CARAL CULTURE: ECONOMY, ARCHITECTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2025

The Caral culture developed between the years 3000 and 1800 BC. C., and was located in the Supe valley. It is considered a culture of more than 5000 years, being the oldest civilization in America.

The city was built in complete isolation, but it eventually disappeared due to earthquakes and floods. The caral culture was discovered in 1996 by archaeologist Ruth Shady.

Through findings in the area and studies of carbon dioxide, Shady demonstrated that civilization emerged at the same time from ancient world cultures, such as those of India, China, and Egypt.

These investigations surpassed the Chavín culture, which was long considered the matrix of the cultures of ancient Peru. The uprising of this city took almost a thousand years of work.

This civilization was divided into four stages, in the first stage the general constructions of the squares were carried out.

The second stage focused on the construction of the administrative buildings. The third was dedicated to the expansion of settlements, and the fourth comprised the abandonment of the valley due to the damage of natural phenomena.

According to the work of scientist Ruth Shady, this culture did not present ceramic works; The ancient settlers used pumpkins as containers, the utensils were made of carved wood and the plates were made of polished stones.

Who discovered the caral culture?

The discovery of the Caral culture is associated with a research team made up of scientists who are experts in history, anthropology and archeology, led by Jonathan Haas, Ruth Shady Solis and Winifred Creamer.

The most important excavations carried out in Caral are owed to them to unearth all the archaeological material and its subsequent classification of the monuments, buildings and objects found there.

The archaeologist and anthropologist Ruth Shady Solis continues to study Caral through a special project that she has directed for several years. But, were they the ones who discovered the Caral culture?

Even today the ruins of Caral continue to be studied and classified due to the great historical importance of this culture, contemporary with the first most powerful civilizations of humanity such as those of India, China, Sumeria and Egypt, among others.

However, the great scientists studying Caral today were not the ones who discovered the ruins of this culture.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, several archaeologists, anthropologists and historians explored the Supe valley area, but the one who really studied Caral with the importance it deserves for the first time was Paul Kosok in 1949.

Who was Paul Kosok?

Paul Kosok was an American historian and archaeologist who focused his studies especially on the Nazca lines with his inseparable co-worker Maria Reiche.

For more than nineteen years, he researched in detail and explored Peru in search of information about pre-Columbian cultures and the ways of the Inca. It was during these archaeological adventures that he reached the Supe valley.

How do you get to Caral?

According to the records of his own explorations, Paul Kosok reached Caral or Chupicigarro, as that area was called until then, along with Richard Schaedel while they investigated the area.

In reality, they were not the first to arrive there, but Paul in his work Life, Land and Water in Ancient Peru (1965) acknowledges that the ruins were very old, but unfortunately he could not establish a date for their origins.

The famous photo

Paul Kosok's book includes a wonderful aerial photo of what is today called the sacred city of Caral.

This archaeologist had already used aerial photographs taken by the army of his country as research tools.

Main features

1- Society

This society had a central government. It was hierarchically organized and controlled by religion, which maintained a solid system.

The people worked intensely for the development of civilization. The Caral culture acquired knowledge about science, mathematics, geometry, medicine, astronomy and physics.

They were also trained in aspects related to agricultural technology, construction of architectural buildings, public administration, among other areas.

The political leaders were the priests. They were specialized in medicine, astronomy, and were in charge of the state administration.

It was possible to install various manufactures where they made necklaces, textiles and utensils. The government elite wore personal adornments; this was for exclusive use.

This society did not leave evidence of weapons manufacturing, nor testimonies of having been a military organization or having been involved in wars. It was a culture dedicated to work, the economy and religion.

2- Religion

The religious customs of the Caral culture had a great impact on social and cultural integration, which allowed the population to be united.

The temples and the sacred city of Caral were part of the ceremonial center of this town.

The pilgrims came from far away to participate in the rituals of the caral, which consisted of burning offerings.

The offerings used to be fish, mollusks, locks of hair, among other elements, as well as child sacrifices for the ancestors and gods.

The political leaders were religious and were in charge of performing the ceremonies and rites. In these religious celebrations hallucinogenic substances were consumed and music was made.

3- Economy

This culture exchanged products such as fish and shellfish, which positioned them as the first civilization that dedicated itself to commercializing proteins.

They developed fishing techniques, made hooks, cotton fiber fishing nets, and means of navigation.

They managed to catch sardines, corvina, sea bass, clams, shells, crustaceans, among others. White shark and blue whale vertebrae have also been found.

Agriculture was also a fundamental part of the economy of the caral culture. His work tools were only sticks and antlers to dig the earth; they built very simple irrigation canals to bring the water from the rivers to the crops.

In turn they experimented with the genetic manipulation of a great variety of plants, producing improved seeds.

This allowed them to produce more peanuts, squash, chili peppers, lucuma, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cotton, corn and avocados.

4- Architecture

The caral architecture is impressive for its monumental buildings and its large cities with ingenious constructions of mud, stone, logs and plant materials.

They used a shicras technique for construction, which consists of fiber bags filled with stones.

These bags were used to make the platforms of the temples, managing to stabilize the bases to prevent landslides caused by earthquakes.

The Caral people created two buildings of great importance: the main pyramid and the temple of the amphitheater.

Major pyramid

This pyramid is 28 meters high and is considered the largest of the Caral culture. It is located in the central square and it is believed that religious celebrations were held there.

At its top is an altar with a huge hearth, with secret entrances that lead to an underground gallery.

Amphitheater temple

This structure is surrounded by walls and in its center is a semi-underground circular plaza in the shape of an amphitheater.

It is one of the most important sites in the city due to its large space. In this temple 32 flutes were found buried under the floor.

5- Textile

Textile was of great importance for this culture due to its great production of fibers.

Thanks to its abundant cotton plantations, simple dresses were made with this material, in which techniques such as weaving and twisting were used.

They also made footwear, bags, fishing nets, strings and ropes, among other products.

On the other hand, in the sacred city large quantities of cotton of different colors were found, such as cream, beige, brown and brown.

This culture used looms, bone needles, and twisted threads. They also implemented an accounting system called quipu, whose structure was distributed by ropes with knots of various colors.

Through this system news were given, calculations were kept and stories were told.

6- Sculptures

In 2015 the archaeologist Ruth Shady and her team found three sculptures belonging to the Caral culture, near Huacho.

The pieces were symbolic representations of figures with anthropomorphic aspects, which were closely linked to politics and religion.

Their structure was made of uncooked clay and they were found buried between ashes and fibers.

The first unbaked clay statuette deals with a high-ranking naked man, with white-based makeup in some specific places on his face and body. He appears sitting cross-legged, his hair is ocher and he has a red collar.

The second statuette corresponds to a standing naked woman, with white facial makeup and red dots, with black hair that falls to her shoulders.

On his forehead there is a kind of red tiara; she also wears a necklace of round stones in red and black.

The third statuette is a nude woman of high social status, with her face made up with white stripes and lips painted black, who is squatting. She wears red hair that falls to her shoulders.

References

1. Caral - The “Oldest” Civilization in the Americas. (2007). Source: enperublog.com
2. Ancient Peru. Source: peru.travel
3. Kris Hirst. The Caral Supe or Norte Chico Civilization of South America. (2017). Source: thoughtco.com
4. Sacred City of Caral-Supe. Source: discover-peru.org
5. Caral: Pyramid Complex. Source ancient-wisdom.com