Caral

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History: Sucedió en el Perú

Caral: principal pyramid from the air. Approx 5000 years old - one of "first cities" in the Americas

Before you start out, please read information on the History of Peru: Introduction pages and (if you have time) the Preface pages. A list of all the pages in the History of Peru category is updated (actualizada) on the Category:History of Peru page, also called the contents or index page (confused see footnote). The pages which follow are divided into the following parts. 1. Resources, 2. Research groups, tutorials, study groups. There can be as many turorial sections as there are tutors. Tutorial groups are generally of two types: (a) regional - e.g. Surrey, Birmingham, S.W.London or (b) specialist - e.g. Andean dance, nineteenth century finance and development.

Collaborative history This series uses a collaborative approach based on and around the TVPeru (National Television) series Sucedió en el Perú. Note that the videos are in Spanish. If you find that the video you want to watch has not been translated, help to produce versions in your national or regional language: English, Catalan, Italian, French, German, Japanese . . . with explanatory notes. For one way of doing this see script on the Conquest (La Conquista). You need to be able to play Flash videos or YouTube videos. Readers can add content to most of the pages. You can design and share your own tutorial - for yourself, for your group (see tutorials below). You can also add new pages on new topics [create new page]. If you are not sure about the contribution you would like to make or would just like to make a suggestion click Discussion tab at top of page.

CARAL (Sucedió en el Perú - in Spanish)

Video: Caral, 5000 años de identidad cultural. Sucedió en el Perú series.

Caral La Primera Ciudad De America - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSKSRbZh1ys

Direct YouTube links:

Caral 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfes7YAdTBY;

Caral 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51Fq-4AzR4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D51Fq-4AzR4];

Caral 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWSKKdjltTc

200px|left|Click on smaller video window for better sound quality

thumb|300px|left|Caral Bloque 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfes7YAdTBY

0.00 Antonio Zapata. Welcome to the Sucedió en al Peru // It happened in Peru series on the topic of Caral, one of the earliest "cities" in the Americas. We have come to the site of Caral in order to meet Ruth Shady and her team who will present the . . .

0.39 Ruth Shady. (Archaeologist and Director of the Caral Project.) The inhabitants of this north-central part of Peru had acheived through economic and social integration a complex mode of life . . .

1.18 Ruth Shady. It had been one of the most advanced (societies) in relation to others in the world at that time. Because many of their concepts they would be using years (many milenniums) later in (ancient) Greece . . . and Meso (middle / central) America. . .

1.50 Title. Caral: 5000 years of "cultural identity" in Peru.

1.53 Ruth Shady. After - at least 20000 years ago - human beings spread out through the territory making use of (natural) resources which varied so greatly throughout (what is now) Peru . . . Then about 8000 years ago some changes came about in the climate and the inhabitants / dwellers started to produce . . . in their respective zones of occupation.

2.44 Ruth Shady (contd.) Production rather than hunting changes the way of life. Some produced in the cultivation of crops and others in the domestication of animals. About 6000 years ago they domesticated camelids (llamas, alpacas etc). They were growing crops on the coast and in the sierra - not just extracting from the wild and thus, of course, changing their way of living: herding in place of hunting animals, fishing and collecting sea-food (molluscs etc.) . . . So they no longer have to move around hunting and gathering . . . Technology also changes . . . . and in the management of their respective territories.

4.50 Male voiceover. These cultures developed after . . . the first discoveries

5.25 Ruth Shady.

CARAL archaeological project

Prepared initially for course PERU 3000 BC to 1963.

From simple to complex societies. Travel north from Lima along the Panamericana highway for about two hours (Km. 159). After passing Huacho, Huara and Vegueta (or is it just before Vegueta?)(map)you will find a turning signposted CARAL. Few, as they speed towards Trujillo or Huaraz have the time (or the right vehicle - but why not try a bike) to journey the extra hour (or so) along a dirt track to an archaeological site boasting to have been the "earliest city / urban settlement in the Americas". (Caral website), A map of the site shows a group of truncated pyramids: the Pirámide Mayor is 153.52 m by 109.42 m by 28.00 m (See [http://www.arqueologia.com.ar/ www.arqueologia.com.ar]) but one of the most interesting is the Gallery Pyramid (See Caral official site photo). For pictures of other (truncated) pyramids see Facebook: red educativa peru (you need to join Facebook to see / use these) and for collections of slide shows, talks and videos see YouTube: search caral. For more learned articles try Google Scholar. For example (as many initial articles are forbidding access without an Athens password or similar) open the article by David Toye which deals with the comparative multiplier effect. Caral is referred to following note 21. Also useful and accessible for us are the research articles on the Caral website. If you are new to history, historiography and archaeology the Open University and the openlearn webpages or Wikipedia are often enlightening. A "BBC Learning" video shows that net-working (correction net-making - caveat the Bridport effect!) triggered-off urban living in Caral.

When was Caral discovered

The guide who took us round maintained that the locals were aware of the ancient site all along. The Caral team in their 2009 exhibition state that - according to a Peruvian Times report - Caral was discovered by Paul Kosok in 1948, but received little attention until recently because it appeared to lack many typical artifacts usually found at archaeological sites throughout the Andes.

The city of Caral was a dense, diverse and permanent settlement of socially heterogeneous people and a center of religious, political and administrative power. It formed part of a hierarchical group of settlements that had a well-defined design denoting planning, zoning, and organized management of space for differentiated use by its occupants, with physical or symbolic connotations, and diverse architectural expressions relating to a complex division of labor and the presence of specialists in a variety of production and trade activities.

The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres, or 607,000 square meters, and includes the Pirámide Mayor – which covers the size of four football fields – and 19 other pyramid complexes scattered across the 35 square mile, or 80 square kilometer, area of the Supe Valley. \End quote\

From the point of view of developing a reliable methodology, it is probably good advice to avoid the word discovery when referring to areas already or previously occupied. London was discovered by Peru is just as bizarre a statement as America was discovered by Spain. Unfortunately the otherwise excellent BBC documentary on Caral mispends its precious opening footage on discovery.

The Caral team

First stop for further knowledge on Caral is the website maintained by Ruth Shady and her team (The official website of the Caral (Supe valley) project team, headed by Dr Ruth Shady as referred to above.) The URL reference is Caral website.

History of the Caral project

Please add information here

Continued in Caral 2. Click to go to second part of "Caral".

Footnotes

Preface | Intro | Index | Caral | Chavín | Moche-Nazca | Incas | Conquest | Viceroyalty | Reforms | Tupamaru | Independence | Confed | Guano | Nitrates War | WW2 | Economy | Special | Templates | Group | Universities |