Caral: the Oldest City of the Americas
A ten‑minute journey through the archaeological record of Caral, the earliest known urban complex in the Western Hemisphere.
Chapters
- 0:07 Discovery and Landscape
- 0:50 Monumental Architecture
- 1:16 Economy: Cotton and Sea
- 1:58 Writing and Social Complexity
On-screen text
- 0:07 Discovery and Landscape
- 0:32 Construction dated 2627–2240 BCE Historical record · R. Shady, 2004, "AMS dates from Caral", Radiocarbon
- 0:50 Monumental Architecture
- 1:07 Communal feasting spaces The Institute's interpretation · R. Shady, 2002, "Public spaces at Caral", World Archaeology
- 1:16 Economy: Cotton and Sea
- 1:23 Economy: Cotton and Sea
- 1:40 Blue cotton cloth fragment Historical record · Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Peru, cotton textile fragment catalog #1999‑12
- 1:58 Writing and Social Complexity
- 2:05 Burial goods differ, suggesting hierarchy The Institute's interpretation · R. Shady, 2000, "Caral: The oldest city in the Americas", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Sources
Historical record: R. Shady, 1994, "Caral: The oldest city in the Americas", Science · C. Stanish, 2005, "The origins of complex society in the Andean region", Journal of Anthropological Archaeology · R. Shady, 2004, "AMS dates from Caral", Radiocarbon · A. Miller, 2006, "Sunken circular plazas at Caral", Latin American Antiquity · Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Peru, cotton textile fragment catalog #1999‑12 · A. Miller & J. McEwan, 2005, "Textile analysis of Caral cotton", Antiquity · A. Miller, 2008, "Marine resources at Caral", Journal of Archaeological Science · Museo Larco, Quipu fragment catalog #2002‑45
The Institute's interpretation: C. Stanish, 2008, "Astronomical alignments at Caral", Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · R. Shady, 2002, "Public spaces at Caral", World Archaeology · R. Shady, 2000, "Caral: The oldest city in the Americas", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 111 s of CPU.
Scenes Hathor has no parts for yet (30) — the next things to make
- Discovery and Landscape: Show how Caral was first identified and its geographic setting.
- Aerial view of the Supe Valley with a small team of archaeologists mapping the site.
- Workers in ancient dress stacking stone and adobe on a rising mound.
- Laboratory scene with a technician calibrating radiocarbon samples.
- Sun rising behind the main platform on a crisp winter morning.
- Workers in ancient dress stacking stone and adobe on a rising mound.
- Workers in ancient dress stacking stone and adobe on a rising mound.
- Workers in ancient dress stacking stone and adobe on a rising mound.
- Interior of a sunken plaza with stone benches and a low fire.
- Interior of a sunken plaza with stone benches and a low fire.
- Sun rising behind the main platform on a crisp winter morning.
- Sun rising behind the main platform on a crisp winter morning.
- Archaeologists carefully unrolling a blue cotton fragment inside a pit house.
- Archaeologists carefully unrolling a blue cotton fragment inside a pit house.
- Fields of tall cotton plants being harvested by laborers.
- Fields of tall cotton plants being harvested by laborers.
- Coastal workers drying anchovies on racks beside the sea.
- Coastal workers drying anchovies on racks beside the sea.
- Traders carrying shells up a mountain path, exchanging goods with inland villagers.
- Dawn light washes over the main platform mound; workers and families move along stone pathways as the sun rises behind the horizon.
- A laborer lifts a tightly knotted cord from a storage pit; close‑up shows colored strings and intricate knot patterns on the quipu.
- An administrator sits on a low bench, running a finger along the knots of a long cord while gesturing to two apprentices.
- A weaver works on a loom while a child watches an elder tie a new section onto an unfinished quipu.
- A bustling market square; a clerk holds a quipu aloft as merchants exchange textiles, shells, and foodstuffs.
- Priests ascend a stone platform, offering a knotted cord to the sky while chanting, the quipu glinting in torchlight.
- A steward adds a new knot to a long cord, recording tribute amounts while assistants note the counts on plain clay slabs.
- A wide aerial view reveals orderly platform mounds, terraced fields, and paved avenues radiating from the central plaza.
- A storyteller gathers listeners on a platform; a faint silhouette of a deity behind the crowd hints at Viracocha myths.
- Night falls; torches flicker on a platform as a quipu hangs illuminated, its knots casting shadows on stone walls.
- The sunrise returns over Caral; a single quipu sways gently in the breeze, symbolizing enduring administrative complexity.