Peru has a very rich pre-history which can be studied in archaeological remains. At Pikimachay in Ayacucho Department (province), remains have been found from early cave dwellers. From cave paintings at Lauricocha, near Huanuco and Toquepala, close to Tacna, we can get some idea of these people's lives. They hunted animals with stone tools, they knew how to make fires, and wore animal skins.
Ceramic remains produced by the Salinar people who inhabited the Chicama valley near Trujillo show that these people were very skilled craftsmen. The Paracas Necropolis people who lived south of Lima around 300BC produced some of the finest textiles made anywhere in the Americas.
Sites of later peoples have been excavated giving us information about the tribes occupying Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia hundreds of years before the [G 11/Inca]. Huaca Prieta in the Chicama Valley near Trujillo and Asia, south of Lima, were both inhabited by around 2000BC. Another site, Chilca, has also been examined and it was believed to have been inhabited by around 4000BC. The site at Chavin de Huantar, 30 miles east of Huaraz in Ancash Department, gives us most of the evidence of this period. It was occupied between around 850BC and 300BC. Pictures of jaguars on ceramics and textiles indicate that Jaguar-worship was popular at this time.
