First City in the New World?

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | August 2002 | Abstract of an article by John F. Ross

[vannrox]

The amphitheater served as the ceremonial heart of a thriving city 4,600 years ago.

First City in the New World?

Peru's Caral suggests civilization emerged in the Americas 1,000 years earlier than experts believed

Why Did They Leave the Coast? Fishermen today ply Peru’s coast in bull-rush boats as they have for thousands of years, harvesting the rich marine life sustained by the cold Humboldt Current. Leaving this food-rich environment and establishing the urban center of Caral deep in the desert became possible only through large-scale irrigation, enabling farmers to grow squash plants, sweet potatoes and beans. For protein, the people of Caral relied on fish.


Six earth-and-rock mounds rise out of the windswept desert of the Supe Valley near the coast of Peru. Dunelike and immense, they appear to be nature's handiwork, forlorn outposts in an arid region squeezed between the Pacific Ocean and the folds of the Andean Cordillera. But looks deceive. These are human-made pyramids, and compelling new evidence indicates they are the remains of a city that flourished nearly 5,000 years ago. If true, it would be the oldest urban center in the Americas and among the most ancient in all the world.


Ritual sacrifice (including that of a child) was carried out at the major temple.

Research developed by Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady Solís of San Marcos University suggests that Caral, as the 150-acre complex of pyramids, plazas and residential buildings is known, was a thriving metropolis as Egypt's great pyramids were being built. The energetic archaeologist believes that Caral may also answer nagging questions about the long-mysterious origins of the Inca. Caral may even hold a key to the origins of civilizations everywhere.


Both structures were built with reed bags filled with rocks.

What has amazed archaeologists is not just the age but the complexity and scope of Caral. Pirámide Mayor alone covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet tall. Inside a large sunken amphitheater, which could have held many hundreds of people during civic or religious events, Shady's team found 32 flutes made of pelican and condor bones and 37 cornets of deer and llama bones. "Clearly, music played an important role in their society," says Shady.


Outlines of a Civilization Emerge: Lined with graduated seating areas and perhaps box seats for the elite, the amphitheater (seen from the air) appears to be Caral’s ceremonial center, which Peruvian soldiers helped excavate.

Eventually Caral would spawn 17 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35-square-mile area of the Supe Valley. But based on Caral's size and scope, Shady believes that it is indeed the mother city of the Incan civilization.


Faces from the Distant Past: The gigantic stone profile of a head with its mouth wide open, its eyelids closed and its hair streaming spreads across 130 feet of desert a half-mile outside Caral. Built by the inhabitants of Caral for unknown reasons, it bears a curious resemblance to this stone relief found at a site that thrived 1,000 years later about 100 miles north of Caral. The similarity hints at Caral’s importance to later development of culture and civilization in the region.

Amphitheater excavations uncovered a set of fancifully carved bone flutes.

[vannrox]

Very Very Very Interesting.
Please click HERE to see the entire article in PDF format.

[okie01]

Absolutely fascinating. Thanks for the post.

The climate and terrain appear identical to the Four Corners area -- specifically the Mancos Valley, where Mesa Verde is sited. Except, of course, there is no ocean 14 miles away...

blam, this one's for you.

[Restorer]

But based on Caral's size and scope, Shady believes that it is indeed the mother city of the Incan civilization.

By the exact same logic, ancient Sumer would be the mother of Spanish civilization. True, in some bizarre sense, but far more interesting in showing how we tend to view anybody really different from US as being connected to each other in some way.

Just as most Americans think of Africans or "Indians" as forming groups with only minor differences.

[Restorer]

The climate and terrain appear identical to the Four Corners area-- specifically the Mancos Valley

I don't think so. This area of the Peruvian Coast is among the driest areas in the world. It often doesn't rain for years on end. The Mancos Valley, at least the upper portion, is a beautiful mountain valley with lots of trees and lush grass.

