{1}{1}25.000
{110}{182}It is one of humanity's epic journeys.
{196}{339}Thousands of years ago people first came|out of the wild and formed civilisation.
{383}{437}They would build huge monuments,
{437}{541}like the pyramids and all the|great cities of the Ancient World,
{596}{633}but why did they do it?
{639}{715}What forces gave birth to civilisation?
{812}{923}For years archaeologists have been|trying to get back to when it all began
{928}{966}to find the answer
{976}{1042}and now at last it seems|they may have done it,
{1072}{1172}for they are now exploring a|lost city of pyramids in Peru.
{1197}{1272}It is nearly five thousand years old
{1334}{1433}and the story it tells about why|we embarked on this great journey
{1433}{1525}is more extraordinary than|anyone had ever expected.
{1645}{1815}HORIZON
{1865}{1980}THE LOST PYRAMIDS OF CARAL
{2104}{2155}Peru's desert coast,
{2164}{2244}trapped between the Andes mountains|and the Pacific Ocean.
{2258}{2308}Nothing survives out here.
{2340}{2411}Explorers once hurried through|in search of the gold
{2411}{2482}and the treasures of the Incas hidden|in the mountains beyond,
{2501}{2532}but no one stopped,
{2622}{2692}but then seven years ago somebody did.
{2736}{2844}Ruth Shady had heard of some|mysterious unexplained mounds
{2844}{2935}and alone, set off through|the desert to find them
{3016}{3127}and then right in the middle of|this dead land she found this:
{3220}{3298}a huge hill rising out of the desert.
{3532}{3643}When I first arrived in the valley|in 1994 I was overwhelmed.
{3743}{3833}This place is somewhere between|the seat of the gods
{3844}{3879}and the home of man.
{3924}{3972}It is a very strange place.
{4018}{4058}Then as she looked closer
{4058}{4146}she thought she could see something|hidden under the rubble and stones.
{4211}{4320}In her mind's eye she could make out|the faintest outline of a pyramid 
{4687}{4750}and as she looked around she could she another
{4762}{4800}and then another.
{4847}{4924}Ruth Shady had stumbled on a lost city.
{5187}{5276}It was a discovery that would|stun the world of archaeology
{5285}{5392}because it would finally begin to solve|one of the great unanswered questions:
{5396}{5488}why our ancestors abandoned a life of simplicity
{5495}{5574}and started down the road to civilisation.
{5891}{5980}Today's modern city is the pinnacle|of human civilisation.
{6014}{6092}Millions of people choosing to|live and work together.
{6143}{6178}In a civilisation
{6180}{6279}everyone has a specific task that|helps towards a common goal.
{6285}{6361}Workers, professionals, home-makers
{6365}{6452}they all come together to build the same society.
{6493}{6517}Above them all,
{6522}{6556}powerful rulers.
{6567}{6616}They command who does what
{6621}{6667}and when and where they do it,
{6793}{6833}but it was not always like this.
{6845}{6961}How this complex system came about has|long been a huge puzzle to scientists.
{7050}{7087}For more than a century
{7102}{7185}surely one of the most important|questions addressed by archaeologists
{7185}{7225}is also its biggest.
{7225}{7282}What is the origin of civilisation?
{7293}{7361}This has been a central theme,
{7361}{7511}a guiding post for virtually all archaeologists|working on every continent of the world.
{7565}{7635}Because civilisation was not inevitable.
{7647}{7758}For more than a hundred thousand years|there were neither rulers nor cities.
{7799}{7880}Humanity either roamed the world|in small family groupings,
{7880}{7931}or lived in tiny villages.
{7967}{8000}There was little planning,
{8000}{8071}little leadership and no future.
{8079}{8128}Just survival
{8163}{8206}and then something happened.
{8218}{8265}Six thousand years ago
{8265}{8370}people started to move out of their|villages and build huge cities.
{8386}{8489}Archaeologists called this|crossing the great divide.
{8560}{8632}This happened in six places across the world
{8637}{8738}in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India
{8748}{8830}and in the New World in Peru|and Central America.
{8856}{8935}Without these pioneers|crossing that great divide
{8939}{9006}our modern world would not exist.
{9018}{9058}And what's exciting for us
{9058}{9114}is that here we are in the 21st century
{9114}{9191}living in societies that ultimately are,
{9191}{9314}that ultimately result from that historical|change, that historical divide. 
