When archaeologists defined the real age of Peru’s city of Caral, the result was a sensation: the place was founded more than 4.000 years ago. After years of digging and restoring, Peru is now hoping for a new wave of tourists.

Until the year 2001 there were no doubts about the locations of our civilization’s cradles and roots: in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. Apparently America didn’t play any role in regard to ancient city construction. But then a method called ’radiocarbon dating’ helped archaeologists to discover the age of reed bags which were found in the ancient walls of Caral. The probes were pointing to the year 2627 B.C. This date pushes back the emergence of the first complex society in the New World by nearly 800 years.

Caral is one of 18 sites in central Peru’s Supe Valley, which stretches eastward from the Pacific coastline, up the slopes of the Andes.
The city, located 200 kilometer north of Lima is probably older than the pyramids in Egypt. Pyramids were also found in Caral – six, to be exact. The biggest is 160 meters long, 150 meters wide and 18 meters high.

During their long lasting examination scientists have discovered many signs and indices of city life. The approximately 3,000 inhabitants were obviously divided in several social layers – evidenced by the different sizes and styles of buildings which range from poor to luxurious.

Apparently the inhabitants of Caral had a high standard of knowledge: they built a complex irrigation system and the city’s layout attests to specialized skills in natural science – for example in the field of geometry and astronomy. And music was also played in these early days, excavations revealed 32 flutes. The pyramids and irrigation system show an organized society in which masses of people were paid, or compelled, to work on centralized projects. This suggests that power and wealth were held by an elite group at a time when, in most of the Americas, people were still hunting and gathering in much smaller communities.

What is surprising to archaeologists is that the city was created by a society that had yet to invent pottery or cultivate grain. Its people grew peppers, beans, avocadoes and potatoes - all of which they roasted, having no pots to boil them in. They also ate lots of anchovies, which may have been used in dried form as a kind of currency, as grain was later.

The scientists also couldn’t find any traces of defensive fortifications; no protective barriers nor trenches. It is assumed that the citizens were rather peaceful people who focused on dealing in agricultural products and handicrafts. One source of income was seemingly the knotting of laces which were then traded to the fishermen in exchange for fresh fish. The pacific coast is only 20 kilometers away.

Peru is now trying to further market these unknown pages in the history of the American continent. For years archaeologists have worked on the excavation of the ancient city, the infrastructure to accommodate tourism was also extended and improved. In the future tourists will no longer automatically connect pyramids with Egypt but also with Peru. At least that is the hope of the public authorities in Lima.

More information, including maps, here

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