Caral
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How it came to be
Caral sits on a dry terrace above the Supe valley, 182 km north of Lima and 23 km inland. The city is about 5,000 years old, and UNESCO calls it the oldest centre of civilization in the Americas. It has six large pyramid-like structures, platform mounds of stone and earth, and sunken circular plazas.
The German archaeologist Max Uhle came across the site in 1905 but did not recognize the mounds as pyramids. In 1948 the American Paul Kosok studied it more closely, but few in the field believed it was as old as he claimed. The Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady has led work at Caral since 1994, and radiocarbon dates she and colleagues published in 2001 showed that monumental building and urban life had begun there by about 2600 BC. A knotted cord record, a quipu, was also found.
Caral was abandoned early and found late, which kept it well preserved. Because no gold or silver was found there, it was little looted. Later peoples settled only on its outskirts. It was inscribed in 2009.
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