Caral : Supe and the Area Norcentral
- Caral : The Origins of Civilization
- Caral : Civilization State and city
- Caral : Supe and the Area Norcentral
- Caral : Contemporary Settlements
- Caral : Production and Exchange
- Caral : Religion and Goverment
- Caral : Social Classes
- Caral : Conclusions
The first State had as its main seat of government the City of Caral, located in the valley of the Supe River. This valley was different from others because it housed 18 extensive settlements with public architecture: Caral with 66 hectares, Era de Pando with 79, Pueblo Nuevo with 55, Lurihuasi with 37, Miraya with 36, to name a few , as opposed to the 11 or 13 hectares of the settlements in other valleys. This density of construction and population bear witness to the importance of the valley as a principal territory.
The Supe valley, with an irregular river that was dry most of the year, small, and with little cultivable land, could hardly have been the only basis for the productivity obtained by its inhabitants.The substantial investment of labor in monumental construction works and their permanent remodeling must have been supported by the production of populations of the other valleys, which the first State was able to acquire and administer in order to make progress.
Territorial control by the State of Supe basically covered three valleys: Supe, Pativilca and Fortaleza. Their inhabitants also shared a set of cultural characteristics, expressed in their architectural components, in the goods they gave as ritual offerings, and in their textile designs. But the influence of the Supe culture extended beyond these valleys as a result of the sphere of interaction in which the contemporary north-central societies participated. Their strategic location facilitated trade with towns situated between the coastal valleys from the Santa River to Chancay and perhaps as far as the Chillón River; as well as with others in the Callejón de Huaylas, the upper Huallaga and the Marañón.
In this way the State was constituted as an integrating organism with influence within and outside its territory, with a powerful decision-making central government, and with community governments responsible for running internal affairs.
Information and Photos by www.caralperu.gob.pe
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