![[Mayor_Pyramid_and_circular_enclosure._Caral,_Peru.jpg]] Finally, the first city in the Americas (that we know of) grew about 5,100 years ago, about ten miles from the Pacific Ocean in what is now Peru. By 4,600 years ago, Caral had up to 20,000 residents who lived on beans, squash, avocados, sweet potatoes, and small fish such as sardines and anchovies. Caral people caught large quantities of these fish using nets woven from cotton, which they had domesticated about 7,000 years ago from a different species from the one domesticated in India at about the same time. In another use of cotton, the residents of Caral seem to have used the knotted cords called *[quipu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu)* that became a well-known element of the much later Inca culture. While there is no clear evidence of palaces, kings, or warfare, Caral had monuments and sunken plazas that seem to have been used for community rituals. Coordinated projects such as the building of extensive irrigation systems and terraces for farming, along with the apparent lack of rulers, suggest a social organization that encouraged cooperation. There are two major sites regarded as temples in the city and 19 other temple complexes nearby in the Supe Valley. No battlements, weapons, or mutilated bodies have been found (as in other sites), but in one of the temples researchers found 32 flutes made of condor and pelican bones and 37 larger wind instruments carved from the bones of deer and llama. ![[PeruCaral01.jpg]] *Remains of the Caral temples.* ----- Next: [[3.14 - Textiles]] Back: [[3.12 - Minoans]]