Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
Tue Mar 12, 2013, 04:18 AM Mar 2013

Peruvian Pyramid Older Than Egypt, Civilization Rivals Sumerians In Age, 1200 Years Without War

The lost Pyramids of Caral are older than suspected, construction began in 3000 B.C (300-400 years before the people of Kemet, Egypt began the Pyramid of Djoser). These cities flourished peacefully for more than 1,200 years. Something very different from all other civilizations is that this people lived without fears, in peace. No traces of warfare have been found, a finding that had to make archaeologists in the world to re-invent their thinking and theories about why tribal people built and moved into large cities.



The Andean Center for Archaeological Research, CIARA, has made an extraordinary discovery in the Huaca Rosada Urban Center, located in the district of Ventanilla, Callao and which dates from 4500 years.The pyramid Huaca Pink belongs to the architectural tradition of Caral , which shows that the nation state of Caral is one of the oldest civilizations to be discovered. Caral was located in the Peruvian Barrranca provinces covering Huaura, Huaral, Lima, Callao, Huarmey and Casma, as well as the Central Coast area and north-central Peru and influencing the Midwest of our country.



http://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-technology/2013/03/peruvian-pyramid-older-than-egypt-civilization-rivals-sumerians-in-age-2555356.html?utm_campaign=&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fawe.sm%2Fq0D6y&utm_source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F&utm_medium=facebook-post&utm_content=awesm-fbshare-small

3 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Peruvian Pyramid Older Than Egypt, Civilization Rivals Sumerians In Age, 1200 Years Without War (Original Post) Ichingcarpenter Mar 2013 OP
Sorry about the poorly written article but Ichingcarpenter Mar 2013 #1
Absolutely wonderful link. Saving it for future reference. Thank you. n/t Judi Lynn Mar 2013 #2
"No traces of warfare have been found" yet. eShirl Mar 2013 #3

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
1. Sorry about the poorly written article but
Tue Mar 12, 2013, 04:23 AM
Mar 2013


There is more articles and videos on this amazing site for further investigation.


Caral is one of many pyramid mounds in the area (known as Norte Chico) and nothing stands out about it when compared to the others in the region. But there is an ongoing project there (directed by Ruth Shady Solis) and I believe that it is the only one of these sites that is open to the public, so it gets heralded as being a capital or a city or particularly spectacular or whatever in the popular realm.
These sites all date to the Late Archaic/Late Preceramic (often called the Cotton Preceramic because we have good textiles from this time. But yes, no ceramics), which is usually dated to around 3000-1800 B.C., so the 3000 B.C. date is nothing new (and as far as I know that is a solid date for the earliest phase of the mound, but I'm not super well-read on it).
But it is not a city, and it is not a state (Shady Solis argues that it is a state, but I argue otherwise; the first states in Peru developed beginning around 150 B.C.) These sites were pilgrimage centres and probably had relatively few people actually living there; they were places to come together and worship, hold meetings, build the mounds, etc. before returning to one's own village. Pilgrimage centres like this are well known from later periods in Peru and we have every reason to suspect that Caral and nearby sites were some of the first.
But none were dominant and held sway over the others, as we would expect if there were a true state, and there are just too many of them for there to be 30 independent city-states within such a small area (four river valleys, and these are not huge river valleys). It's an interesting time period and one that we are only starting to pay attention to so there's definitely a lot that we don't know.
But suffice it to say, yes, Caral is that old, but no, it is not a city or a state. The warfare thing is pretty much moot too if it was a pilgrimage centre. But large chunks of the Peruvian sequence to seem to be pretty peaceful (at least within broad regional/ethnic groups), so a long period of time without endemic warfare is not surprising.

eShirl

(18,490 posts)
3. "No traces of warfare have been found" yet.
Wed Mar 27, 2013, 06:27 PM
Mar 2013

The fact they were humans leads me to doubt this conclusion: "Something very different from all other civilizations is that this people lived without fears, in peace." Call me cynical.

Other than that, very cool.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Anthropology»Peruvian Pyramid Older Th...