Áspero (Caral) Maritime Pyramid City
Áspero · El Áspero · Caral-Áspero fishing city · Huaca de los Ídolos
Late Preceramic (Norte Chico Supe)·Caral-Supe culture (Norte Chico)·🇵🇪 Lima Province, Supe Puerto, Áspero, Supe mouth, Peru
About
About Áspero (Caral) Maritime Pyramid City
Maritime fishing town of the Caral-Supe civilization at Supe River mouth — Áspero (3000–1800 BCE): six pyramid mounds (Huaca Alta 10 m, Huaca de Los Ídolos 8 m with clay figurines, Huaca de los Sacrificios) built of shicra bags on fossil marine terrace, supported Caral inland exchange of anchoveta for cotton (shicra nets). Preceramic valley-mouth pyramid tradition showing maritime-inland symbiosis. Excavated by Robert Feldman 1973–78 and Ruth Shady project 2005–. Links Caral inland pyramids to sea. UNESCO buffer of Sacred City of Caral-Supe.
Why it mattersProves Caral maritime foundation — fish-cotton exchange loop; Huaca de los Ídolos clay figurine cache unique; earliest valley-mouth pyramid twin model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Balance of fish vs cotton — which drove urbanism
- 02Whether Áspero first or Caral inland first
Theories
- 01Moseley's Maritime Foundations demonstrated with pyramid distribution
- 02Shicra bag technology coastal transmission
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 3000–1800 BCE (Late Preceramic, Supe Period)
- Period
- Late Preceramic (Norte Chico Supe)
- Culture
- Caral-Supe culture (Norte Chico)
- Builders
- Áspero fisher builders (Caral maritime)
- Purpose
- Shicra-bag fishing port pyramid mounds with ritual offering
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 3000–1800 BCE (Late Preceramic, Supe Period)
Initial construction
c. 1266 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
10.8050° S · 77.7415° W · 15 m · 3 mapped features
Huaca Alta main pyramid
pyramid10 m shicra mound north
10.8049° S · 77.7416° WHuaca de los Ídolos
huaca8 m mound with clay idol cache
10.8051° S · 77.7414° WHuaca de los Sacrificios
templeD-shaped sunken temple mound
10.8052° S · 77.7417° W