User:Sam Wege/Caral

Just adding some sources right now, text to come!

Structuralized Inequality in City Layout:
The city of Caral was split into two sections, an “Upper Half” and a “Lower Half”. These halves were divided naturally by the Supe River Valley. In the Upper Half there are 6 monumental complexes, each of which includes a pyramid, open plaza, and assemblage of residential buildings. In the Lower Half there are residential buildings, small pyramids, and one monumental complex called the “Temple of the Amphitheater”.

The Upper Half complexes were all constructed around a pyramid. These are the “Great Temple/Great Pyramid,” “Central Pyramid,” “Quarry Pyramid,” “Lesser Pyramid,” “Pyramid of the Gallery,” and “Pyramid of the Huanca." The associated residential structures around each of these pyramids contain evidence of elite living, including food remnants that would have been exclusive to elite lifestyles, such as sea lion bones. In the Upper Half of Caral, many of the residents were wealthy elites, whose lives likely were associated with religious and social activities that would have taken place in the temples.

By comparison, the residential buildings in the Lower Half have less evidence of elite populations. Instead of the large structures, exclusively elite residential complexes of the Upper Half, these residences are smaller and single rooms are used for more than one purpose. The diets of the people living in the Lower Half of Caral are mostly agricultural plants and some fish. These diets are less extravagant than those of the elites living in the Upper Half.

The current explanation for the divided city is that the city was intentionally planned in this way, with the monumental architecture and complexes of the Upper Half designed both to house elites but also to be physical indicators of the power of the elites. Conversely, the Lower Half was designed to house laborers, with the river working as the division between these groups. This sort of intentional city planning is evidence of structuralized inequality at Caral.