{9341}{9433}Archaeologists examined each|early civilisation in turn
{9438}{9505}searching for clues as to why|they'd suddenly appeared
{9516}{9613}and again and again they found|they had many things in common.
{9630}{9733}For instance, numeracy, mathematics|and calendrical systems.
{9836}{9854}Writing.
{9898}{9921}Pottery.
{9967}{9990}Metallurgy.
{10060}{10115}But above all there was something else.
{10119}{10169}Monumental architecture.
{10488}{10562}In every early civilisation it was the same.
{10566}{10625}Huge, monumental structures.
{10637}{10709}This was the ultimate sign of|people coming together
{10709}{10771}under rulers for a common goal.
{10827}{10925}Pyramids marked the arrival of civilisation.
{11050}{11140}You can't build a huge structure like|that on the basis of consensus.
{11140}{11188}You have to have leaders and followers,
{11188}{11219}you have to have specialists,
{11219}{11259}you have to have people who are in charge,
{11260}{11384}people who can tell individual groups|alright today you will be doing this,
{11384}{11450}this group you're going top be|doing something different.
{11634}{11747}But none of this explained why our|ancestors crossed this historic divide.
{11796}{11868}What had made us give up|the simple life for the city?
{11901}{11970}That question still bewitches archaeologists
{11972}{12086}because to explain it is to understand|the very soul of modern humanity.
{12126}{12173}And that's the key question:
{12176}{12266}how does that happen, when does|it happen and why does it happen?
{12338}{12394}There were, of course, plenty of theories.
{12402}{12445}Some said it was irrigation,
{12452}{12491}others trade,
{12504}{12578}some claim even today it was aliens,
{12668}{12731}but many said it was something else entirely,
{12735}{12777}something terrifying:
{12958}{12989}warfare.
{13063}{13101}The theory was simple.
{13110}{13215}Warfare forced groups of villages to|huddle together for protection.
{13268}{13339}This led to new ways of organising society.
{13345}{13384}Powerful leaders emerged
{13389}{13452}and these leaders became pharaohs and kings.
{13482}{13552}They would assign tasks and organise lives.
{13566}{13660}Complex society was born out of fear.
{13865}{13950}For 20 years Jonathan Haas|and Winifred Creamer
{13950}{14014}have tested the warfare|theory around the world.
{14047}{14107}A husband and wife team of archaeologists,
{14107}{14214}they've found the tell-tale signs of|battle in every early civilisation.
{14245}{14330}As you look at culture, as it|becomes more complex,
{14331}{14397}warfare seems to be everywhere,
{14397}{14530}that these societies seem to be always at war,
{14530}{14636}or war's depicted in the art, war's|depicted in the architecture,
{14636}{14730}you see a warrior class or|you see standing armies,
{14730}{14767}you see generals.
{14767}{14857}When you get writing, writing is about warfare.
{14990}{15054}While it is not universally accepted,
{15056}{15121}many agree with Haas's conclusions
{15123}{15183}that warfare was a crucial driving force
{15183}{15243}behind the birth of modern society.
{15328}{15410}I frankly find it difficult to conceive of
{15414}{15508}the emergence of urbanisation|complexity civilisation
{15508}{15582}in the absence of degrees of conflict,
{15582}{15641}or the presence of, of warfare.
{15681}{15722}But it was only a theory.
{15742}{15794}Archaeologists had no proof,
{15811}{15875}so they spent years scouring the earth,
{15878}{15966}hunting for a way of turning theory into fact.
{16091}{16207}What they needed to find was what|archaeologists call a mother city.
{16255}{16317}This is the missing link of archaeology,
{16327}{16392}the very first stage of civilisation,
{16400}{16485}just as humanity crossed the great divide.
{16520}{16612}So if we could find one of these absolutely|earliest stages of civilisation 
{16612}{16655}it would make an enormous contribution
{16655}{16757}to our understanding of the process|of the development of civilisation.
{16789}{16826}If their theory was right,
{16831}{16912}then the mother city should be|filled with the signs of battle,
{16993}{17051}but they always hit the same obstacle.
{17070}{17143}Civilisations constantly build upon themselves.
{17154}{17241}It means the earliest stages|are all but wiped out.
{17371}{17494}Human beings reconstruct buildings,|human beings recycle materials.
{17494}{17637}It is very often difficult to be able to|coax out of that mass of material
{17637}{17698}sort of the base of that civilisation.
{17698}{17812}What constitutes the original civilisation.
