Dating Caral, a Preceramic Site in the Supe Valley on the Central Coast of Peru
Ruth Shady Solis,1
Jonathan Haas,2*
Winifred Creamer3
Radiocarbon dates from the site of Caral in the Supe
Valley of Peru indicate that monumental corporate architecture, urban settlement, and irrigation agriculture began in the Americas by 4090 years before the present (2627 calibrated years B.C.) to 3640 years
before the present (1977 calibrated years B.C.). Caral is located 23 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast and contains a central zone of
monumental, residential, and nonresidential architecture covering an
area of 65 hectares. Caral is one of 18 large preceramic sites in the
Supe Valley.
1 Museo de Arqueología, Centro Cultural
de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Avenida Nicolás
de Piérola 1222, Lima 1, Peru.
2 Department of
Anthropology, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lakeshore Drive, Chicago, IL
60187, USA.
3 Department of Anthropology, Northern
Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
jhaas{at}fieldmuseum.org
