The discovery of Caral in 1995 has begun to rewrite the history of the Americas, pushing back at least 800 years the date for the first sedentary society on the continent and establishing the first Peruvian civilization as a contemporary of the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. However, unlike these civilizations, which exchanged cultural information, Caral emerged in isolation from the rest of the world and formed the basis for the development of the political states of the Central Andes.
This archaeological site is located in the Supe Valley, in the province of Barranca, 182 km north of the city of Lima. Caral itself is situated on an alluvial plateau on the left bank of the Supe River, 350 metres above sea level.
This first Peruvian civilization was established between 3,000 and 2,500 BC. The remains of the city cover some 66 hectares and can be divided into two distinct zones: a central nucleus and a peripheral area, with the monumental architecture concentrated in the nucleus.
There are four types of buildings, with residential units for the elite, two circular plazas at different levels and a large area for public gatherings.
The peripheral zones consist of the remains of living quarters for the general population. Buildings were constructed using stone held together with clay. In some minor buildings the walls were made from some kind of organic material and then stuccoed with fine clay and painted red, white or yellow. Vegetable fibre sacks, or “shicras”, were used throughout the site and it is the carbon dating of these sacks used in the foundations of buildings which has established Caral’s age.
The builders of Caral achieved significant advances in agriculture and fishing; they not only used cotton to produce clothing, but also to mass produce fishing nets. In this way they established a busy trading system of agricultural and ocean products. This trade was the basis of the Caral civilization. The benefits of the division of labour were distributed unequally, generating a social hierarchy. |
