What always surprised me were the miles around these sites full of rubble/rocks, plowed fields with piles of rubble push to the sides. All the 'locals' in possession of some small relics and bits of artwork, pottery items.

These were huge civilizations and so much is totally lost. Built upon or perhaps still buried for future discovery.

I think these people traveled the entire route from the tip of south America all the way along the coastlines perhaps as far as Russia across the bearing landmass & back again. I don't believe they just walked these vast distances either. They had to have used the seas/rivers and maybe even rode horses for thousands of years longer then currently 'believed'.

dating indicate a much longer time for people in the Americas than the old Clovis theory originally suggested (11,000 years ago). How much longer? Depends on who you ask. Most estimates that I've seen suggest at least 20,000 years ago. Probably more, IMO.

I don't buy the Clovis theory of the first people entering America only by land at Beringia, and then the interior of North America only when an ice free corridor opened up. Humans reached Australia by boat at least 50,000 years ago.

Beringia did not form overnight. As more land gradually was exposed, people who were adapted to a coastal marine life probably followed the coastlines. They could have bridged the gap between Asia and North America by boat at a much narrower Bering Strait before the two continents were fully connected. Or, they could have followed the Aleutian Islands since they were connected to each other and almost to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Asia, which in turn was connected to islands leading to Japan when glaciation exposed and connected more land. This would have been farther south of the Arctic region.

I think the earliest people entering N.America came by boat. Some continued down the Pacific coastline. Others followed rivers, streams, and lakes inland, south of the glaciers, where melt runoff provided abundant sources of food and fur animals at watering sites. Meadowcroft Rock Shelter in southwest PA is an example of such a place, dating back to 14,000 years ago and likely (but disputed) earlier dates at lower layers.

The earliest people could have arrived as far back as 30,000 years ago, although there is no accepted evidence of that, yet.

Regarding trade with eastern Russia and the rest of east Asia, maybe it happened between Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, and Asia. There is some genetic evidence of "backflow genes" in that region. But not beyond that area.

No evidence of those early Americans riding horses. Horses originated in America and were hunted along with other mammals by humans. Those early horse forms were not like the ones tamed for riding thousands of years later in Asia. Horses migrated into Asia across Beringia before the glaciers melted, and evolved further on the open Asian steppes before becoming tamed for riding. By the time of Columbus, all horses were extinct in the Americas and were brought here by Europeans.

which may illuminate things far more than we know now, like the fantastic ground-penetrating, jungle penetrating cameras being created and refined, from seeing things buried under the sand, in Egypt, to innumerable "lost" cities in the Americas.

Hope you will be able to return to see newly uncovered places to add to your list.

Really envy your experience with the ones you've already visited. The images online are fascinating.

Creepy realizing how many locals have made off with meaningful pieces of the prehistoric civilizations. Happens all over the world. They just can't help themselves, apparently.

in less detail than now available.

Seems, from one old article that I read, the stone buildings there influenced architecture in later cultures of America.

The similarities in shape between the Caral pyramids and much later ones in Mesoamerican civilizations suggests to me a long-lasting cultural influence beyond the Caral region. Was there contact between Peru and Mesoamerica? Or, is the Amazon region and river the common denominator? The people of Caral knew abiut Amazonian animals. Did the founders of the Caral culture originate there or only travel there for trade or exploration of the Amazon River basin?

The Amazon rainforest climate is similar to regions of Central America, providing a possible common denominator connection between Peru and Mesoamerica.

So maybe the Amazon Basin or the Caral region of Peru were catalysts for later civilizations in the Americas. But, if so, any connection did not extend to the development of writing and the complex mathematics and astronomy that.existed later in Mesoamerica. The civilizations of Peru did not have writing.

Love your post, touching on so many important areas.

I just took a quick run to google to see if anything jumped out in a search for peru ancient civilization astronomy and this is the first thing up:

august 20, 2018 cusco, nature, peru
Inca Astronomy: How the Incas Saw the Stars
Inca astronomy played an important role in the civilization's fascinating belief system.
by Hendrika Janssen



Artwork representing constellations observed by the Incas is on display at Qorikancha in Cusco.


