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I'm sorry for opening a topic i don't really know about,(if theres already a topic on this please tell me) i just wanted to ask if anybody has any information on the Caral civilzation (Peru)its said to be older than the olmecs?
Posts: 24 | From: South London aka South Babylon | Registered: Dec 2008
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Heru-Tunde – You picked a tough one. The Norte Chico culture asks more questions than it answers.
Norte Chico The enigma of ancient South American development, [cultures evolving to the point of building Monumental Structures BEFORE they have even learned to make ceramics - pottery], is illustrated by what many now consider the region’s very first civilization, the Norte Chico civilization in the Norte Chico region of coastal central Peru, some even argue that Norte Chico is the oldest civilization in the Americas.
The Norte Chico civilization consisted of about thirty major population centers. The oldest center, dating from about 9,210 B.C. but only provides some indication of human settlement in the early archaic era. But by 3,200 B.C, human settlement and communal construction are readily apparent.
The most notable of the Norte Chico cities is Caral in the Supe Valley: Caral excavations were begun in 1994 by Ruth Shady Solís, a Peruvian anthropologist and archeologist. She is also founder and director of the Archeological project Caral.
The ruins of Caral are located in an arid region, but there is nearby rivers. The site is 14 miles from the coast and 120 miles north of Peru’s modern capital city of Lima. Caral was inhabited between 2627 B.C. and 2020 B.C. and its land area was about 150 acres. Caral city was comprised of six pyramids (or platform mounds), two plazas, an amphitheatre, and ordinary houses. The population is estimated to have been about 3,000. The living arrangement seems to have been large, well kept rooms atop the pyramids for the elite, ground-level complexes for craftsmen, and shabbier outlying shantytowns for workers.
The Norte Chico people were apparently a very peaceful people, no evidence exists of weapons or defensive fortifications, and no evidence exists of Human sacrifice. In one of the pyramids they uncovered 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 cornets made of deer and llama bones, also found was a primitive quipu. It is speculated that the city sustained itself by cotton farming; this was accomplished by building canals to irrigate cotton fields with river water. This cotton was then used to make textiles such as fishing nets, carry bags, and clothing. These textiles where in turn used to trade for seafood from the coast and produce from the interior, the civilization apparently had wide-ranging trade contacts.
Caral quipu (A Quipu or khipu (sometimes called talking knots) were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. A quipu usually consisted of colored spun and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It also consisted of cotton cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Quipus may have just a few or up to 2,000 cords).
Caral Flute
The largest pyramid of Caral is Pirámide Mayor; which is 450 ft. By 500 ft. and 60 ft. tall. A 30-foot-wide staircase rises from a sunken circular plaza at the foot of the pyramid, passing over three terraced levels until it reaches the top of the platform. The platform top contains the remains of an atrium and a large fireplace. It should be pointed out that the pyramid is not really a pyramid at all, in the true sense; but more akin to the platform mounds used for the same purposes by the ancient Mississippians of central United States.
Evidence suggests that the pyramids were built by stuffing reed bags filled with stones gathered from hillside quarry’s and riverbanks against a retaining wall. This process was repeated until the mound had reached the desired dimensions and height. Although analysis is not available, the retaining walls appear to be made of random sized stones bonded together with mortar (probably lime and sand). It was the remains of the reed bags that provided the material for radiocarbon dating of the sites, the oldest of these bags, was dated to 2627 B.C.
By 1800 B.C, the Norte Chico civilization began to decline, the circumstances and final time of its decline is unknown. It would be another thousand years before the appearance of the next great Peruvian culture, the Chavín.
The enigma of the Norte Chico civilization is because of what is missing.
There appears to have been no war: Conflict and war are the normal impetuses for congregating in cities so as to have a common defense.
There was no pottery: only gourds (vessels made of the dried shells of Melons, Pumpkins etc.) Mastering pottery making is a normal stage in a culture’s development. Without pottery it is impossible for the people to boil food, everything would have had to be roasted. Improving the taste, variety, and preparation of food, is one of the first things people normally attend to.
There was no art: save for a few gourds painted with a god figure and the flutes. The urge to produce art is another of the things one would expect of a developing culture BEFORE they progressed to the point of making monumental structures.
So it is that all of the in-between accomplishments normally associated with the pristine development of a civilization, are missing with the Norte Chico civilization. Logically it doesn’t make sense, but we also know that Human development always makes sense, something is missing. They also found abundant evidence of drug use, which is normally associated with Shamanism. Pyramids, Shamanism: Only one people in the Americas combine those two - The Olmec.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Heru-Tunde - When a favor is requested, and that favor is then granted, words of thanks are usually forthcoming.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Mike111: Heru-Tunde - When a favor is requested, and that favor is then granted, words of thanks are usually forthcoming.
Sorry i hadn't been on the forum since you posted on the topic, thanks for your help, much appreciated.
Posts: 24 | From: South London aka South Babylon | Registered: Dec 2008
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