Sacred City of Caral
Remains of Caral
|
|
 Shown within Peru
|
|
| Alternate name | Caral-Supe |
|---|---|
| Location | Lima Region, Peru |
| Coordinates | 10°53′37″S 77°31′13″W / 10.89361°S 77.52028°WCoordinates: 10°53′37″S 77°31′13″W / 10.89361°S 77.52028°W |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | c. 2600 BCE |
| Abandoned | c. 2000 BCE |
| Cultures | Norte Chico |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | In ruins |
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| Official name | Sacred City of Caral-Supe |
| Criteria | Cultural: (ii), (iii), (iv) 
|
| Reference | 1269 |
| Inscription | 2009 (33rd Session) |
|
[]
|
|
Caral, or Caral-Chupacigarro, was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca Province, Peru, some 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Lima. Caral is the most ancient city of the Americas and a well-studied site of the Norte Chico civilization.
Caral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.
Caral was inhabited roughly between the 26th and 20th centuries BCE, enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares (150 acres). Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban centre in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby, such as Bandurria, Peru. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known.
Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948, but it received little attention at the time because it appeared to lack many typical artefacts that were sought at archaeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. In 1975, the Peruvian architect Carlos Williams made a detailed record of most of the archaeological sites of the valley of Supe, among which he recorded Caral, from which he made some observations about the development of architecture in the Andes. Ruth Shady further explored the 4,000- to 4,600-year-old city of temples 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. Caral was a thriving metropolis at roughly the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.
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 civilisations that rose and fell over the span of four millennia. It is believed that Caral may answer questions about the origins of the Andean civilisations and the development of the first cities.
Among the artefacts found at Caral are a knotted textile piece that the excavators have labelled a quipu. They argue that the artefact is evidence that the quipu record keeping system, a method involving knots tied in rope that was brought to perfection by the Inca Empire, was older than any archaeologist had previously guessed. Evidence has emerged that the quipu may also have recorded logographic information in the same way writing does. Gary Urton has suggested that the quipus used a binary system which could record phonological or logographic data.
...
Wikipedia