Archaeologica.org

Its a little more complicated than you may understand Min

I just read all the English text I could find on the link Katherine provided.
Plus I looked at all the pictures of architecture and "finds."

Several observations:
The Caral people made figurines and other objects out of clay, but did not know how(?) to fire clay. But you can see the beginnings of all those
wonderful "precolumbian" ceramics.
They used wooden spoons.
THey made a lot if interesting things from cotton and other fibres:
baskets, bags, hats, quipus, and other little knotted things which are hard to identify.
They even made "god's eyes" from sticks and thread. Native Americans still make these today, 4.5 k years later.
THeir idea of a "pyramid" was like a series of wide flat terraces laid
upon each other, resembling the Frank-LLoyd Wright "prairie" style of architecture. THe base is not square, but rectangular.
As marduk said above, they did add to these structures over time.
They even have something the site refers to as a GeoGliph...which purports to be a large head in profile facing east, used in weather prediction!! BUt anyway it is a large shape in a way reminiscent of the Nazca figures...laid out on the ground with angular stones.
There are a couple of "megalithic" stones framing a large entrance gate...can't make out the size, exactly.
One complete skeleton was found, as well as several skulls.
I wonder if the skulls tell us where these people were from?
Also wonder if the style or types of artifacts hint at any origins?

the connection to other mesoamerican cultures is in the orientation of their buildings

I'm all ears, Marduk!
Lay it out for me.
Do you think the culture of Caral spread out through the rest of
the americas, or did something else happen?

BTW, the Olmecs dont appear on our chart, except maybe another name, and neither does Caral.
Great chart, though!

Is there some sort of a legend to that chart?

the olmec are on it in the gulf line from 1400bce
as for Caral i presume that is because not everyone has heard of the Norte chico culture or the Supe valley
some would like to forget it and others already have it linked to white gods atlanteans or aliens. Persoanlly i'd like to wait for the evidence
i think i heard thatthe Quipu found in the temple were left after the city had fallen into ruin which would indicate a definite connection with the Incan culture
but the orientation of south american architecture is a little hard to miss
this is Caral

this is Teotihuacan

this is chichen itza

Do you see what they all have in common Stan ?
Anthony Aveni (archaeoastronomer colgate university)
claims its because they are all aligned to the planet venus
but I don't buy it

Is there some sort of a legend to that chart?

in the ancient mists of time the creator god smiled down upon the face of his wife the earth and they decided between them to create life so that they would.....
waddya mean some kind of legend Min
its self explanatory

legend
2 entries found for legend.
To select an entry, click on it.
legendurban legend

Main Entry: leg·end
Pronunciation: 'le-j&nd
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English legende, from Anglo-French & Medieval Latin; Anglo-French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda, from Latin, feminine of legendus, gerundive of legere to gather, select, read; akin to Greek legein to gather, say, logos speech, word, reason
1 a : a story coming down from the past; especially : one popularly regarded as historical although not verifiable b : a body of such stories <a place in the legend of the frontier> c : a popular myth of recent origin d : a person or thing that inspires legends e : the subject of a legend <its violence was legend even in its own time -- William Broyles Jr.>
2 a : an inscription or title on an object (as a coin) b
: CAPTION 2b c : an explanatory list of the symbols on a map or chart

In bold. That kind of legend.

you didn't do well at math in school did you, i'm guessing and not trying to offend
down the left of the chart is the area of habitation
along the bottom of the chart is the time period
the coloured bars have the names of the relevant indian tribes written on them
thats all there is

Marduk wrote:

Do you see what they all have in common Stan ?

THe only one that is aligned a tall seems to be Teotehuacan.

BUt thanks for the three maps.
Do you think Mesoamerican culture spread from Caral?

Math is for nerds.

I was trying to figure out if the colors meant anything.

that stops all the tribes from running in to each other and being hard to read
allegedly

I always have trouble with those kinds of graphs too, Bob. I glanced at it and moved on.

Especially since I'm not sure what it is trying to show.

Look at the line containing Kaminaljuyo.....Tikal.....Mayapan.

If you check them out you find that each city was built, flourished, and was abandoned for reasons unknown. Which seemed to be the point I was making but perhaps marduk sees something different.

I give up.

For you big rock fans, here's a look at a detail from Caral.

Minimalist wrote:Especially since I'm not sure what it is trying to show.

Look at the line containing Kaminaljuyo.....Tikal.....Mayapan.

If you check them out you find that each city was built, flourished, and was abandoned for reasons unknown. Which seemed to be the point I was making but perhaps marduk sees something different.

I give up.

I don't like graphs. I like words. I use the word side of my brain not the number side....at least not any more than I have to.