Caral and the Norte Chico
Pyramids rise on the Peruvian coast at the same time as Giza, built by people with no pottery.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 800 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
The Caral-Supe civilisation on the arid Peruvian coast builds monumental platform mounds and sunken circular plazas from around 2600 BCE — the oldest known complex society in the Americas, contemporary with the Egyptian pyramids. It has no pottery, no clear evidence of warfare, and appears to run on cotton: cotton nets for fishing, exchanged inland for food. Quipu-like knotted cords have been found, hinting at record-keeping without writing.