[Aztlan] THE BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION IN THE AMERICAS

[michael ruggeri]

Listeros,

NPR had a program on Caral and Norte Chico yesterday. Jonathan Haas  
has been working for the last 8 years on why people settled in this  
desert area after he found sea shells there. He believes there was a  
climate change perhaps related to El Nino which pushed out the warm  
ocean clams and mussels that coastal people relied on and brought in  
cold water fish at 3000 BCE. Many fishermen moved inland to escape  
the unpredictable weather. A new trade system developed inland as the  
inland people traded cotton and squash to the remaining fishermen for  
shell fish and the new desert folks began to build the ancient cities  
and pyramids of Norte Chico including Caral.

Haas is taking sediment cores near the ocean and studying shell rings  
to try and verify his weather change hypothesis. This change and move  
inland to build the ancient cities of Norte Chico began the evolution  
of the Andean civilizations.

NPR has the radio program here and a slide show;

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18888119

Mike Ruggeri






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