{17849}{17938}After years of searching in the|Old World they'd found little.
{17948}{18052}They still needed to find the earliest|stage that had not been built on,
{18052}{18093}somewhere pristine
{18105}{18244}and so the search for the mother city|switched from the Old World to the New.
{18635}{18739}Peru, home to one of the|greatest of all civilisations
{18739}{18771}the Incas.
{18824}{18873}Here high in the Andean mountains
{18873}{18924}they ruled a mighty empire
{18924}{18969}until destroyed by the Spaniards
{18969}{19007}five hundred years ago,
{19048}{19107}but the origins of this great civilisation
{19107}{19155}stretch back thousands of years
{19169}{19242}and its earliest stages remain|shrouded in mystery
{19303}{19390}and so the search for the|mother city settled here,
{19400}{19537}this time on the Peruvian coast where,|thousands of years ago, it all began.
{19795}{19825}Seven years ago
{19825}{19943}the search to find that elusive first|stage of civilisation arrived here,
{19950}{20030}just 10 miles from the coast|in the Casma Valley.
{20065}{20139}Something truly spectacular was discovered,
{20144}{20226}one of the biggest pyramids in the world.
{20352}{20462}This pyramid is so huge that for|a century explorers ignored it,
{20465}{20515}convinced it could only be a hill.
{20527}{20583}It is the rival of anything in Egypt.
{20643}{20761}This is a pyramid that ranks as one|of the largest in the world, period.
{20761}{20828}It's one that covers on|the surface of the mound
{20828}{20883}it covers like 15 football fields.
{20883}{21021}The volume of it is some, we calculate something|like two million cubic metres of material.
{21100}{21159}But the pyramid was only the beginning.
{21191}{21264}The whole site spreads out over six miles
{21269}{21320}and includes a host of lesser pyramids.
{21357}{21395}In front of the main pyramid
{21396}{21464}four plazas extend out for over a mile.
{21474}{21557}Thousands of people could have|met and done business here.
{21576}{21605}The Casma Valley
{21605}{21652}is one of the wonders of Peru
{21662}{21743}and it is a site that reeks of civilisation.
{22092}{22180}Visitors of this valley, upon|first seeing this pyramid,
{22180}{22278}what is said this society that|built it had its act together.
{22317}{22370}This society's very powerful,
{22370}{22506}this society is, is a society that|really is very highly organised.
{22616}{22673}Tom Pozorski and his wife Sheila
{22673}{22774}were about to make Casma into one|of the sensations of archaeology
{22790}{22824}because four years ago
{22824}{22870}they unearthed some wooden poles
{22870}{22915}inside the main pyramid.
{22923}{22975}Wood can be carbon dated.
{23040}{23133}The results showed it|had been built in 1500 BC.
{23169}{23260}It made Casma the oldest city|ever discovered in the Americas
{23267}{23348}and an instant candidate|to be the mother city.
{23420}{23454}Then they dug deeper
{23460}{23552}and everywhere they found the|tell-tale signs of a civilisation
{23552}{23605}at its very earliest stage.
{23693}{23718}There was pottery,
{23725}{23761}but it was very simple
{23919}{23947}and there was art,
{23954}{23998}but again it was crude.
{24025}{24083}Everything was at its most basic.
{24165}{24224}It all seemed to point to one thing
{24226}{24291}Casma had to be the mother city,
{24440}{24514}but the final question for|the archaeologists was
{24520}{24559}were there signs of battle,
{24570}{24639}was it really true that|the first civilisations
{24639}{24690}were born out of warfare?
{24773}{24819}Then came the final breakthrough.
{24942}{25005}It happened in one of the outlying pyramids.
{25048}{25119}There they found some carvings.
{25297}{25409}We have warrior figures next to|their victims who are cut up, 
{25409}{25483}they're beheaded, their bodies cut in half.
{25605}{25731}Heads have blood flowing from their|eyes and blood flowing from their mouths
{25731}{25800}and then you have body parts|so you'll have just the leg
{25800}{25837}and you'll have a torso
{25837}{25918}or you'll have feet and you'll|have crossed hands.
{26174}{26231}For archaeologists like Jonathan Haas
{26231}{26312}these carvings confirmed what|they'd long suspected:
{26334}{26447}warfare really did seem to be the|force that gave birth to civilisation.
{26732}{26806}It appeared the answer to why|we'd crossed the great divide
{26806}{26883}from the simple to the|civilised had been found.
