First City In The New World?

Smithsonian ^ | 7-23-2002

[blam]

First City in the New World?

Peru's Caral suggests civilization emerged in the Americas 1,000 years earlier than experts believed

Six earth-and-rock mounds rise out of the windswept desert of the Supe Valley near the coast of Peru. Dunelike and immense, they appear to be nature's handiwork, forlorn outposts in an arid region squeezed between the Pacific Ocean and the folds of the Andean Cordillera. But looks deceive. These are human-made pyramids, and compelling new evidence indicates they are the remains of a city that flourished nearly 5,000 years ago. If true, it would be the oldest urban center in the Americas and among the most ancient in all the world.

Research developed by Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady Solís of San Marcos University suggests that Caral, as the 150-acre complex of pyramids, plazas and residential buildings is known, was a thriving metropolis as Egypt's great pyramids were being built. The energetic archaeologist believes that Caral may also answer nagging questions about the long-mysterious origins of the Inca. Caral may even hold a key to the origins of civilizations everywhere.

What has amazed archaeologists is not just the age but the complexity and scope of Caral. Pirámide Mayor alone covers an area nearly the size of four football fields and is 60 feet tall. Inside a large sunken amphitheater, which could have held many hundreds of people during civic or religious events, Shady's team found 32 flutes made of pelican and condor bones and 37 cornets of deer and llama bones. "Clearly, music played an important role in their society," says Shady.

Eventually Caral would spawn 17 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35-square-mile area of the Supe Valley. But based on Caral's size and scope, Shady believes that it is indeed the mother city of the Incan civilization.

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[blam]

Getting older all the time.

[eno_]

If our species has been around so long, why are all the civilizations from the last interglacial? Or are we not even looking farther back?

[blam]

"If our species has been around so long, why are all the civilizations from the last interglacial? "

You mean something like this?

Calico: A 200,000-Year Old Site In The Americas?

[thegreatbeast]

If you follow these things, as I do (rather loosely), this is not news. As the man says, "Getting older all the time." All over the world they are discovering that artifacts are what they consider to be improbably old. There is a certain dogma in effect at any given time and the present iteration of that dogma has it that certain artifacts don't fit the accepted timeline that the vast majority of scientists want to believe in. But there are surprises all over the place. Recently, a geologist, studying the way the stone had aged, dated the Sphinx as being thousands of years older than everyone thought it was. We are learning that white people traipsed across our continent long before an "indigenous" people developed. You may not hear about this again as these inconvenient findings are often buried by the Army Corps of Engineers.
A last note, carbon dating in itself is coming under question. Too much science for my little pea-brain but I know of it.

[blam]

"Recently, a geologist, studying the way the stone had aged, dated the Sphinx as being thousands of years older than everyone thought it was."

You mean this?

Was The Sphinx Built Over 10,000 Years Ago?

[balrog666]

The energetic archaeologist believes that Caral may also answer nagging questions about the long-mysterious origins of the Inca.

If his dating is correct, he's talking about 3500 years before the Inca showed up. What happened in between?

[blam]

"If his dating is correct, he's talking about 3500 years before the Inca showed up. What happened in between?"

Well, when they do declare that there is an underwater city off the coast of Cuba and do some excavations, my guess will probably be about as good as anyone else. (Atlantis was South America?)

[blam]

Two day old bump.