I’m so excited! I’m going to a lecture held by the Archaeological Institute tonight in New York City, that promises to be very interesting. It’s about the city of Caral in Peru, which many experts now believe is the oldest city in the Americas, dating back as far as 2,600 BC. It will include information about nearby and equally ancient Cardal.
Tomorrow, I’m interviewing the presenter, Richard Burger, and will report back to HK with plenty of details about this mysterious ancient city. In the meantime, if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to ask him, let me know in the comments box below.
Ceramics only started being produced in the Americas in 1800 to 1600 BC, making the lack of them at Caral a controversial indication that the civilization there is older, and blowing the so-called “maritime theory” that civilization in that area started on the coast and didn’t move inland til much later right out of the water. There are plenty of traces of drugs and aphrodisiacs at the site, but no evidence of weapons or warfare, suggesting that Caral was a pretty civilized place to live compared to some other ancient locations.
See below for details:
From Caral to Cardal: Adventures in Early Peruvian Civilization
by Richard Burger, world-renowned expert on Peruvian archaeology, Professor of Anthropology, Yale University, and Director of Excavations at Cardal.
Thursday, 24 September 2009
6:30 9:30 PM | The Penn Club
30 West 44th Street at Fifth Avenue
New York, NY
The lecture will be followed by a special presentation of photographs from Christopher Kleihege, co-author of Caral: The First Civilization in the Americas, and by a reception featuring Peruvian specialties.