Caral
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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. ). Image:PeruCaral01.jpg
Contents |
[edit] History
| Image:Flag of Peru.svg |
|---|
| History of Peru |
| Timeline |
| Ancient Peru |
| Caral |
| Chavin |
| Paracas |
| Moche |
| Nazca |
| Tiahuanaco |
| Wari |
| Chimu |
| Inca Empire |
| Colonial Peru |
| The Conquest |
| Viceroyalty of Peru |
| Republic of Peru |
| Independence |
| Peru-Bolivian Confederacy |
| War of the Pacific |
| Peruvian-Ecuadorian Territorial Dispute |
Caral was inhabited between roughly 3000 BC and 1600 BC, enclosing an area of 66 hectares. Caral has been described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants and forming the center of a Caral Supe Civilization, spread over several settlements along the Peruvian coast.
The Caral pyramids date from as early as the 27th century BC. Their construction is thought to have continued until the 21st century BC, making their age 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.
[edit] Archaeological findings
Archaeologists discovered Caral in 1905, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at sites (National Geographic News, 26 April 2001, accessed 25 July 2001). 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 Inka, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. However, the artifact is orders of magnitude more simple than later Inka 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 pelican and condor 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 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.
[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.
[edit] External links
- The Caral-Supe Placemarks, Google Earth placemark files, provides aerial imagery of the ancient constructs.
- the Caral quipu
- The Caral-Supe Official website features 3-D renderings of major monument.
- Caral Tourism Information
- Transcript of BBC Horizon program about Caral
[edit] See also
- Bosnian pyramids
- Chinese pyramids
- Egyptian pyramids
- French pyramids
- Mesoamerican pyramids
- Nubian pyramids
- Ukrainian pyramidsde:Caral
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