In 1949, American researchers carried out aerial photography on the north-central coast of Peru. And they were very surprised when, among the lifeless sands, they found round platforms and mounds. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that this is perhaps the most ancient city located on the mainland.
Back in 1905, the ancient town of Aspero had already been excavated by archaeologists a few tens of kilometers from the discovered city. It did not occur to the scientists to look for something near him then. The new find turned out to be even more ancient and large-scale. It is believed that Caral - this is the name of the discovered city - was built before 1800 BC.
It was widely believed among scientists and historians that the inhabitants of both Americas could not have civilizations that would exist simultaneously with Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. This is due to the fact that the Indians are significantly behind in the field of urban planning. However, Karal's discovery completely refutes this assumption.
The civilization of Norte Chico, which lived on the territory of the city of Caral, is a pre-ceramic culture of the late archaic period. And it simultaneously violates several scientific hypotheses at once. First, it is believed that if a civilization does not have pottery, then there can be no cities. However, in this city they knew how to do without ceramics: instead of dishes they used dried pumpkin, large dishes were made of stone, spoons were carved from wood. Residential and public buildings, as well as pyramids, of which there are six in the city, were built from stone blocks.
The second stereotype is that there can be no civilization without writing. However, the Caral Indians did not have a written language either. As a transfer of information to each other, they used a nodular letter - kipu. With the help of multi-colored ropes with knots, people were able to calculate the harvest, collect taxes, keep records of the population and much more. The oldest kipu was found in one of the caves of Karala - the letter dates back to 3000 BC.
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But, despite the fact that in the dry climate of Peru, the kipu is perfectly preserved, no one can read it today. This is due to the fact that most of the kipu found anywhere else were burned during the conversion of the Incas to Christianity. And the craftsmen who could write and read the kippah died long ago without passing on their knowledge to the next generation.
In an arid environment, the Norte Chico civilization managed not only to organize its life, but also quite successfully engage in agriculture. The inhabitants of the city built a network of irrigation canals, which collected water from the melting snow and ice from the Andes. The largest buildings were built exactly near these irrigation canals. They also grew potatoes, corn, cotton, pumpkin, avocados, and beans. In exchange for vegetables, the inhabitants of the coastal towns supplied the Karalians with fish and seafood. The Norte Chico culture wielded strong economic power and controlled the trade in cotton and other products. They exchanged their resources not only for fish, they bought dyes from the Andean highlands, hallucinogenic tobacco from the Amazon.
It was also a very peaceful civilization. Not a single weapon was found on the territory of Karal. Even in their kippa, there is no thread color that means war. Well, like many other ancient civilizations, Norte Chico left the same unsolved mysteries: where did they come from, where and why did they disappear?