And Mesa Verde overlooks the Mancos Valley, it isn't in it. Although that may be a trifle nit-picky. :)

[okie01]

"This area of the Peruvian Coast is among the driest areas in the world. It often doesn't rain for years on end. The Mancos Valley, at least the upper portion, is a beautiful mountain valley with lots of trees and lush grass."

Did you look at the pictures in the pdf file? Especially the one that overlooks the river valley, toward the cliffs and hills beyond.

The area looks a great deal like the Mancos Valley, as seen from the northern front of Mesa Verde.

Or, perhaps, the better perspective might be looking from the La Platas back across the Mancos toward Mesa Verde.

[Restorer]

You're quite right. The areas look very similar. I was trying to point out that I believe the climate is dramatically different. I assume the Peruvian valley is irrigated or it would be as dead as the surface of the moon. The Mancos Valley, which I am very familiar with (used to live nearby), has a fairly heavy natural rainfall.

[okie01]

"The Mancos Valley, which I am very familiar with (used to live nearby), has a fairly heavy natural rainfall."

One doesn't have to go very far south and west from Mesa Verde and the Mancos to find "arid".

The Mesa Verde and Caral locations may not have identical climates, but the similar topography would create a similar climate profile. As weather comes out of the west, the land rises steadily in the east to a mountain shield. So that the upper Mancos, like the Andean streams, is fed by heavy precipitation and snowmelt from higher elevations. But the lower you go (and the further west), the less the precipitation. And the greater liklihood of irrigation-aided agriculture...

Caral, while subject to the same climatic influences, appears to be a little further "down the hill" than Mesa Verde.

In sum, we're both seeing the same thing, but saying it a little differently.

[okie01]

And I completely forgot to make the point that the observed topographic/climatic similarities suggested to me:

Is it possible that there is a linkage between Caral and the chain of cultures that progressed north into the American Southwest?

It would seem likely that vanguards from a given culture would seek out similar geographic and climatic conditions in order to take maximum advantage of existing technology and agricultural practice.

That is, could Chaco somehow be a lineal descendant of Caral...???

[blam]

"blam, this one's for you."

Thanks for the Ping

First City In The New World

[blam]

"Is it possible that there is a linkage between Caral and the chain of cultures that progressed north into the American Southwest? "

Don't know specifically about Caral but, there are many who study in this area that think that a lot of 'things' flowed from south to north. (Instead of the other way)

[okie01]

"there are many who study in this area that think that a lot of 'things' flowed from south to north."

Haven't pre-Aztec trade goods, for example, been found as far north as Chaco Canyon?

[blam]

"Haven't pre-Aztec trade goods, for example, been found as far north as Chaco Canyon?"

I just pulled my copy of People Of Chaco, by Kendrick Frazier off the bookshelf. Here's what he said about that argument:

"The Chacoan culture, had indirect contacts with cultures elswhere, including MesoAmerica, but it developed on it's own. It's rise didn't require the beneficent help of outsiders. And neither did its eventual fall result from their departure."

I think it is/was Christy Turner at ASU that takes a different view and believes there was an Aztec invasion.(more or less)

Turner is the one who took so much 'heat' over the discovery of cannabilism at some of these sites.

[blam]

Bones Of Contention, Christy Turner.

[blam]

Absolutely beautiful pictures.

[Lessismore]

The evolution of cities seems pretty straightforward:

• Climate change or over population makes hunter-gatherer's switch to agriculture.
• Some farmers find it is easier to steal than to produce.
• Nobility, priesthoods, and warrior classes emerge.
• They conscript labor in the off-season to build their palaces, temples, and castles.
• The dwellings of courtiers, monks, soldiers, smiths, and various servants grow up around them.

This chain of events likely happened several times around the world with only minimal inspiration from existing cities.

[Havisham]

You confused me. It wasn't the New World until it became known to the Old World. This oldest city would be attributed to the Pre-Columbian world.

[blam]

BTTT.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 7/27/2002. Thanks vannrox.