For years it was believed that the first city built in the Americas was in the Andes of South America. More recently, however, archaeologists are excavating a site over a thousand years older than anything previously discovered in an unlikely place: the desert plains of the Supe Valley in Peru, about ten miles away from the coast.

Situated near a river, this site known as Caral has been dated to approximately 2627 B.C.

This would mean that the city, which has an extensive complex of pyramids and public buildings, predates even the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt.

Caral was first discovered by archaeologist Max Uhle in 1905, but it was lost for nearly a century until rediscovered by archaeologist Ruth Shady from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in 1994. This city was constructed during the late archaic and pre-ceramic periods. The lack of pottery was much of the reason that archaeologists let the site remain unexcavated for so long: sites without ceramics were typically thought of as less advanced and thus not as important.

Caral was occupied roughly from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, when for some reason the city was abandoned. Caral relied heavily on trade, and shows evidence of extensive relations with peoples in neighboring geographic regions, including the Andes, the rain forest, and the coast. Caral was an economy based society, and unlike the arid landscape of today, they used irrigation techniques to divert the nearby Supe River to create an oasis suitable for farming. Large irrigation development was not necessary as the river overflowed every year, and only small diversions were made.

One of their made commodities and exports was cotton, which they grew every season. This supported a population of over 3,000 permanent residents and far more travelers who visited during the days when the market was open.

One singularly unique thing about Caral is the lack of signs of conflict. When the city was first discovered to be the oldest yet found, many archaeologists came to the site looking to find more proof for a theory that proposed that war and conflicts were the catalysts for cities and civilizations to be born. When they got there, however, they were quickly frustrated. The city had no walls, no fortifications, no signs of any military whatsoever. Even more significant, they found no weapons anywhere.

Caral seems to have been the progenitor of many distinctive features of South American architecture, religion and even ceremonies. Most likely, the sunken platforms and pyramid plazas were incorporated by later civilizations such as the Maya. In the same way, several human sacrifices have been uncovered, indicating that perhaps even the darker sides of later civilizations had their roots in this ancient city.

Caral is only one of 17 other citadel complexes that cover over 65 hectares of the Supe Valley. Carbon dating of sites near Caral have revealed dates as old as 2950 BC, indicating that Caral might have been the culmination of hundreds of years of complex building and social planning.

Learn more about this author, Bran Herbert.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Caral: The first city in the New World?
We want to hear your view. Write now!