Lapa do Boquete is a Paleolithic site dating to about 10,070 BCE; one of the earlies in South America. It is located in eastern Brasil just off the São Francisco River, navigable year-round to the Atlantic Ocean. Lapa do Boquete is on the Peruaçu River, which drains into the São Francisco a few kilometers downstream from the site. There are canyons and caves along the Peruaçu. There are many rock paintings in the area. The area was occupied for several thousand years. The plant and animal remains and the cave paintings are well preserved within the dry caves.
The São Francisco River is navigable for about 300 km upstream from the Peruaçu. It is the longest river entirely in Brasil and the fourth longest river in South America. Its indigenous
name is Opara. It drains into the Atlantic about 100 kilometers northeast of Aracaju. The place names around the Lapa do Boquete site reveal that it is part of the Monte Verde, Chile, linguistic-cultural complex, like early sites in Taima-taima, Venezuela, Tocancipa, Colombia, and Taltal, northern Chile, as well as Bariloche, Argentina. In fact, the place names indicate a special connection with Taltal in particular. This connection makes it highly probable that the settlers of Lapa do Boquete left Taltal, journeyed south by boat along the Chile coast, around Cape Horn, and then northeast along the coasts of present-day Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. They finally arrived moving upstream along the São Francisco River.
Three place names will be looked at: Opara, the indigenous name for the São Francisco River; Itacarambi, a town along the Opara north of Lapa; and Jatobá, a town on the Opara south of Lapa.
In order to evaluate the meanings of these place names, I will use a modern Ch'orti' dictionary. Ch'orti' is the closest language to the root language of the Maya and still contains many of the basic cognates in common with the language brought over by boat from east Asia.
Opara - The indigenous name of the São Francisco River
O - No meaning. Probably added later
Parar - latticed
Opara likely means "latticed" or "woven" referring to its weaving through the Brazilian countryside.
Itacarambi - A town on the banks of the São Francisco River
Ihta'n - sibling, relative
K'ar - opening, fissure, throat
Aambi' - last year, a year ago
Meaning "relative from the opening a year ago". The key for this name is opening or fissure. This clearly is indicating the iron oxide mine at Taltal, Chile, a hand-dug open pit mine close to the Pacific Ocean. While aambi' might mean literally "a year ago" it could mean "in the not too distant past". While Itacarambi could be indicating a visit from Taltal it seems much more likely to indicate a recent move from Taltal, a move away from relatives.
Jatobá - a town south of the Lapa site on the São Francisco River
Hat - A splitting
Tohb - Anything shelled, pods
Buh - Legume, hardnut, berry
Bah - Deep yellow or brown
Meaning "split shelled nuts" or "splitting deep yellow pods". Both are similar meanings indicating some type of shell, pod or nut, perhaps yellow-brown in color, that was split here. Unlike Itacarambi, there are many Jatoba place-names in Brazil, which makes sense given its more common meaning.
The meanings of the three place names near the Lapa do Boquete site indicate that it was settled by the same cultural group that settled Monte Verde and Taima-taima and was very likely settled by a group from the site of Taltal in northern Chile. It is likely that later the Taltal group migrated to El Salvador to found the Mayan and Lenca peoples.
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