Editor: The name of the first andean civilization is "Caral", and not "Norte Chico". Caral civilization was defined for the first time by Ruth Shady in 1997, after the Sacred City of Caral.

Coordinates: 10°53′37″S, 77°31′13″W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

The Sacred City of Caral is a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. The Sacred City of Caral is one of the most ancient cities of America and a well-studied site of the Caral civilization. Nickname: City of the Kings Location within Lima Department Coordinates: Department Lima Province Lima Province Settled 1535  - Mayor Luis Castañeda Lossio Area    - City 804. ... World map showing the Americas CIA map of the Americas The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World consisting of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ...

History

The Sacred City of Caral was inhabited between roughly 3000 BC and 1600 BC, enclosing an area of 66 hectares. The Sacred City of Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban center in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants it is the best-studied and one of the largest Caral sites known. (31st century BC - 30th century BC - 29th century BC - other centuries) (4th millennium BC - 3rd millennium BC - 2nd millennium BC) Events 2925 - 2776 BC - First Dynasty wars in Egypt 2900 BC - Beginning of the Early Dynastic Period I in Mesopotamia. ... (Redirected from 1600 BC) Centuries: 18th century BC - 17th century BC - 16th century BC Decades: 1650s BC 1640s BC 1630s BC 1620s BC 1610s BC - 1600s BC - 1590s BC 1580s BC 1570s BC 1560s BC 1550s BC Events and trends Egypt: End of Fourteenth Dynasty The creation of one of...

Archaeological findings

The Sacred City of Caral pyramids in the arid Supe Valley, some 20 km from the Pacific coast.

Pyramid en Caral

Paul Kosok discovered the Sacred City of Caral (Chupacigarro Grande) in 1948, but it received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts that were sought at archeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. 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. The Sacred City of Caral was a thriving metropolis at the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built. Image File history File links PeruCaral01. ... Image File history File links PeruCaral01. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (6353x1428, 2128 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Caral ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (6353x1428, 2128 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Caral ... Ruth Shady Solís (born in Callao, Peru on 29th December 1946) is a Peruvian anthropologist and archeologist. ...

Pirámide Mayor covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet (18 m) tall. The Sacred City of 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 the Sacred City of Caral may answer questions about the origins of the Inca and the development of the first cities. For other meanings of Inca, see Inca (disambiguation). ...

Among the artifacts found at the Sacred City of 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 Inca, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. However, the artifact is orders of magnitude more simple than later Inca 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. Representation of a quipu Quipu or khipu were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. ...

No trace of warfare has been found at the Sacred City of 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 condor and pelican bones and 38 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. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... Bâ™­ cornet The cornet is a brass instrument that closely resembles the trumpet. ... An aphrodisiac is an agent which increases sexual desire[1]. The name comes from the Greek goddess of Sensuality Aphrodite. ...

Caral civilization spawns 19 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile (80 km²) area of the Supe Valley, and other minor settlements in the valleys of Fortaleza, Pativilca and Huaura. The find of the quipu indicates that the later Inca civilization preserved some cultural continuity from the Caral civilization. For other meanings of Inca, see Inca (disambiguation). ...

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.
• Caral

Science is the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). ... SABC logo The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the state owned broadcaster in South Africa, and was for many years the monopoly, controlled by the white minority National Party government. ...

External links

• Caral Tours
• 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

See also

• Bosnian pyramids
• Chinese pyramids
• Egyptian pyramids
• French pyramids
• Mesoamerican pyramids
• Nubian pyramids
• Ukrainian pyramids