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A book containing new information about Caral, the oldest known civilization in the Americas, has been recently published in Peru. The book was titled "Centros urbanos de la civilización Caral: 21 años recuperando la historia sobre el sistema social" (Caral Civilization Urban Centers: 21-year recovery of the history of social system). Such reading material is on sale at different libraries, said Ruth Shady Solis, Director at Caral Archaeological Zone (ZAC), a public entity attached to the Ministry of Culture as Executing Unit 003. Its eight chapters address excavation, research and conservation works developed by the ZAC multidisciplinary team in nine...

Caral, the Americas’ oldest civilization, located north of present day Lima, Peru, faced a grave crisis as a result of climate change some 4,000 years ago, archaeologists said. “Droughts were so severe that they could have lasted between 60 and 130 years, which could explain why there were social crises in (civilizations like) Caral, Moche and Tiahuanaco,” archaeologist Ruth Shady, director of the Caral Project, told Efe. Women played leading roles in Caral and a team led by Shady has been working for eight years in Vichama, an urban center near the Vegueta district, in the northern province of Huaura,...

LIMA (AFP) – Archeologists have discovered a group of ancient tombs in the mountainous jungle of southeastern Peru they say is as important as the discovery of the lost city of Machu Picchu. The tombs belonging to the Wari culture were found on the jungle-covered eastern slope of the Andes in Cuzco department at a long-abandoned city thought to be the last redoubt of Inca resistance to Spanish colonial rule. The Waris, a pre-Inca civilization, had an enormous cultural impact in the Andean region between 600 and 1200. The Inca empire (around 1400 to 1532) was the largest pre-Columbian empire...

The mother of all civilisations 16 Dec 2007, 0001 hrs IST,Shobhan Saxena,TNN The ruins were so magnificent and sprawling that some people believed that the aliens from a faraway galaxy had built the huge pyramids that stood in the desert across the Andes. Some historians believed that the complex society, which existed at that time, was born out of fear and war. They looked for the telltale signs of violence that they believed led to the creation of this civilisation. But, they could not find even a hint of any warfare. It was baffling. Even years after Ruth Shady Solis...

Peru Temple, Mural Hints at Complexity By LESLIE JOSEPHS LIMA, Peru (AP) — The sophisticated design and colorful artwork found in a 4,000-year-old temple unearthed near Peru's northern desert coast suggests that early civilization here was more complex than originally thought, archaeologists said. Ventarron, a 7,000-square-foot site — a bit larger than a basketball court — with painted walls and a white-and-red mural of a deer hunt, points to an "advanced civilization," said the lead archaeologist who excavated the site last week. "We have the use of a construction material that is not primitive," Walter Alva, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist...

Peru: Bandurria may rival Caral as oldest citadel in Americas Bandurria's circular ceremonial center. ? Andina (LIP-jl) -- A team of specialists headed by archaeologist Alejandro Chu has informed that structures found in Bandurria may be as old as structures found in Caral, Peru, deemed as the oldest citadel in the Americas. Located north of Lima, near the city of Huacho, the Bandurria archaeological center has been found to have similar structures as those found in Caral. Among the similarities are a circular plaza made with circular borders, and a ceremonial center made of clay, all in an asymmetrical style....

For archeology buffs, Caral is a chance to begin at the beginning By Leslie Josephs ASSOCIATED PRESS A sudden wind gust blows eerily down from rocky Andean foothills, kicking up a cinnamon-colored cloud over the moonscape of ruins that is the oldest city in the Americas. The sky is a crisp blue. All around in the Supe River Valley are lush fields of onion and corn. We are in Caral, three hours and nearly 5,000 years from contemporary Lima, Peru's bustling capital, and we've spent the last half-hour or so on a bumpy drive from the coast, along a dirt...

Japanese researchers discover remains of what appears to be 4,800-year-old temple in Peru 06/20/2006 The Asahi Shimbun CHANCAY, Peru--Japanese researchers said they have discovered--with the unintended help of looters--what appears to be a temple ruins at least 4,800 years old that could be one of the oldest in the Americas. The temple is believed to have been built before or around 2600 BC when Peru's oldest known city, Caral, was created, the researchers said. The ruins were found in the ruins of Shicras located in the Chancay Valley about 100 kilometers north of Lima. The team started full-scale excavation work...

August 20, 2005 Peruvian pyramids rival the pharaohs' By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent RUINS on Peru’s desert coast dated to some 4,700 years ago suggest an earlier focus of civilisation than any so far identified in the New World. The site of Caral, in the Supe Valley north of Lima, covers 66 hectares (165 acres) and includes pyramids 21m (70ft) high arranged around a large plaza. “What really sets Caral apart is its age,” Roger Atwood reports in Archaeology. “Carbon dating has revealed that its pyramids are contemporary with those of Egypt and the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.” These are among...

Pre-Incas kept detailed records too Jude Webber Wednesday, 20 July 2005 This inhabitant of the ancient Peruvian city of Caral would have used knotted string to communicate sophisticated concepts as long as 5000 years ago (Image: Reuters/ Pilar Olivares) A sophisticated arrangement of knots and strings, found on the site of the oldest city in the Americas, indicates ancient Peruvians were skilled at conveying detailed information much earlier than once thought. Archaeologists say the string arrangement, known as a quipu or khipu, indicates ancient Americans were expert communicators thousands of years earlier. Until now the oldest known quipus, often associated...

The amphitheater served as the ceremonial heart of a thriving city 4,600 years ago. First City in the New World? Peru's Caral suggests civilization emerged in the Americas 1,000 years earlier than experts believed Why Did They Leave the Coast? Fishermen today ply Peru’s coast in bull-rush boats as they have for thousands of years, harvesting the rich marine life sustained by the cold Humboldt Current. Leaving this food-rich environment and establishing the urban center of Caral deep in the desert became possible only through large-scale irrigation, enabling farmers to grow squash plants, sweet potatoes and beans. For protein, the...

Ancient Peruvian city in dire peril February 07 2002 at 07:21AM By Missy Ryan Lima, Peru - The remains of a city thought to be the oldest in the Americas, buried under Peruvian soil since the era of Egypt's pyramids, could be destroyed by erosion and exposure to the elements if the world community does not rush to the rescue, archeologists said on Wednesday. Researchers believe that Caral, a complex of stone temples, altars and dwellings located in a desert valley 185km north of Lima, dates to before 2600 BC - around the same time the famed Giza pyramids ...

Archaeologists discovered an ancient wall relief in Peru, belonging to the oldest civilizations in the Americas, news agency Andina reported on Thursday. The wall is approximately 3,800 years old and portrays snakes and human heads. One meter (3.2 feet) high and 2.8 meters long, the wall relief was discovered in the sea-side archaeological site of Vichama, 110 kilometers (68 miles) north of Peru's capital, Lima. The Vichama site is one of the excavation points of the recently discovered Caral civilization, also known as Norte Chico, and has been explored by archaeologists since 2007. The Caral civilization is 5,000 years old,...

Researchers in Peru have discovered a trio of statuettes they believe were created by the ancient Caral civilization some 3,800 years ago, the culture ministry said Tuesday. The mud statuettes were found inside a reed basket in a building at the ancient city of Vichama in northern Peru, which is today an important archaeological site. The ministry said they were probably used in religious rituals performed before breaking ground on a new building. Two of the figures, a naked man and woman painted in white, black and red, are believed to represent political authorities. The third, a women with 28...