ThePARIJournal A quarterly publication of the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute Volume VII, No. 3, Winter 2007 Rivers Among the Ruins: The Usumacinta In This Issue: RONALD L. CANTER Cartographer, Federal Aviation Administration Rivers Among the Ruins: The Usumacinta watershed includes two Nile was modified with wing dams, portage The Usumacinta extensive systems of navigable rivers: an roads, and forts to make it safely navigable enclosed interior basin above the Boca del year round for ships 30 m long. The Ch’ang by Ronald L. Canter Encajonado, and a large part of the Grijalva- Chiang (Yangtze), backbone of China, and the Usumacinta compound delta below the Boca Missouri River of the western USA are also PAGES 1-24 del Cerro (Figure ). Between them are a se- analogous in many ways. By examining the ries of eight swift canyons. Most are naviga- documented workings of rivers that posed Special insert map: ble with skill and care. similar transport benefits and challenges, it Río Usumacinta Usumacinta, written phonetically as “Usu- should be possible to better understand the Navigation Survey matsintla” by Teobert Maler (90), is a com- past use of the Usumacinta. pound place name formed from the Nahuatl The huge meander loops in the lowlands roots osomahtli “monkey,” -tzin “small” or of Tabasco, a long portage past several can- Joel Skidmore “revered,” and -tlan “place where X abounds” yons, and the strong current all combine to Editor (Herrera 2004; Karttunnen 983). Thus, make the Usumacinta a less than ideal route [email protected] osomahtzintla(n) can be literally translated as from the Gulf of Mexico to the Río Pasión. The “Place of Many Sacred (or Small) Monkeys,” Usumacinta watershed offered at least three though it is usually given more broadly as parallel routes between the Tabasco lowlands The PARI Journal “River of the Sacred Monkey.” It was also the and the upper basin. Each had advantages and 202 Edgewood Avenue name of a Postclassic town on the river near limitations. The Usumacinta itself was a swift San Francisco, CA 94117 Balancan. Spanish expeditions referred to the path downriver but slow upriver. The paral- 415-664-8889 upper Usumacinta as the Sacapulas. lel Río San Pedro Mártir was overall much [email protected] One source gives the Postclassic name of easier to ascend, but would have required a the Usumacinta above the canyons as Xocolha long portage back into the Usumacinta basin. (Jones 985), and Scholes and Roys (968) give A route up the Tulija, overland past Tonina to Electronic version the name as Tanochel at Tenosique. Xocolha the Jatate, and then downstream to the Usu- available at: means either “Shark River,” or simply “The macinta above its swiftest part works out as www.mesoweb.com/ River” in Chontal. A text from Pomona sug- pari/journal/0703 being faster than a long slow ascent of the gests that Pipa’ denoted the Usumacinta lo- Usumacinta. The Jatate requires whitewater cally in the Classic. Louis Halle nicknamed skills to travel safely. the Usumacinta the “River of Ruins” in his The most efficient approach would have The PARI Journal is made book of the same name (94), and that name been a circuit trip by land and water. Traders possible by a grant from has also stuck. Precolumbia Mesoweb could use the Tulija/Jatate or the San Pedro The strong current is a constant of the riv- to go from west to east, visit the cities of the er from Boca del Encajonado to Boca del Cer- upper Usumacinta basin, and then return by ro. It would have made the Usumacinta an the main river, stopping at Yaxchilan, Piedras ISSN 1531-5398 excellent route to deliver bulk goods such as Negras, and Pomona on the way out. Though salt, corn, or metates from upstream sites to traders could do a loop through the region, Yaxchilan or Piedras Negras. Hauling loads the canoes themselves still had to go back up upriver would have been tedious, though the river. still more efficient than by land. The Usumacinta is much like both the 1 This article is part of a larger work in progress Rhine in Germany and the Nile in Egypt— on river navigation and portages from the perspec- each a swift commercial highway, gorge- tive of modern and Classic Maya canoes. A version bound in the middle, and studded with has appeared online at The Daily Glyph <www. ancient sites. Four thousand years ago the gomaya.com/glyph>. The PARI Journal 7(3):1-24. Canter Figure 1. The Usumacinta and other waterways discussed in the text. (Precolumbia Mesoweb Maps.) A useful approach to understanding navigation on hauled its keelboat and pirogues up against the swift Mis- the swift, gorge-bound Usumacinta is to find a well-doc- souri River