Ruth Shady | |
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.JPG) Shady in 2014 | |
| Born | Ruth Martha Shady Solís (1946-12-29)December 29, 1946 (age 78) Callao, Peru |
| Occupation(s) | Anthropologist and archaeologist |
| Known for | First extensive documentation of theNorte Chico civilization |
| Awards | BBC's100 Women 2020 |
Ruth Martha Shady Solís (born December 29, 1946) is aPeruviananthropologist andarchaeologist.[1] She is the founder and director of the archaeological project atCaral.[2][3]
Throughout her career, she has directed many different projects of archeological investigation on the coast, the highlands and the rain forests of Peru, placing emphasis on the study of the development of the complex socio-political organizations. She was director of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Antropología del Perú (National Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of Peru), and director of the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology ofNational University of San Marcos. She has worked at the Caral site from 1994 onwards and is credited with the discovery ofNorte Chico, the first known civilization of the Americas, and one of the oldest in the world. Shady has named the civilization after Caral, while the termNorte Chico has been adopted in English.
In 2001, Shady and others published radiocarbon dates from the site of Caral in the Supe Valley of Peru, indicating that monumental corporate architecture,urban settlement, andirrigation agriculture began in the Americas by 4090 years before the present (2627 calibrated years B.C.) to 3640 years before the present (1977 calibrated years B.C.). Caral is located 23 kilometers (14 miles) inland from the Pacific coast and contains a central zone of monumental, residential, and nonresidential architecture covering an area of 65 hectares (160 acres). Caral is one of 18 largepreceramic sites in the Supe Valley.[4][5]
Shady holds the offices of President of ICOMOS-PERU, principal professor and co-ordinator of the master of archeology graduate program faculty of social sciences of theUniversity of San Marcos and director of the special archeological project Caral-Supe/INC.
Shady was on the list of the BBC's100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.[6]
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