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6,700 Year Old Andean Canal Found |
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Written by Xiuhcoatl
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Dec 01, 2005 at 04:47 PM |
Ancient Canals Reveal Underpinnings of Early Andean Civilization
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Science News
Description
Canals discovered in the Peruvian Andes dating back over 5,400 (6,700) years
offer long-sought proof that irrigation was at the heart of the
development of one of the earth’s first civilizations.
Newswise — Canals discovered in the Peruvian Andes dating back over
5,400 years offer long-sought proof that irrigation was at the heart of
the development of one of the earth’s first civilizations.
The discovery by Vanderbilt University anthropologist Tom Dillehay and
his colleagues, Herbert Eling, Instituto Naciona de Anthropolotica e
Historia in Coahulila, Mexico, and Jack Rossen, Ithaca College, was
reported in the Nov. 22 issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences.
The anthropologists discovered the canals in Peru’s upper middle Zana
Valley, approximately 60 kilometers east of the Pacific coast.
Preliminary results indicate one of the canals is over 6,700 years old,
while another has been confirmed to be over 5,400 years old. They are
the oldest such canals yet discovered in South America.
“Peru is one of the few places on the planet where there was
independent development of civilization. One of the signatures of the
beginning of civilization and complex society is intensive agriculture,
where you have not only crops but also irrigation technology,”
Dillehay, distinguished professor of anthropology and chair of the
department, said. “That element—irrigation technology—was always
missing in archaeological findings of early Andean civilization. We
found it by looking farther up the valley away from the coastal plains
and by excavating deeply.”
Anthropologists had presumed that the canals that helped support early
Andean civilization had lain closer to the surface and were hence
destroyed by human activity and nature over time. Dillehay and his team
found that the canals had not been destroyed but had been buried by
sediment. The team made its initial discovery of the canal system in
1989 and has been working since to uncover the broader picture of the
canals and the civilization that they supported.
“Our findings indicate that people were building these canals and
creating artificial wetlands—essentially garden plots—in the Andes over
5,400 years ago,” Dillehay said. “This was an important moment for this
civilization as it established a codependency between the crops and the
people, which allowed and encouraged larger groups of people to begin
to settle down in one place.
“This type of agriculture also created leisure time, allowing people to
do things such as crafts and to become involved in public ritual,”
Dillehay continued. “What you see in a civilization after they start
cultivating food and domesticating animals are changes in social life.”
The team uncovered four canals ranging in length from one to four
kilometers. The canals are narrow, symmetric, shallow and U-shaped.
They were lined with stones and small pebbles, and appear to be
individually designed to take advantage of different periods of water
availability. The canals were built along the edge of a terrace above a
nearby stream and used gravity to deliver water downhill to the
agricultural fields. A striking feature of the canals is that they are
located on a very slight slope, indicating that their builders were
able to engineer them to function hydraulically in a relatively
sophisticated manner. All domestic sites found in the area lie within
2.5 kilometers of the canals and share tools, structures, dietary
remains and other features, indicating they were part of the same
society. |
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Last Updated ( Dec 02, 2005 at 02:37 AM )
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Archaeology 