Gazing up at a starry night sky is nothing short of magical. People have long been fascinated with stars, and have attempted to find meaning in what they saw in the sky. The Inca civilization in Peru placed great importance on astronomy. They were the only culture in the world to define constellations of both light and darkness. The Incas not only identified constellations and individual stars, but they also assigned each a purpose. They believed that everything in and around our world was connected.

The Complex Inca Belief System
The Inca flourished in the Andes Mountains in South America from the 12th to 15th centuries. They had a grand empire stretching from present-day Colombia to Chile. Worship was very important to them and they had a complicated religion, closely linked to astronomy. The Inca worshiped various Gods, including Viracocha (the creator), Inti (the sun), and Chuqui Illa, the God of Thunder. They also worshiped huacas, spirits that were believed to inhabit any remarkable phenomenon, including large boulders, trees, streams or waterfalls.



The Temple of the Sun at Machu Picchu likely served as a solar observatory and sacred site where high Inca priests performed rituals.

In general, the sky was very important to the Inca. Both the moon and sun were seen as gods and they built extravagant pillars and temples with great precision so that these “heavenly bodies”, like the sun, would pass over the structures or through windows on specific days, like the summer solstice. The most crucial events for the Inca generally involved the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and stars.

More:
https://www.peruforless.com/blog/inca-astronomy/

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I've never seen this information, haven't read the whole article but I will in a moment.

There's so much to find out, isn't there? Not enough time in any day, by any means.

So good to see your thoughts. Thank you.

a main interest in the cultures of the Americas.

i wasn't aware of the extent of the Inca interest in astronomy. They must have had a system of telling time, e.g. calculating and numbering months, in order to create the sites that let them know when to plant. So they had a complex numerical system, which we know from their use of quipus. I have no idea how to use one, but as far as I know, the Inca system did not have zero, as the Mayan system did. And nobody, not the Incas, Europeans, or Asians, had the year calculated as precisely as the Mayans.

The linked article mentions that the Inca differed from European concepts of constellations because the Incans considered the constellations as living beings that were part of the interconnectedness of life (a theme shared by many Native cultures). By contrast, it says that European constellations were inanimate and not connected to people or the rest of the world. But that overlooks the practice of astrology, which reached Europe from Middle Eastern "wise men." Astrology holds that the planets and stars have a strong influence on life on earth.

The people of each region develop their own adaptations to their environments and their own customs and cultures, but often are influenced by the developments of previous cultures or separate contemporary ones.

I long believed there was a trade connection between Mesoamerica and North America which spread corn (maize) agriculture and aspects of Mesoamerican culture to the Mississippi River basin and its tributaries. Now I suspect that some aspects of Mesoamerican culture originated in the Amazon basin which influenced the people of Peru to the west and people of Mesoamerica to the north.

Will definitely be remembering it now you've brought it up.

So much to learn ahead of us. No doubt we have a storm of discovery as they awaken far more to what has always been here.

and history of Spain and Latin America. Since Native cultures are a large part of the culture and history of Latin America, anthropology of the Americas was a natural minor. But I found North American Native cultures very interesing, too.

From the time of the early Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores in the Americas, there were rumors of a great, ancient civilization in the Amazon basin, but nobody ever found one. In modern times, evidence of pre-Columbian extensive agriculture and hut villages was found, but no stone architecture. None of the things we would associate with civilization were found. But the people in the region spoke of a time when there was a great city that ruled a large area. I've wondered if the city was actually farther north, a forerunner of the later Mesoamerican cities.

I wonder about it because of some similarities in a few customs and styles. The Amazon basin soil is too acidic for agriculture. Investigators found that ancient Amazonians had transported good soil and built up layers of it for growing crops. That shows some organization and sophistication in planning that would require a fairly large and unified group with a strong leader and some strong motivation. So the great city might have existed, built with perishable wood instead of stone.

The people of Caral (and the Incas much later) were familiar wirh Amazonian animals and crops. There are flat-topped temple pyramids in Peru and in Mesoamerica. Amazonia lies between these regions. Much later than Peru or Mesoamerica, there were flat-topped earthen temple pyramids in North America, and also some of the Mesoamerican crops, like Maize.

So, I'm not an anthrpologist. I only minored in the subject. But it looks to me like there might have been an early Amazonian society that contributed concepts, if not technologies, to places like Peru and Mesoamerica.