Zapateraexhibits an abundant variety of beautiful scenery, delightful valleys, watered by streams and rivulets, fertile elevated plains, magnificent mountain-cones, clothed in verdure to the very summits, and bays and lagoons offering excellent harbours. Unfortunately I had not an opportunity of examining, in an archæologic point of view, more than a part of the north side of the island and the islet of Ceiba. My kind hosts of the settlement in the island, DonJosé Lobo, DonnaJulia Solorzano, S:ritaVirginia Mora, DonJacinto Moraand others, zealously assisted mein my zoological as well as archæological investigations. Through their warm-hearted benevolence my stay in Zapatera became the most pleasant remembrance of my long journey.
The results of my antiquarian researches inZapateramay be referred to three stations: 1:0. The first station isPunta del Sapote; the extreme north-western point of the island, where statues, potteries, and stone relics were found. This station is beyond all comparison the most important one, because it has never, as far as I know, been examined, nor even mentioned. It possesses so much greater importance, as several statues were found in their original position, thus affording an insight into the manner how they were used. 2:0. The second station isPunta de las Figuras. It forms part of the edge of the crater, sloping softly towards the lake, between Laguna de Apoyo and Bahia de Chiquero. It has been previously visited bySquier, who has given figures of several of the statues. Besides those mentioned by him, many of which I did not find, I lighted upon some that had escaped his attention. In this locality only insignificant remains of pottery were met with. 3:0. The third station is the little island ofCeiba, which, instead of statues, that are wanting, offers some very well preserved rock-carvings of evidently very ancient date, and, besides, valuable relics of earthen-ware and stone. Although my visit to Zapatera was posterior in time to my stay in Ometepec, I shall begin the detailed description of the antiquities with those of the first station in Zapatera.