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ANCIENT PERUVIAN CITY AS OLD AS EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS n advanced civilisation was thriving A: the coast of Peru at the same time as the pyramids were built in Egypt—more than 1,000 years earlier than was previously thought, American researchers have discovered. New radio- carbon dating of reed fibres found at Caral, in the Supe River valley, 120 miles north of Lima, has revealed that the ancient city was built as early as 2600 BC, making it by far the oldest urban settlement yet identified in the Americas. The fibres were from woven bags that workers had used to haul stones for the buildings and left inside the struc- tures. As the reeds live for only a year, the dates are very specific: 2627 BC. The findings, published in the journal Science (April 27;292:723-726), suggest that the significance of the Caral civilisa- tion has been badly underestimated by archaeologists and anthropologists. The inhabitants of the city had developed technology on a par with much of that found in Ancient Egypt at about the same time. They had the know-how to irrigate fields and build monumental pyramids, yet never learnt to make ceramic pottery. Dr Jonathan Haas, curator of anthropolo- gy at the Field Museum in Chicago, who led the study, said Caral had previously was agog, shaking his binoculars and shouting: "It is a flying saucer, a real saucer, my God, hurry, hurry, look!" Globa looked through his own binoculars and saw at a distance, over the stern, a flat- tened-out object that looked like an upside- down frying pan. The UFO was gleaming with a greyish metallic shine. The lower portion of the craft had a precise round shape, about 20 metres in diameter. Around the lower portion of it, Globa also observed "waves" of protuberances on the outside plating. The base of the object's body consisted of two semi-discs, the smaller being on top; they slowly revolved in opposing directions. At the circumference of the lower disc, Globa saw numerous shining, bright, bead- like lights. The bottom portion of the UFO appeared completely even and smooth, its colour that of a yolk, and in the middle of it Globa discerned a round nucleus-like stain. At the edge of the UFO's bottom, which was easily visible, was something that looked like a pipe; it glowed with an unnat- urally bright, rosy colour, like a neon lamp. The top of the middle disc was crowned by a triangular-shaped "something". It seemed that it moved in the same direction as the lower disc, but at a much slower pace. Suddenly, the UFO jumped up several times, as if moved by an invisible wave. Many lights illuminated its bottom portion. The Gori's crew tried to attract the object's attention using a signal projector. By that time, Captain Sokolovky was on the deck with his men. He and his second in command were watching the object intensely. However, the UFO's attention was dis- tracted by another ship approaching at the port side. It was an Arab dry cargo ship on its way to Greece. The Arabs confirmed that the object was hovering over their ship. A minute and a half later, the object changed its flight trajectory, listed to the right, gained speed and ascended rapidly. The Soviet seamen observed that when it rose through the clouds, appearing and dis- appearing again, it would occasional shine in the Sun's rays. The craft then flared up, like a spark, and was gone instantly. oo (Sources: Reports from the Odessa mag- azine Zagadki Sfinksa, 3/1992. George Filer's article first appeared in Filer’s Files #16, 17 April 2001, www.filers- files.com, with thanks to Paul Stonehill.) been dated to c.1600 BC. "Our findings show that a very large, complex society had arisen on the coast of Peru centuries earlier than anyone thought," he said. Caral is dominated by a central zone containing six large platform mounds arranged around a huge public plaza, 1,800 feet (540 metres) in diameter. The largest of these mounds, known as Piramide Mayor, stands 60 feet (18 metres) high and measures 450 by 500 ft (120 by 150 m) at its base. All six central mounds were built in only one or two phases, providing strong evidence of complex planning, centralised decision-making and mobilisation of a large labour force. Stairs, rooms, court- yards and other structures were constructed on top of the pyramids as well as on the side terraces. Excavations are now planned to deter- mine whether there were rooms or tombs inside the mounds. Other architecture at the site also indicates a high level of cultur- al complexity. In particular, three sunken circular plazas testify to the emergence of a well-organised religion with open, public ceremonies. Other villages in Peru occu- pied before 2600 BC had much smaller- scale public platforms or stone rings. oo (Sources: The Times, April 27, 2001, www.thetimes.co.uk; Science, April 27, 2001, www.science.org) eq Newe Bend | i oe all = “Major breakthrough. We got multilateral agreement that politicians will cut back platitudes to fifty percent by 2010.” JUNE — JULY 2001 NEXUS = 69 www.nexusmagazine.com