between the walls and towers of the White umented analog. The Missouri Breaks in the USA are in Cliffs in Montana. Despite the constant current and occa- many ways like the Usumacinta between Boca del Enca- sional Class 1 rapids, the party averaged 29 km per day. jonado and the mouth of the Chocolha. Both high volume Days were voyageur days, 14 hours long, so average speed rivers have distinct wet and dry cycles, with corresponding was only 2.1 kph. rise and fall. Both are confined for more than 100 km in While the crews struggled up the river, scouts ranged gorges averaging 200 m deep. Most important, both run at ahead on shore. They easily outdistanced the boats. The ex- 3 or more kilometers per hour, so that travel is much harder pedition never considered abandoning their boats because upstream than down. Unlike the Usumacinta, the Missouri it would also have meant abandoning most of their trade Breaks hold no major rapids. goods and supplies. The Lewis and Clark Expedition, in May-June of 1805, The situation in the Classic along the Usumacinta 2 Rivers Among the Ruins: The Usumacinta would have been very similar. As the Lewis and Clark ex- 9 km the river picks up speed, the hills close in, and the first pedition demonstrated, a slow but respectable pace of 2 of the river’s many canyons begins at Boca del Encajonado kph upriver is possible against a 3 kph current. Maya trav- (at the far right edge of the insert map). elers in a hurry could go overland from Piedras Negras by Through the 7 km of Encajonado de Gonzales the river way of La Pasadita to Yaxchilan and the central Peten, but is swift and deep, surging between escarpments averaging heavy loads could still go most efficiently by water. 100 m high. There are no significant rapids, but the con- In 994 bandits ambushed and shot up a raft trip near stricted channel causes strong whirlpools (remolinos) on Busilja Falls. This brought the commercial rafting business eddy lines. According to Mario Aliphat (994), the Usuma- on the Usumacinta to a sudden halt. Bandits (not guerillas) cinta runs within the core of the Usumacinta Anticline, a were still roaming around, and rafting was still iffy when preference it displays from here to the Río Chocolha. While we conducted the Usumacinta Navigation Survey in 2004. anticlines, which are folded arches of rock, would seem Lancheros daily run the river as far as the Río Chocolha, logically to form ridges, this is not always true. In this case, carrying mojados (illegal immigrants) headed for El Norte. the crest of the anticline has stretched and fractured, mak- Today the situation is no better, and arguably worse (see ing a narrow zone of weakness. The river’s course down Golden and Scherer 2006). the center of an anticline gives it a unique character, bound Rafting had altered the local economy with the promise within narrow gorges while flanked by broad valleys. of cash and consumer goods, but it had also built inter- Below Arroyo el Mocho and the abandoned Agua Azul national support for protection of the river. Plans to dam (Filadelphia) airstrip, the hills recede. At Bethel, 7 km the river, and incidentally flood many Maya sites such downstream, there is a Guatemalan customs station, bus as Chuncheje, El Cayo, and parts of Piedras Negras and service to La Libertad (Sacluk), and a Maya site. Two km Yaxchilan, were shelved because of international pressure. below Bethel, bedrock and boulder shores pinch the river New plans, this time for a dam at Boca del Cerro, are un- for kilometer. On the right is a Guatemalan hill called clear, with public denials but some Comisión Federal de Punta de Gallo. Just downstream of the narrows is El Tor- Electricidad (CFE) activity at the site.2 nillo, a Mexican village and a moderate-sized Maya site. The Mexican river port of Frontera Corozal is only 5 km farther. Where the Frontera waterfront begins, minor UPPER USUMACINTA Class rock ledges angle across the river. Several islands Junction of the Pasión and Salinas rivers to Boca and bars at Frontera have formed upstream of the mouth of Lacantun - 45 km Arroyo Agua Azul. The largest is Islote Agua Azul, which rises above bankfull level to support a crown of forest. The Río Usumacinta is flat with a definite current for the The Frontera waterfront has two principal landings: first 45 km to the mouth of the Río Lacantun (Figure 1). one at the upper end beside the Escudo Jaguar Hotel, the The most remarkable feature of this first part of the Usu- other 800 m downstream where the bank is cut for a road. macinta is how unremarkable it is. It is a flat river winding The upper landing is in a good eddy behind a rock reef but through flat country.