{26916}{27008}Archaeology's great quest|seemed to have ended at Casma,
{27013}{27046}the mother city,
{27222}{27306}but Casma's days as an archaeological|sensation were numbered.
{27322}{27385}Just as it was reaching|the height of its fame,
{27385}{27459}Ruth Shady found her mysterious hills
{27475}{27556}and they would transform everything.
{27715}{27780}Ruth went back to the site again and again
{27780}{27866}and she took with her a team of|students and archaeologists.
{27908}{27939}Their first task:
{27939}{28063}to get a rough idea of how old Caral,|as the site was known, actually was.
{28075}{28133}For this they needed to find pottery
{28141}{28210}because archaeologists|are skilled at dating sites
{28213}{28280}just by the style of the pottery they find,
{28360}{28456}but after weeks of searching|they found nothing.
{28558}{28616}For two months we looked for pottery.
{28653}{28740}Every night we asked each other|if anybody had found any,
{28759}{28786}but nobody had.
{28831}{28876}We were completely baffled.
{28977}{29018}This was very puzzling.
{29028}{29106}Every early civilisation is|littered with pottery,
{29106}{29136}even Casma,
{29136}{29187}but not this one,
{29200}{29288}so they looked for something else|you'd expect to find in a civilisation:
{29292}{29323}metal tools,
{29358}{29434}but the only tools they found|were made not of metal
{29444}{29474}but stone.
{29577}{29631}There was only one conclusion:
{29649}{29767}this was a civilisation at an|extraordinarily early stage.
{29856}{29949}Little by little as we|analysed our findings,
{29952}{30043}we began to realise that this|place was completely different
{30043}{30100}to anything we had seen before
{30153}{30227}and it was much older than we'd expected.
{30325}{30355}But how old?
{30365}{30423}They'd still found nothing they could date
{30430}{30536}and so they decided to dig inside|Caral's biggest structures
{30543}{30570}the pyramids.
{30615}{30667}This was a massive undertaking.
{30678}{30758}The site was enormous and the pyramids huge.
{30770}{30802}Ruth needed help,
{30807}{30869}so she recruited the Army.
{31100}{31246}In their way lay thousands of tons of sand,|rubble and stones built up over millennia.
{31254}{31289}It would have to be shifted
{31289}{31371}and so as to avoid any damage|to the original structures
{31371}{31447}it could only be done one bucket at a time.
{31564}{31637}Gradually they caught glimpses|of what lay beneath:
{31653}{31696}some of the original stones,
{31721}{31757}traces of plaster,
{31769}{31835}paint not seen for thousands of years,
{31867}{31913}a series of staircases
{31944}{32007}and the wall at the front of the pyramid.
{32027}{32132}There was no doubt these pyramids would|have required craftsmen, architects,
{32132}{32198}a huge workforce and leaders,
{32208}{32267}all the trappings of civilisation
{32421}{32453}and then at last
{32459}{32524}one of her team found what|they were looking for.
{32541}{32607}Sticking out of the foundations|of one of the buildings
{32615}{32647}were reeds.
{32740}{32837}These reeds had been woven into|what are called shicra bags
{32844}{32940}and the bags clearly had been used to|carry the stones from the mountains.
{32992}{33087}It's a technique found only in the|very oldest buildings in Peru.
{33189}{33238}Reeds can be carbon dated.
{33249}{33351}It meant that at last Ruth could|find out just how old Caral was,
{33369}{33428}but she lacked the facilities to do it herself
{33428}{33476}and so she sought help from abroad
{33587}{33705}and so last year Jonathan Haas and|Winifred Creamer were invited to the site.
{33722}{33784}What they saw stunned them.
{33811}{33892}It was the most incredible assemblage in the,
{33892}{33983}of archaeological sites that we had|ever seen anywhere in the world.
{34107}{34226}It was literally one of those|double-take moments
{34226}{34320}when your mouth drops open|and you go my God,
{34320}{34380}I've never seen anything like that in my life.
{34452}{34555}They had no doubt Caral was a site|of potentially huge importance.
{34567}{34654}It made their dating of the|shicra bags all the more crucial.
{34801}{34894}They took 12 samples to the|University of Illinois for testing.
{35002}{35081}If the bags were from about 1400 BC
{35084}{35157}Caral would certainly be|an important discovery,
{35166}{35204}but younger than Casma.
{35299}{35414}Dates around 2000 BC would make|it the oldest city in the Americas.
{35513}{35590}Dates any earlier seemed inconceivable.
