The residents of the highland Guitarrero Cave site in northern Peru, which had the earliest textiles in the Americas and a broad assortment of food plants, spoke a language similar to that of the residents of Monte Verde and Taltal in Chile, indicating the likely source of the first Peruvian population. I have compared the names of the villages surrounding the cave to the names of the villages surrounding the Chilean sites and found similarities, specifically they all seem to fit within an archaic proto Ch'orti'. Names from Taima-taima, Venezuela, and El Abra-Tocancipa, Colombia, also appear to be from the same language. I believe that the Guitarrero Cave site housed the ancestors of later Peruvian cultures like the Norte Chico, Chavin, Mochica, and Inca.
Guitarrero Cave had possible sporadic use as early as 10,610 BCE, potentially more regular use by 9,500 BCE. Significant food plants have been dated to as early as 8,500 BCE. Monte Verde was occupied until at least 10,000 BCE. It is feasible that there was a migration directly from Monte Verde to the Guitarrero Cave area. Alternately, the migration pattern could have been Monte Verde to Taltal to Guitarrero Cave. The Peruvians' cousins, the Mayan ancestors, likely migrated from Monte Verde to Taltal to El Salvador, landing at Toluca Beach.
The altitude of Guitarrero cave is 2580 meters above sea level. Some of plants found in the cave include two species of Aji pepper, Oca (tuber), common bean, pallar (runner or pole) bean, and maize. The beans date from 8000 to 7500 BCE and the maize dates from 6200 BCE. The maize date is about 2000 years after the Maya began to hybridize corn at Teotipa, El Salvador.
Corn was most likely brought by boat (raft) from El Salvador to Peru. The beans are likely native in the wild to highland Peru. After the Maya learned cultivation in about 8300 BCE, with tobacco, they probably spent time in Peru in about 8000 BCE teaching their cousins how to cultivate. It is not clear if pallar beans originated in Peru or the Central American highlands.
The villages around Guitarrero Cave with proto-Ch'orti' names include: Yuracmarca, Huallanca, Huaylas, Conocranra, and Pato. The cave is closest to Huaylas. Two coastal place names - Chimbote and Coishco - also might date from the same time period as the cave. The residents of the cave and the surrounding area would have been traveling often to the coast since they were historically (i.e. in Chile) a maritime people.
Proto-Ch'orti' is the language that seems to most closely match the early sites like Guitarrero Cave. This is because the Maya were the most persistent at preserving their language. In addition, most of the place names at the early sites were named very early in settlement before the local language began to diverge from the root language (proto-Ch'orti').
Let's look at the likely meaning of these place names in proto-Ch'orti':
Yuracmarca
yur - breaking through, clearing
ak - grass, vines
mar - open space
kah - beginning
"Beginning of clearing grass (wild growth) for open space." This would appear to refer to the first plots cleared to grow beans and other plants.
Huallanca
way - any large seed
yan - difference, alteration
kah - beginning
"Beginning of altering the large seed." Considering the plants found in the cave, the large seed is most likely the bean. Altering refers to the process of hybridizing for desirable characteristics, a process that the Maya would have taught them. Huallanca seems to be where the hybridization of the bean first took place.
Huaylas
way - any large seed
rax or lax - summit, flat surface
"Large seed on flat surface." Similar to the previous two place names, this seems to refer to planting beans on a flat surface.
Coñocranra
kohn - small stream
yuk - stirring, trembling
lahan or rahan - tired
la'ht' or ra'ht' - load
"(Following) trembling stream, tired from the load." This translation is not as clear as some of the rest but this is plausible. This seems to indicate that Coñocranra was on the route to the ocean and its position near the steep mountain would be consistent with a place where one would note fatigue if one were carrying a heavy load (or even if not).
Pato
pa't - pod, husk
tohb - anything shelled
"Shelled pods." This seems to be talking about the beans and a place where they were shelled. It would be easy to assume that Pato is from Spanish but given all the other indigenous names in the area I think that is unlikely.
Now for the two coastal names:
Chimbote
chin - tremble, surf
bu't' - a rise, increase (bu't'ir is the modern verb form)
"Rising surf." This indicates the rising ocean level following the end of the Ice Age. Based on a Popol Vuh reference to Isla Tigre, Honduras, significant ocean rising had taken place by 8200 BCE probably beginning several hundred years before that.
Coishco
k'o' - fatigue
ix - movement
k'ot - arrival
"Arrival fatigue from movement." While this could be referring to the first arrival point, it would make more sense as the end point on the walk (run?) down from the Huaylas area, possibly carrying heavy loads to place on a raft.
These seven place names show conclusively that the Guitarrero Cave area fits within the proto-Ch'orti' linguistic culture of all other early South American sites. In particular this links Guitarrero Cave with the earliest site at Monte Verde and with the earliest Mayan sites like Toluca, Jardin, Tecapa, and Tigüilotada (Isla Tigre).
Why did the first Peruvians pick the northern Peru highlands to establish themselves? Now the area seems to be a dry mountainous area with few natural resources. At the time they first arrived (or visited) the Ice Age was still in place. This likely produced more rainfall in these highlands, resulting in much more biodiversity. The wild predecessors of the potato, oka, aji pepper, and bean were all present in the highland.
Guitarrero Cave and the Huaylas highland was the first chapter in the very rich story of Peruvian cultures, cultures that maintained friendship and mutual support with the Maya in El Salvador.
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