Information AboutCaral |
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Caral is a large settlement in the Supe Valley , near Supe , Barranca province, Peru , some 200 km north of Lima (ca. ). Caral was inhabited between roughly 3000 BC and 1600 BC , enclosing an area of 66 hectares. Caral is the oldest known urban center in the Americas, accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants. Caral is the center of the Caral Supe Civilization, spread over several settlements along the Peruvian coast. A Quipu was discovered below the steps to one of the pyramids, dated to an age of roughly 5000 years, fixing the earliest date of this tradition of written communication 2000 years earlier than was previously thought. The Caral pyramids date from as early as the 27th Century BC . Construction of the pyramids is thought to have continued until the 21st Century BC . Their age is thus comparable to that of the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt , built between 2600 and 2480 BCE . The Caral culture was succeeded by the Chavin Culture from ca. 900 BC. Archaeological findings Archaeologist Ruth Shady discovered 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 in Caral was a Quipu , the oldest yet found. The discovery showed that the quipu writing system, a method involving knots tied in rope, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Unlike most cities, no trace of warfare at Caral has been found; 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 Flute s made of pelican and condor bones and 37 Cornet s of deer and llama bones. They also found evidence of drug use and possibly Aphrodisiac s. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads. Caral spawns 17 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile (90 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. References
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