{35654}{35732}Three months later the results arrived.
{35765}{35840}I was at work and Jonathan called me
{35840}{35960}and he said they are absolutely|great, they're all early.
{36027}{36137}The bags were dated at 2600 BC.
{36241}{36317}Caral was nearly five thousand years old,
{36324}{36380}as old as the pyramids of Egypt,
{36382}{36439}older than anyone had thought possible.
{36484}{36586}I was virtually in hysterics|for three days afterwards.
{36659}{36734}Caral was a thousand years older than Casma.
{36746}{36820}It meant Casma could not be the mother city.
{36827}{36876}it had to be Caral.
{37000}{37076}It was now Caral's turn to be a sensation.
{37094}{37221}The new mother city meant archaeologists could|at last seek answers to their great question:
{37238}{37303}why had civilisation begun?
{37383}{37450}We've eliminated some of these|false starts and blind alleys.
{37450}{37560}We say OK, this is the point that wherever we|look in the world where civilisation develops
{37560}{37651}this happens and this allows|for everything else.
{37725}{37839}In the context of archaeology worldwide|it is of major significance.
{37845}{37954}It allows us a new, independent laboratory.
{37967}{38110}We can look here for all of those common|questions that we ask of every civilisation.
{38185}{38256}We have here a unique opportunity, 
{38256}{38316}historically an unique opportunity
{38316}{38408}to look at the start,|to look at that transition,
{38408}{38499}to, to, we have our missing link, if you will.
{38608}{38733}Ruth could now show the world what a society|looked like at the very dawn of civilisation.
{39031}{39060}Her work revealed
{39060}{39122}that at the heart of Caral was six pyramids
{39141}{39199}arranged around a massive central plaza.
{39381}{39462}Alongside them an amphitheatre and temple,
{39473}{39520}the religious heart of Caral. 
{39654}{39722}It contained a furnace which Ruth believes
{39722}{39818}fired a flame that was meant to burn forever.
{40112}{40181}In the centre of the plaza were houses,
{40185}{40241}some ornate, some simple.
{40257}{40298}Dominating everything
{40298}{40338}the main pyramid,
{40343}{40391}seat of the city's rulers,
{40397}{40507}and the symbol that the people of Caral|had left behind the primitive life
{40511}{40571}and discovered civilisation.
{40742}{40841}This then is what modern society|might have looked like
{40841}{40886}at its very beginning,
{41130}{41179}but why was the city here,
{41190}{41260}why did civilisation start at Caral
{41381}{41431}and that's when the trouble started.
{41498}{41601}It began when Jonathan Haas, the|world's expert on the warfare theory,
{41601}{41638}paid another visit.
{41650}{41711}He was searching for evidence to back it up.
{41758}{41831}The first thing he thought he|might find were battlements.
{41880}{41940}I began walking and climbing
{41946}{42009}all of the hillsides around Caral
{42019}{42104}and it finally dawned on me
{42104}{42192}that there weren't any|fortifications around these sites.
{42251}{42335}Meanwhile, Ruth and her team were|searching Caral for weapons,
{42340}{42401}for depictions of warfare, anything,
{42411}{42467}but again there was nothing.
{42593}{42687}We found no sign of the sort of weapons|you see in later periods of history,
{42687}{42733}like stone cudgels.
{42838}{42895}I don't see any evidence of conflict.
{42909}{43015}The city isn't walled, its inhabitants did|not feel under any treat of war,
{43027}{43074}there are no weapons of war.
{43256}{43307}Haas was now extremely puzzled,
{43313}{43357}so he widened his search.
{43411}{43453}He headed to the valley's mouth
{43453}{43513}through which any invaders|would have had to pass.
{43593}{43645}If I was an approaching army
{43650}{43692}that's where I'd come
{43699}{43777}and that's where I should|find defensive fortifications.
{43779}{43821}There should be a wall going across it.
{43821}{43914}They're easy places to put walls|across all of these access routes.
{43950}{43999}But again nothing.
{44031}{44086}There should be something|to slow down the enemy
{44088}{44137}and in fact there's nothing.
{44139}{44221}There are no fortifications|round any of these sites.
{44292}{44377}Jonathan Haas was now facing|an uncomfortable truth.
{44397}{44460}He had spent years pursuing the theory
{44460}{44550}that warfare was the force|that created civilisation
{44566}{44653}and now it was falling apart in front of him.
