The government of Peru kicked off its
campaign to promote the Sacred City of Caral with a press
conference that featured Alfredo Serrero Costa, Perus minister of
industry, foreign trade and tourism, and Ruth Shady Solis, the
archaeologist who discovered the site and is leading the team of
researchers studying the site.
Officially
discovered in 1994, 
Caral is estimated to be 5,000 years old
and is the oldest city in the Americas, according to the Peruvian
government.
Caral is located in
the Supe Valley, a two hours drive north on the Pan-American
Highway from the capital city of Lima. The ruins of the city still
show evidence of the cultivation of agriculture, astronomy,
medicine, engineering, trade, music, textiles and basket
weaving.
Although the
government waited until a tourist infrastructure was in place to
begin promoting the site, the city was not previously restricted
from public access. In fact, the government says thousands of
visitors are already arriving every year and the numbers have
increased from about 7,000 visitors in 2003 to more than 21,000 in
2005.
The government is
promoting Caral as a more accessible alternative to Machu Picchu,
which receives so many visitors (679,951 in 2005) that the traffic
threatens the preservation of the site.
To
contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to David
Cogswell at [email protected].