Caral

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Coordinates: 10°53′37″S, 77°31′13″W

History of Peru

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Caral is a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. Caral is one of the most ancient cities of America and a well-studied site of the Norte Chico civilization.

1 History
2 Archaeological findings
3 References
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] History

Caral was inhabited between roughly 5000 BC and 1600 BC, enclosing an area of 66 hectares. Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants it is the best-studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known. How did the culture begin? Before Caral, there is no evidence except the existence of several small villages. It is suggested that these merged in 2700 BC, quite possibly based on the success of early agricultural cultivation and fishing techniques. The invention of cotton fishing nets must have greatly facilitated the fishing industry. It is believed that this excess of food might have resulted in trade with the religious centres. But apart from an economic model of exchange, the new social model also meant that a labour force existed that had in essence little to do. This labour force could thus be used for “religious purposes”. Caral might have been the natural result of this process – just like the pyramids of Egypt seem to have been the result of an available workforce. The discovery of Caral has therefore reintroduced a powerful enigma: at the same time, on two different continents, agricultural advancements created a new style of life. The available workforce that agriculture had created was reemployed in the construction of pyramids. This “template” is visible in Peru, Sumer and Egypt, all in the 3rd millennium BC. Coincidence, or evidence of design? Alternative researchers will certainly soon reopen this debate, but archaeologists steer well clear of it.

[edit] Archaeological findings

The Caral pyramids in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.

Pyramid en Caral

Paul Kosok discovered Caral (Chupacigarro Grande) in 1948, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. Archaeologist Ruth Shady further explored the 5,000 year-old city of pyramids in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheatre and ordinary houses. The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres (607,000 m²) and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.

Pirámide Mayor covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet (18 m) tall. Caral is the largest recorded site in the Andean region with dates older than 2000 BCE and appears to be the model for the urban design adopted by Andean civilizations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia.

Since the site is a thousand years older than the earliest civilization in the Americas, it is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of the Inca and the development of the first cities.

Among the artifacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labelled a quipu. They argue that the artifact is evidence that the quipu writing system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. However, the artifact is orders of magnitude more simple than later Inca quipu, and it is thus doubtful that it was produced as part of a robust accounting system. Indeed, many archaeologists have actually questioned whether or not it is a recording device at all.

No trace of warfare has been found at Caral; no battlements, no weapons, no mutilated bodies. Shady's findings suggest it was a gentle society, built on commerce and pleasure. In one of the pyramids they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornets of deer and llama bones. They also found evidence of drug use and possibly aphrodisiacs. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads.

Caral spawns 19 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile (80 km²) area of the Supe Valley. The find of the quipu indicates that the later Inca civilization preserved some cultural continuity from the Caral civilization. Caral is indeed hard to accept. It is very old. Still, its dating of 2627 BC is beyond dispute, based as it is on carbondating reed and woven carrying bags that were found in situ. These bags were used to carry the stones that were used for the construction of the pyramids. The material is an excellent candidate for dating, thus allowing for a high precision. The town had a population of approximately 3000 people. But there are 17 other sites in the area, allowing for a possible total population of 20,000 people for the Supe valley. All of these sites in the Supe valley share similarities with Caral. They had small platforms or stone circles. Haas believes that Caral was the focus of this civilisation, which itself was part of an even vaster complex, trading with the coastal communities and the regions further inland – as far as the Amazon, if the depiction of monkeys is any indication.

[edit] References

Shady, R. Haas, J. Creamer, W. (2001). Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru. Science. 292:723-726. PMID 11326098 [1]
Caral: Ancient Peru city reveals 5,000-year-old 'writing — SABC.
Caral