{44743}{44907}You seemed to really have the|beginnings of that complex society
{44907}{44990}and I'm able to look at it right at the start
{45002}{45117}and I look for the conflict|and I look for the warfare,
{45117}{45207}I look for the armies and the fortifications
{45230}{45265}and they're not there.
{45288}{45329}They should be here
{45362}{45401}and they're not
{45423}{45515}and you have to change your whole mind-set
{45518}{45599}about the role of warfare in these societies
{45679}{45773}and so it's demolishing|our warfare hypothesis.
{45773}{45868}The warfare hypothesis just doesn't work.
{46001}{46058}The message of Caral was clear:
{46074}{46165}warfare had nothing to do with|the creation of civilisation,
{46168}{46205}here at least.
{46247}{46343}The whole quest to find out|why civilisation was formed
{46359}{46395}would have to start again.
{46586}{46650}The eyes of the world were now on Ruth.
{46659}{46737}Everyone wanted to know what|had been going on at Caral.
{46783}{46816}If it wasn't warfare
{46822}{46910}what was it that brought these people|to build their magnificent city?
{47126}{47251}What emerged was that Caral was a|society that knew how to have fun.
{47279}{47370}Near the main temple Ruth and her|team found beautifully carved flutes
{47370}{47419}made from the bones of condors.
{47529}{47585}The flutes were the first things we found
{47585}{47679}that showed people working as|specialised craftsmen in Caral.
{48041}{48134}But the people of Caral also|enjoyed more worldly pleasures.
{48227}{48263}Back in the laboratory
{48263}{48309}Ruth's team unearthed fragments
{48309}{48378}of the fruit of something|called the achiote plant.
{48558}{48671}Even today, it's used by rainforest tribes|as body paint and food colouring,
{48699}{48741}but it has one other use:
{48786}{48836}to enhance sexual performance.
{49078}{49178}They also found the shells of a creature|called the megabolinus snail.
{49186}{49243}These were used as ornaments for necklaces
{49326}{49446}and inside one of them they spotted|traces of a mysterious white powder.
{49470}{49500}It was lime.
{49514}{49592}The team also found seeds|from the coca plant at Caral
{49597}{49643}and that meant drugs.
{49668}{49793}The lime when mixed with the coca enhances|the effects of the cocaine in the coca plant.
{49803}{49840}It's a powerful stimulant.
{49947}{50017}There are indications that they used drugs
{50024}{50114}because we have found little containers|in which there was some lime.
{50137}{50209}We also found inhalers made out of bone.
{50357}{50449}The shamans, or holy men,|among certain Amazon tribes
{50449}{50502}use something similar even today.
{50515}{50555}The effects are dramatic.
{50599}{50684}During the trance they believe|they're possessed by animal spirits.
{50932}{50999}Ruth believes this kind of thing|could have been happening
{50999}{51073}during festivals in Caral all those years ago.
{51135}{51242}It's probable that during the very|frequent religious ceremonies in Caral
{51242}{51319}there would have been some|hallucinatory drug present.
{51786}{51874}But these finds told Ruth|even more about Caral.
{51883}{51965}The plant, the snail and even|the flutes were a clue
{51965}{52037}to the basis of the whole civilisation
{52079}{52153}because they had one|other very special quality.
{52204}{52282}They were entirely alien to the|deserts surrounding Caral.
{52300}{52353}They came either from high in the Andes,
{52353}{52390}or the rainforest
{52429}{52479}and that was two hundred miles away.
{52561}{52638}All these goods had been brought|to Caral from far away,
{52643}{52668}but why?
{52886}{52932}The mystery deepened further.
{52946}{53028}Ruth's team found that Caral|didn't just import its pleasures.
{53057}{53127}It also brought in the most|basic commodity of all:
{53132}{53155}food.
{53201}{53254}It seemed the staple diet of Caral
{53254}{53338}was completely bizarre for|a city deep in the desert.
{53374}{53414}It was fish.
{53514}{53558}There were endless fish bones,
{53563}{53616}mainly of sardines and anchovies.
{53631}{53740}They could only have come from the|Pacific coast more than 20 miles away.
{53823}{53874}There was now a real puzzle.
{53874}{53980}Goods of all kinds seemed to be|flooding into Caral from all over Peru.
{53994}{54016}Why?
{54044}{54103}What was happening at Caral|that drew them there?
{54494}{54597}The mystery of Caral was now captivating|Jonathan Haas and Winifred Creamer.
