Up the Valley to Caral, About 2500 BCE
1Before dawn in Áspero, Tani and her uncle tie baskets of dried anchovies onto their backs. This month the boats brought in more fish than the town could eat, so families spread the extra on the beach to dry in the sun. The fishers' nets are knotted from cotton string, and dried gourds keep the nets afloat. Tani's family grows no cotton, and their old nets are wearing thin.
2The path follows the river inland. Within an hour, the hills on both sides are bare and brown, yet the riverbanks are green. Farmers lead water through canals to fields of cotton, squash, beans, gourds and guava trees. One farm family has stacked far more cotton than its members could ever spin into cloth. Tani's uncle trades a basket of anchovies for a large bundle of cotton string.
3Late in the day they reach Caral, one of the oldest cities in the Americas. Six huge platform mounds of stone rise above the terrace. On the largest one, workers are adding a new layer. They fill bags woven from reeds with stones and lay the bags into the mound. None of these builders spent the day fishing or farming.
4Near the mounds stand large houses with plastered, painted walls, where leaders and their families live. Archaeologists think these leaders ran ceremonies and decided how stored food was shared. At the edges of the city stand many small houses of reed and mud. In one workshop, a craftsman carves a flute from a pelican bone. Tani's uncle trades his last baskets of fish for squash and a finished length of cotton cloth.
5Archaeologists working at Caral have found bones of anchovies and sardines, even though the city is far from the sea. At sites on the coast, they have found fishing nets made of cotton. They have found dozens of flutes carved from pelican and condor bones. People at Caral made no pottery, and no writing from the city has been found.