History › First civilizations › Agricultural (Neolithic) Revolution
Caral: first city of the Americas
c. 3000–1800 BC· Empire, kingdom or state· Americas & Oceania
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
Caral, in Peru's Supe Valley, was a monumental city of pyramids and plazas built from about 3000 BC, in the same era as Egypt's pyramids.
See it on the History map →What happened
Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady began excavating in 1994, about 180 km (110 miles) north of Lima. The site has six large platform mounds, sunken circular plazas and homes for perhaps a few thousand people. Residents irrigated cotton, squash and beans and traded cotton for coastal fish, especially anchovies. They had no pottery, and digs have found no weapons, defensive walls or signs of war. It belongs to the wider Norte Chico, or Caral-Supe, civilization.
Why it matters
It shows city-building began in the Americas almost as early as in Mesopotamia and Egypt, independently, and on a different base: fish and cotton rather than grain.
How we know
Radiocarbon dates from reed bags (shicras) of stones used to fill the mounds, plus excavated buildings, food remains and a possible early knotted-string record (quipu). UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009.
Still debated
How it was governed without obvious warfare, how many people lived there, and whether a sea-based economy really came before farming are debated.
Connections (2)
▸Caral: first city of the Americas was a distant forerunner of Inca EmpireMostly agreed
The connection
Caral, on Peru's coast from about 3000 BC, began a long Andean tradition the Inca inherited: monumental platform mounds, irrigation, farming linked to fishing, and possibly knotted-cord records. Chavín, Moche, Nazca, Tiwanaku, Wari and Chimú came between. The Inca drew on this heritage, especially Wari roads and administration, rather than on Caral directly.
When and how
The Norte Chico region of coastal Peru, about 3000–1800 BC; the Inca rose around Cusco after AD 1400, some 3,000 years later.
How sure are we?
Archaeology shows continuity in Andean building, irrigation and textile traditions, but no direct line from Caral to the Inca can be traced.
Debates and open questions
Whether a knotted cord found at Caral was an early khipu is debated, as is how much any single tradition survived across 3,000 years.
▸Caral: first city of the Americas grew partly from the Andean branch of the Agricultural (Neolithic) RevolutionMostly agreed
The connection
The Andes were another independent birthplace of farming, with squash, beans, cotton, potatoes and other crops domesticated from roughly 8000 BC. Caral's builders irrigated cotton, squash and beans in coastal river valleys but also relied heavily on sea fish, so the city rested on farming plus fishing.
When and how
Supe Valley on Peru's central coast, about 3000–1800 BC; excavated by Ruth Shady from 1994.
How sure are we?
Remains of cotton, squash, beans, guava and other crops at Caral, alongside large quantities of anchovy and sardine bones.
Debates and open questions
How much Caral depended on farming versus fishing, and whether the sea economy came first, is a long-running debate.