{54628}{54688}Ever since the collapse of the warfare idea
{54695}{54806}they'd roamed the valleys around Caral|hunting for clues for an alternative theory.
{54888}{54970}Their wanderings took them over the|hills to the neighbouring valleys
{54975}{55010}and it dawned on them
{55017}{55092}all the valleys of Caral had|one thing in common:
{55117}{55141}rivers.
{55386}{55515}Even today Caral is fed by rivers flowing|down from the Andes to the sea.
{55654}{55701}These rivers would be the key
{55701}{55735}in unlocking the mystery
{55735}{55830}of why civilisation first formed here at Caral
{55868}{55971}because with rivers had come|a huge technological advance:
{55998}{56024}irrigation.
{56155}{56248}This is the simplest possible|kind of irrigation system.
{56255}{56367}All you needed to do was to take|a hoe, or something like that,
{56367}{56514}and scratch a little ditch from|the river to a piece of land
{56514}{56622}and you could tell that you were going at the|right angle 'cos the water'd follow right in.
{56666}{56701}The valleys near Caral
{56701}{56774}are crisscrossed with ancient|irrigation trenches
{56784}{56860}and irrigation would have|transformed the desert.
{56910}{56997}Once I bring water off of that river
{57002}{57067}to the Peruvian desert
{57077}{57129}that desert blooms.
{57150}{57295}Once I get water to it it just is the most|productive land you could possibly hope for.
{57444}{57542}Jonathan believed Caral was|once a huge Garden of Eden.
{57549}{57587}Here in the middle of the desert
{57587}{57680}it would have been a vast oasis|of fruit and vegetable fields.
{57684}{57776}It would have made Caral one of|the wonders of the Ancient World
{57940}{58003}and irrigation led to something else,
{58026}{58107}the thing that would turn out|to be the crucial innovation
{58107}{58184}behind the rise of civilisation at Caral.
{58275}{58306}Ruth's researchers
{58306}{58409}had begun to look for the kinds of vegetables|the people of Caral had been eating.
{58483}{58541}In amongst all the beans and nuts
{58544}{58610}they found cotton seeds,
{58610}{58642}lots of them.
{58667}{58739}In fact cotton seemed to be everywhere.
{58965}{59109}Practically every building contained cotton|seeds or cotton fibres or textiles.
{59141}{59236}We were very surprised at the beginning|at the sheer amount of cotton.
{59403}{59460}Some of the cotton was used for clothes,
{59480}{59557}but it had another use that|had nothing to do with Caral:
{59576}{59611}fishing nets.
{59722}{59804}This net was found at the|coast not far from Caral.
{59814}{59877}It's nearly 5,000 years old,
{59877}{59924}as old as Caral itself.
{59938}{60010}It was then that it all became clear to Ruth.
{60024}{60096}Caral was engaged in trade.
{60110}{60227}It made cotton nets for the|fishermen who sent fish as payment.
{60335}{60437}A trading link was established between|the fishermen and the farmers. 
{60492}{60533}The farmers grew the cotton
{60545}{60601}which the fishermen needed to make the nets
{60601}{60727}and the fishermen gave them in|exchange shellfish and dried fish.
{60845}{60914}This was Ruth Shady's great insight.
{60927}{61023}Trade in cotton led to a huge,|self-sustaining system.
{61037}{61092}Caral made the cotton for the nets.
{61109}{61177}With the nets the fishermen|could catch more food.
{61195}{61312}More food meant more people could|live at Caral to grow more cotton
{61326}{61428}and so Caral became a booming trading centre
{61515}{61561}and the trade spread.
{61576}{61676}Goods have been found from as far|away as Ecuador, the Andes
{61681}{61785}and of course the rainforests|hundreds of miles away.
{61926}{61983}There is trade with people in the mountains,
{61983}{62090}the jungle and also with the coastal|people from further away.
{62199}{62238}There is a trading network
{62238}{62321}which is far more widespread|than just the internal trade
{62321}{62375}within the valleys around Caral.
{62483}{62591}It seemed then that they'd found the|answer to that great archaeological quest.
{62608}{62746}The driving force that led to the birth of|civilisation at Caral five thousand years ago
{62746}{62792}was not warfare.
{62806}{62853}It seemed to be trade.
{62868}{62939}Ruth Shady, the archaeologist from Peru,
{62948}{62978}had cracked it.
