In the Supe Valley, Caral's six earthen pyramids rose at the same time as Egypt's. It is the best-known city of the Norte Chico civilisation — often called the oldest civilisation in the Americas — and excavation has produced monumental architecture, sunken circular plazas, quipu-like recording devices... and no fortifications, no mutilated bodies, no weapons. A civilisation apparently built on trade, ritual and music: 32 flutes of condor and pelican bone were found in its Amphitheatre Temple.
See Caral on the globe
Opens with the Sky Alignments lens on, so you can see what it connects to.
Notable facts
- Contemporary with the Great Pyramid, predating the Olmec by 1,500 years.
- A cache of 32 flutes of pelican and condor bone was found in Caral's Amphitheatre Temple.
- The city was aligned with astronomical events and abandoned, undestroyed, sometime around 2000–1800 BCE.
Through the theories
How each theory reads Caral. Follow a theory to see its verdict and every other site it claims.
Sky AlignmentsEstablished science
Plaza and pyramid axes track solstice lines along the Supe valley.
Sacred GeometryA spectrum
Sunken circular plazas against rectangular platforms: the circle-square dialogue that recurs worldwide.
