DESERT AND MOUNTAINOUS CULTURES

First civilization of
Americas
Andes
Mayans
Cultures
Sahara
Thar
North America.
ANDEAN CIVILIZATION
The Andes Mountains extend like a spine down the western side of the
South American continent. To the east, the Amazon basin is one of the
world’s great watersheds. On the western slopes of the Andes, from
Colombia and Ecuador in the north, across the great stretches of Peru, to
Bolivia in the south, rivers draining the highland areas form a series of
fertile valleys.  The great civilizations of the Andes developed along the
Pacific shores, in the river valleys, and in the higher elevations of the
region. Coastal currents provided nutrients and rich marine resources for
exploitation.

Over these vast distances, in diverse ecological zones, from sea level to
well over 12,000 feet in altitude, from about 12,000 years ago to the
arrival of the Spanish in the 1520s, prehistoric peoples in the Andean
area developed a series of astonishing cultures of great complexity and
achievement. Objects from these cultures help tell their stories,
document their accomplishments, and chronicle their rise and fall. These
are stories of political and religious organization, architectural
magnificence, extensive road and trading networks, massive and skilled
irrigation systems, and great artistry in metallurgy, ceramics and
weaving
CARAL OLDEST CIVILIZATION IN
AMERICA
The Caral-Supe civilization is the oldest known advanced civilization in the
American continents discovered to date. Discovered only as recently as the 21st
century, the villages of the Caral Supe were located along the coast of central Peru. Nearly
20 separate villages have been identified, with a central place at the urban
community at Caral. The city of Caral included enormous earthen platform mounds,
monuments so large that they were hidden in plain sight (thought to be low hills).
Caral built its economy in fishing and agriculture. According to investigations, they
traded cotton and dehydrated fish with other less-developed societies from the Andes
and the Amazon.Something that also characterized Caral was its extensive scientific
and technological knowledge that they transferred to other neighboring cultures.
This development is shown in the creation of new agricultural techniques such as the
mentioned irrigation channels. Likewise, there is evidence that this civilization may
have organized an army that manufactured its own weapons.
The people from Caral built ditches whose remains show how they used the climate
and water resources. Through these constructions, they managed to canalize the
direction of the wind so that the water reaches the lowest areas and can be used for
domestic purposes.
Obtaining water was one of most important tasks in their day-to-day duties. In fact,
in different parts of the valley they built puquios, (springs in Quechua), that served
as reservoirs for water management.
 
CIVILIZATION OF MAYANS

The ancient Maya Civilization occupied much of the

central North American continent based on the gulf
coast of what is now Mexico between 2500 B.C. and
1500 A.D. The Maya were a group of independent
city-states, which shared cultural qualities. This
includes their amazing complex artwork (particularly
murals), their advanced water control system, and
their graceful pyramids

The Maya excelled at agriculture, pottery, writing,

calendars and mathematics, and left behind an
astonishing amount of impressive architecture and
symbolic artwork.They practiced mainly slash-and-
burn agriculture, but they used advanced techniques of 
irrigation and terracing