SACRED CITY OF CARAL A

Location

Caral archaeological settlement can be accessed taking the exit at Km 184 of the North Pan-American highway, and then continuing for 30 kilometers towards Ámbar.

CARAL URBAN CENTER LOCATION MAP

Polygonal

Occupation site

Population center

Unpaved road

Supe River

Political location:

Department: Lima

Province: Barranca

District: Supe

Geographical location:

Zone: 18S

Reference system: WGS84

UTM coodinates:

224 275.01 E / 8 794 632.16 N

Average altitude: 350 m a. s. l.

Urban center area: 68 ha

Geographical aspects

The Caral urban center was built in the left bank of the Supe River, in the medium lower section of the valley, in the so-called Capital Area of Caral Civilization (Shady 2008: 69). It was built on high wide terraces of fluvial, alluvial and colluvial origin, surrounded by the Gozne Mountain in the East, Miraya in the West and Mulato in the South.

From the city you may see the whole middle valley, urban centers of the capital area and the farmlands; and vice versa. In the agricultural fields, located in front of the city, in a 15.72 hectare area they grew squash, beans, lima beans, pumpkin, cotton, sweet potato, chili pepper, mate, achira (arrowroot) and tutumo, among others. Near the sacred city of Caral two springs (puquiales) have been identified, located 35 and 150 meters away, which provided drinking water to the city residents. They caught fish and shrimps in the river. In the surrounding hills they collected wild resources, such as fruits, roots and snails; furthermore, they hunted deer and vizcacha. The wide shell middens, formed in several periods, are evidence of the temporary occupation of the hills. In the wetlands and swamps they cut reed and totora and process them to make “shicras” –vegetable fiber bags–, mats and baskets, among others. From the riverside forest they obtained caña brava (giant reed) for quincha constructions and timber trees, such as willows and pájaro bobo (Tessaria inte grifolia). On the alluvial terraces the huarango prevailed. Vegetable material used for the city buildings and houses.

The blocks of rock, used for the buildings and residential compounds, were extracted from quarries located in the nearby Mulato and Gozne mountains, as well as from a rocky outcrop located inside the city. Rocks were also selected to make axes, boleadoras and arrowheads. They built and enhanced the buildings by using structured deposits of “shicras”, which they filled with pebbles, cut stones and dirt. This building technique provided seismic resistance to the buildings (Shady 2014: 62-63).

Background

The Caral archaeological site was declared National Cultural Heritage with the National Director’s Resolution Nº 720/INC, dated August 01, 2002.

In the 40s, the investigator Paul Kosok conducted a significant study on several valleys of the central coast, which included a visit to the Supe valley, where he described some aspects of the Caral archaeological site, then known as Chupacigarro. In his publication (Kosok 1965: 219) he presented an aerial image of site. Though no excava- tions were conducted in the site, it is worth highlighting his pioneering approach on the development reached by coastal populations (Shady 2014: 52).

Frederic Engel (1987: 82) made additional contributions to the Supe valley archaeology, by recording and describing the site as “Chupacigarro Grande”, a name also used by Carlos Williams and Manuel Merino (1979) for the description and registration of the archaeological site in the register commissioned by the then National Institute of Culture. Another contribution was made by Elzbieta Zechenter (1988), whose research based on perforations in several sites of the valley, aimed at establishing the livelihood pattern of social groups in the Supe valley during the then-called late pre-ceramic and early formative periods.

Due to migration and modern squatters, as well as to the lack of protection of archaeological sites by the competent authorities, in 1994 the urban center of Caral was found plowed and irrigated by a family that had been destroying a great part of the archaeological site. Moreover, internal spaces between the monuments were being plowed. Investigations started with a double goal, stopping its destruction and getting to know the society that built it and lived there.