Caral, Peru

Caral – Archaeological Site - Peru

An archaeological site situated on the Pacific coast of Peru known for over hundred years made headlines all over the world. The site of Caral and the cluster of eighteen Late Pre Ceramic sites placed in the Supe Valley comprises of what is now known as the Caral Supe Civilization and seem to be of great importance since they represent the earliest urban settlement in the Americas, nearly 4600 years ago.

 This ancient structure of 626 hectares of archaeological site of The Sacred City of Caral-Supe is located on a dry desert terrace which overlooks the green valley of the Supe River. It has a central public space with six large platform mounds which are arranged round a huge plaza and the largest of the mounds is 60 feet high measuring 450x500 feet at the base.

 These mounds seems to be built within one or two building periods which indicate that a high level of planning probably associated with state level societies could have been involved. The public architecture on the other hand had stairs, courtyards and rooms with three sunken plazas that suggest society wide religion and out of the 18 other sites in the vicinity of Caral, ten are over 60 acres in size, with all having similar public architecture.

Caral – Peaceful Society

Some of the crops here include squash, beans and cotton which were grown in the dry desert climate assisted with intricate irrigation system. The ruins featured evidence of monumental and complex architecture which include six large pyramid structures and an interesting thing was that there was no evidence of any war at the site.

It was presumed that Caral was at the centre of a great peaceful society which was built on pleasure and commerce instead of any conquest. It was also noticed that the site had a collection of musical instruments which include 37 cornetts that were made of deer and llama bone and 33 flutes of unusual creation which were radiocarbon dating to 2170 ±80 BC.

Urban Settlements/State Societies 

The most appealing aspect of Caral along with the rest of the Supe Valley sites is its archaeologists’ dealings with urban settlements together with state societies. The building monuments like the pyramids and irrigation canals and the planning of the cities are well planned and sophisticated.

Caral is a site which is so old that it predates the ceramic period and hence no traces of pottery were found at the sites. The largest ever pyramid in Peru was terraced with staircase which lead to an atrium like platform concluding in a flattened top housing closed rooms with a ceremonial fire pit.

Most of the pyramids were built in one or two phases meaning that there was some plan in erecting these monuments. Surrounding the pyramids were several residential structures where a house portrayed the remains of a body which was buried in the wall and seems to be a natural death instead of a human sacrifice.

Though we have no indication about the political structure of the people who built Caral, it is believed that they had no ceramics, metallurgy or writing. The discoveries made at Caral and the other Supe Valley sites give some information on how the people choose to become urban dwellers.