| Advance: before the Inca, Chancay, Moche, and | | | | eyes;Thin lips, slightly upward, triangular chin; thin |
| Chavin there was the Caral civilization, in the | | | | hair. |
| North-central coast of Peru, five thousand years | | | | Sparse outer eyebrows (beautiful) with a straight |
| ago (3000 BC)) all these civilizations lived in the | | | | torso.She was naked, arms stretched, crossed |
| Supe Valley at one time except the Moche, who | | | | behind.(She died according to her times.)She sat |
| lived in Chan Chan, bordering the coast. Caral, a | | | | crossed legged: the year 1102 AD, among herLay, |
| city-state you might say, or perhaps a small | | | | unbaked clay figurines; color cotton textiles;Head |
| sanctuary along the Supe Rio (of which were | | | | adornments: were two circular headdresses |
| perhaps some 3000-inhabidents at one time)) of | | | | Linked-and-twisted, made out of totora reed, |
| which I first crossed by foot, and came back by | | | | rush fiberAnd cotton thread; a wooden comb by |
| horse)), in the Supe Valley, is most bravura, for I | | | | her knees.Pieces of pottery lay by her side, in the |
| have been there and can bear this out.This | | | | warm valley sandTo the left of her were the |
| civilization coexisted with that of Mesopotamia of | | | | Caral ruins, the old city. |
| the Near East, or Crete of Europe; perhaps built | | | | (Four thousand years had now passed, her |
| their pyramids at the same time Egypt did. The | | | | Ancestors long gone;Gone, now dead, perhaps |
| city is not only sacred, but it was political, with all | | | | her blood was currently, intermixedWith the many |
| its six pyramids, tucked away in a mountain like | | | | cultures that once walked this land.)She sat |
| corral (so it got its name), in that it is surrounded | | | | crossed legged and thought: how crafty she |
| by beautiful mountains, known as the.... It is about | | | | wasCompared to them, for she had made |
| 165-miles north of Lima; it is also the city known | | | | handles for her pottery,And she was proud, so |
| as ‘…dwelling place of the | | | | very proud, of being: Peruvian |
| gods….’ You have three regions | | | | (with 11,000-years of proven history). She |
| here: the Andean highlands, Andean jungle, and | | | | brushed away theMosquitoes, watched her friends |
| equatorial coastal area, of which now I have been | | | | plant corn, hot peppers |
| to all three. It is close to the sea, the mountains | | | | Along the banks of the Rio, in the Sacred Valley |
| look over it, and the jungle is not that far away. | | | | of Supe.She sat crossed legged until sunset: |
| [Caral: in Quechua, is cabuya, or sisal, a dry fiber | | | | watching the reds andYellows and orange mist |
| often used in weaving.] Pottery was not | | | | fade into the sun’s brightness:Thus, she |
| discovered until later to have been made at Caral, | | | | wept and wept, for someone or thing had broken |
| thus, no early dates for its baking process. One | | | | Her pottery, as she laid still from a blow to the |
| would have to date it perhaps between the Inca | | | | back of the head,Her face (her cranial |
| and Chavin cultures, or a better date might be | | | | traumatized); it was all she could see, |
| the Chancay culture. It is known that the Chancay | | | | As they bound her knees, the way they did |
| culture lived right on the site of the Caral Culture | | | | back in 3000 BC!…(She was part of the |
| between 900 and 1300 AD.The Poem:She sat | | | | Caral legend. I for one, picked up those |
| crossed legged: the Sacred Supe Rio to her | | | | Pieces of clay, with handles, in the sands of the |
| right:Small, sloping forehead: deep brown, secretive | | | | Supe Valley). |