Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948, but it received little attention at the time because it appeared to lack many typical artefacts that were sought at archaeological sites throughout the Andes at the time. In 1975, the Peruvian architect Carlos Williams made a detailed record of most of the archaeological sites of the valley of Supe, among which he recorded Caral, from which he made some observations about the development of architecture in the Andes. Ruth Shady further explored the 4,000- to 4,600-year-old city of temples in the Peruvian desert, with its elaborate complex of temples, an amphitheatre and ordinary houses.[6] The urban complex is spread out over 150 acres (607,000 m²) and contains plazas and residential buildings. Caral was a thriving metropolis at roughly the same time that Egypt's great pyramids were being built.
