First South American Civilisation Wiped Out by Earthquake
Thu, Jan 22, 2009
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Image: Nestor Paredes
About 3,800 years ago, residents of Supe Valley in Peru’s coastal desert, 120 miles north of Lima, had just created a flourishing society complete with tall pyramids (thousands of years before the Maya). They were fishing and growing cotton and vegetables, when disaster struck and the forces of nature wiped them out. Just like that. Earthquakes coupled with heavy rains destroyed their farmland and fishing grounds, and despite efforts to rebuild it 200 years later, the civilization never regained its splendour and importance.
Image: mavrev
Caral, about 12 miles inland, was the best known city with a 100-foot tall pyramid called Piramide Mayor. The city was discovered by archeologists in 1905 but was only dated properly in 2001, when radiocarbon dating of reed fibers from woven bags provided clues. The astonishing find – that this was a civilization started as early as 2600 BC – completely changed scientists’ assumptions about the development of early Andean civilization. Archaeologist Ruth Shady Solis of Lima’s Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos even believes that Caral is a potential “mother city” in the Americas.
Image: Antonio Paraggi
The downfall of this powerful civilization was its location. The Supe valley is where the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate crash. When the big one hit, this earthquake-prone region was also hit by mudslides, which clogged the rivers. This coincided with heavy rainfall brought on by a strong El Niño, thus forming a 60-mile-long ocean ridge, which sealed off coastal bays. These filled with sand and therefore eliminated the Supe society’s source of food.
Tough luck? Says archeologist Daniel H. Sandweiss of the University of Maine: “By not being able to look decades ahead, they [the inhabitants of Supe valley] were not able to cope with it.” With the technology of the time, it was near impossible. Sometimes, when it rains it just pours.
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Caral : la plus vielle ville en Amérique (détruite par un Séisme) | Bon liens Web Says:
January 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 pm[...] article très intéressant viens de paraitre sur le site Environmental Graffiti révélant les raison derrière la disparition de la première civilisation sud [...]
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 am
Thank you for this informative article. It is a fascinating find.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:01 pm
civiliZation
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:21 pm
First!
This another startling discovery is great news for those who seek answers relating to the coming PLANET X question. The cycle orbit of PLANET X or shall we say planet Nibiru as foretold by the Sumerians happens about every 3,600 years. This great civilization was wiped out due to literal global changes in Earths climate that was brought about by the incoming orbit of NIBIRU. Now as some of you may know if indeed you have done some extensive research about this topic, the last cycle orbit of NIBIRU was about 1,600 B.C. It is now 2009 folks. And since most of you are aware or probably not about the over hyped topic that you can find here on the internet regarding this Planet which is about to come into passing near earth around 2012. According to research and Top Secret U.S government data that are being withheld but is increasingly being leaked out in the internet, Nibiru’s orbit will complete its cycle orbit around our LIFETIME. Meaning, were DOOMED. No pun intended folks. The United States government along it’s European ally nations were building a new massive telescope in Mcmurdo, Antarctica that has since been operational in 2007 to further monitor closely this Planet. Yes, it is near the South Pole. They were monitoring this Planet since 1983 thru the IRAS satellite. Officially it has been said that IRAS satellite was nonoperational due to malfunction just after 10 months of launching, but the truth is that it never broke down and was still operational. The U.S government just didn’t want the public to keep probing about it. If you dig deeper with your own research, you may eventually find out that the biblical stories happens to be true. I’m talking about Noah’s Ark. Now one of you may ask me about the Ararat Anomaly wherein the great flood of those times was all plain B.S, but isn’t it the Ark was recently found at Mt. Ararat, Turkey? Yep, even the U.S government sent in SEALS thru helicopters to check on the site and they found something. And what is that something that they found? We may never know. Because they immediately CLASSIFIED it as TOP SECRET. Strange isn’t it?
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:14 pm
@MichealNikki – Where are you people coming up with this crazy crap?!?
For seriously guys, do realize how nuts you sound? Can you source anything? Did any of this information come from anywhere other than some guy saying it or an non-cited blog?
And what are they going to find in a 4000 year old ship wreck that could possibly be of any use, much less so useful, that they have to keep it hidden?
Also, which is it? Mayan Calendar syndrome, Phantom Planet, or Spaghetti monster?
Ok, enough ragging on you, I actually want to know why you believe this stuff. How were you convinced? Could you possibly convince me? Could you possibly provide with an argument or statement that it would take more than 5 minutes to disassemble and disprove?
Last but not least, don’t call first unless you are sure of it, because now you have 10 less internet points.
January 23rd, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Also, to Simon, good article. Concise and well written. Sorry for hijacking the comments.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:21 pm
@Kam
Civilisation is one of hundreds of words of the ENGLISH language that is spelt differently in America. Either spelling is correct, and as the website is based in England we’re gonna stick with the ’s’.
Cheerz!
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
@ Linda
I agree that spelling it with an S or a Z is a geographical difference, but the author should pick one. It’s spelled with an S in the title and with a Z in the article itself. Just nit picking. :-)
January 23rd, 2009 at 10:28 pm
@ice_cold_irony
i specifically and intentionally didn’t mentioned any reference from the information i commented here. but given the information you have read with regards to my comments, i’m sure you can help yourself out with a few keywords stroke with your own keyboard from google.com. Or better yet if you find any good university/city library near you, i advice you to do your own research if you dislike typing in ease. i am aware that my comments would somehow expose myself to ridicule from people like you, but that is the least of my concerns. i suppose you are old enough not to be spoon fed like a kindergarten kid?
last but not least, i called first and should have been the first to post a comment if i wasn’t doing anything on the net aside from commenting at the same time. right? and bdw, why do you make a big deal out of it if i was first to comment or 2nd? didn’t you thought of it as a figure of speech? i don’t think so.
because now you have 10 less internet points. – and what does this mean anyway? 10 less internet points!? how old are you?
January 25th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
civiliZation..
January 30th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
this is crazy. I recently visited some anastazi ruins in the grand canyon which was just awesome to think about how long ago that was. I can’t imagine visiting this place
June 24th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Interesting..