When it comes to the pre-Columbian past of Peru, most of us automatically and understandably think of the Incas. But there were many other cultures and civilizations in these lands, some of them much older than the Incas. Several of these elder civilizations originate in what is now desert regions up and down the country's coast north and south of its present-day capital, Lima. One example you've heard about is the Nazca people, because of their now famous artifacts, the Nazca Lines. But you probably haven't heard of is the Western Hemisphere's oldest known city and civilization.
A remarkable complex called Caral, located In the Supe Valley, just 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Lima, and 19 miles (30 km) inland, is the greatest of 20 remnants of the oldest known civilization in the Americas, a 150-acre (607-hectare) UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of temple mounds, sunken plazas and the remnants of spectacular stone structures on an arid plateau. First uncovered in 1948, its true importance wasn't discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady, unitl 1994. Subsequently it was carbon-dated back to 5,000 years ago - around the time of ancient Egypt, and far earlier than any previous known civilization in the Americas (up till then, the Olmecs of Mesoamerica).
Read more in my post Caral, Peru: the Americas´ Oldest Archaeological Site.
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