{62999}{63129}It looks like exchange is what's|unifying this system together
{63129}{63241}and is kind of emerging as the most|effective theory we have today
{63241}{63323}to explain how this system developed.
{63444}{63555}And amazingly this trade seems to|have built a contented world.
{63561}{63633}There were no battles, no fortresses.
{63646}{63771}Civilisation in Peru appeared to|have been born of a time of peace
{63967}{63994}or had it?
{64161}{64219}Just as everything seemed to be solved,
{64224}{64282}Ruth's team made a chance discovery
{64286}{64356}that threatened to undermine everything.
{64430}{64469}In one of the grander houses,
{64469}{64516}perhaps home to one of the elite,
{64516}{64571}they spotted something unusual.
{64690}{64756}We thought we had finished|work on this section.
{64768}{64853}We looked at the floor and we didn't|think there was anything else there,
{64877}{64934}but when we came back the following day
{64951}{65011}we noticed that there was a slight dip
{65014}{65073}in one section of the floor of the building.
{65150}{65231}At first they thought they'd|found a personal object,
{65231}{65269}perhaps an ornament.
{65280}{65312}When they looked closer
{65312}{65371}they could see it was a reed basket.
{65426}{65539}It had lain under the floor of a house|for nearly five thousand years.
{65819}{65866}When Ruth cleaned the dust away
{65866}{65932}she found something much|more disturbing inside:
{65949}{65987}human bones.
{66227}{66303}They'd stumbled upon the|body of a small child,
{66303}{66350}perhaps even a baby.
{66373}{66438}Suddenly it raised the|frightening possibility.
{66452}{66528}Perhaps the people of|Caral started a tradition
{66528}{66609}which was to be common in later|civilisations in the Americas:
{66643}{66679}human sacrifice.
{67061}{67160}Perhaps Caral was not a civilisation|of peace and happiness after all,
{67174}{67289}perhaps it was brutal and held|together not by trade, but fear.
{67465}{67549}It became vital to find|out how this child had died.
{67566}{67641}Was it really a victim of|some barbaric practice?
{67811}{67874}The body was sent back to the labs for analysis
{67874}{67948}and with it the objects|found buried alongside.
{68060}{68173}Ruth was surprised to see the baby had been|placed in the foetal position before being buried
{68216}{68349}and even more surprised to see the body had been|carefully wrapped in several layers of fine cloth.
{68391}{68477}Alongside the body were small stones.
{68492}{68571}They'd been carefully polished and|holes drilled through their centre.
{68588}{68627}Theyhad to be beads,
{68632}{68666}perhaps of a necklace.
{68800}{68847}Then they examined the bones.
{68900}{68955}They were of a two month old baby
{69139}{69250}and then, slowly, each bone was|examined for signs of violence,
{69320}{69343}but there were none.
{69395}{69480}They suspected this child|had died of natural causes.
{69509}{69569}It had been lovingly prepared for burial.
{69661}{69778}This first citizen of American|civilisation was not a sacrifice,
{69785}{69836}but a much loved child.
{69863}{69949}Caral really had been a city of peace after all,
{70140}{70202}so this is the real story of Caral.
{70207}{70231}In the desert
{70239}{70290}a city of pyramids arose
{70298}{70371}built on riches gained|peacefully through trade.
{70389}{70473}It spawned a civilisation that lasted unbroken
{70473}{70534}for more than four thousand years.
{70550}{70671}It is a story that may yet contain the|answer to archaeology's greatest question:
{70674}{70752}why human beings crossed the great divide
{70752}{70821}from the simple to the civilised?
{70880}{70940}Caral was the first city
{70971}{71022}with the first central government
{71022}{71064}ever to be created.
{71133}{71251}Caral changes all our current thinking|about the origins of civilisation.
{71346}{71414}Because it seems that|five thousand years ago
{71414}{71463}they had no need for warfare.
{71479}{71562}Caral enjoyed a peace that|lasted almost a millennium,
{71609}{71683}an achievement unmatched|in the modern world.
{71759}{71837}That's a period of a|thousand years of peace.
{71837}{71948}I can't have a thousand years of peace|if warfare's natural to human beings.
{71948}{72000}Warfare's part of human nature.
{72000}{72090}You don't get a millennium of no war.
{72130}{72201}Perhaps that is Caral's real legacy.
{72221}{72317}Human civilisation was not born|in bloodshed and battle.
{72323}{72387}Warfare was a later part|of the human story.
{72407}{72489}GREAT THINGS CAN COME FROM PEACE.