Caral

This article is about the archaeological site. For the civilisation it belonged to, see Norte Chico civilisation.

Caral

Remains of Caral
Shown within Peru
Alternative name	Caral-Supe
Location	Lima Region, Peru
Coordinates	10°53′37″S 77°31′13″W
Type	Settlement
History
Founded	c. 2600 BCE
Abandoned	c. 2000 BCE
Cultures	Norte Chico
Site notes
Condition	In ruins
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Sacred City of Caral-Supe
Location	Supe District, Barranca Province, Peru
Criteria	Cultural: (ii), (iii), (iv)
Reference	1269
Inscription	2009 (33rd Session)
Area	626.36 ha (2.4184 sq mi)
Buffer zone	14,620.31 ha (56.4493 sq mi)
Website	www.zonacaral.gob.pe/en/

Caral, or Caral-Chupacigarro, was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca Province, Peru, some 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Lima. Caral is the most ancient city of the Americas and a well-studied site of the Norte Chico civilization.

The city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.

History

Caral was inhabited roughly between the 26th and 20th centuries BCE, enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares (150 acres). Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban centre in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby, such as Bandurria, Peru. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known.

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  The Caral temples in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.
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Archaeological findings

Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948, but it received little attention at the time because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archaeological sites throughout the Andes. In 1975, the Peruvian architect Carlos Williams made a detailed record of most of the archaeological sites of the valley of Supe, among which he recorded Caral, from which he made some observations about the development of architecture in the Andes. Ruth Shady further explored the 4,000- to 4,600-year-old city in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheatre and ordinary houses. The urban complex is spread out over 150 hectares (370 acres) and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at roughly the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.

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 civilisations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia. It is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of the Andean civilisations and the development of the first cities.

↓First constructions

↓Enlarged

↓Reconstructed

↓Remodelled

↓Abandoned

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2800 BC

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2600 BC

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2400 BC

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2200 BC

│

2000 BC

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1800 BC

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1600 BC

Among the artefacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labelled a quipu. They write that the artefact is evidence that the quipu record keeping system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca Empire, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Evidence has emerged that the quipu may also have recorded logographic information in the same way writing does. Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.

Main temple

The main temple complex (Spanish: Templo Mayor) is 150 meters (490 ft) long, 110 meters (360 ft) wide and 28 meters (92 ft) high. The date of its construction is unknown.

Peaceful society

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 temples, they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornetts of deer and llama bones. One find revealed the remains of a baby, wrapped and buried with a necklace made of stone beads.

Scope of site

Caral spawned 19 other temple complexes scattered across the 90 square kilometres (35 sq mi) area of the Supe Valley.

The date of 2627 BCE is based on carbon dating 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 temples. The material is an excellent candidate for high precision dating. The site may date even earlier as samples from the oldest parts of the excavation have yet to be dated. The town had a population of approximately 3000 people.

However, the 19 other sites in the area (posted at Caral), allow for a possible total population of 20,000 people for the Supe Valley. All of these sites share similarities with Caral. They had small platforms or stone circles. Shady 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.

Panorama of Caral Site

360° Panorama of Caral

Geoglyph

In 2000, Marco Machacuay (the chief of excavations at the time) and his colleague, Rocío Aramburú, discovered a large shape etched on the ground in circular stone lines near Caral. This image, known as a geoglyph, is located on the desert floor just west of the main site at Caral. When traced out, the lines form the design of a human face with long, streaming hair and a gaping mouth.

This geoglyph is similar to the screaming, bleeding figures found etched onto the stone walls at a site called Cerro Sechín, in the Casma Valley 240 kilometres (150 mi) to the north. It is unclear what exactly this figure means, but it is believed to have been constructed around the same time as Caral and to have been associated with a nearby ceremonial site known as Chupacigarro.

Musical instruments

Another significant find on the site was a collection of musical instruments, including 37 cornetts made of deer and llama bones and 33 flutes of unusual construction. The flutes were radiocarbon dated to 2170±90 BCE.

See also

• Periodization of pre-Columbian Peru
• Iperú
• The Sican culture temples at Túcume and Batán Grande Reserved Zone, Peru
• Tourism in Peru
• List of oldest buildings in the Americas

External links

• Official website features 3-D renderings of major monument; accessed 24 January 2017.
• UNESCO – Sacred City of Caral-Supe (World Heritage)
• The History of the Quipu: South America's Writing Technology : Quipu Knotted String Technology Record Keeping at Least 1,200 Years Old
• Transcript of BBC Horizon program about Caral; accessed 24 January 2017.
• Gigapan Caral high resolution panorama of Caral.
• La Zona Arqueológica Caral