<P> The Lithic stage or Paleo - Indian period, is the earliest classification term referring to the first stage of human habitation in the Americas, covering the Late Pleistocene epoch . The time period derives its name from the appearance of "Lithic flaked" stone tools . Stone tools, particularly projectile points and scrapers, are the primary evidence of the earliest well known human activity in the Americas . Lithic reduction stone tools are used by archaeologists and anthropologists to classify cultural periods . </P> <P> Several thousand years after the first migrations, the first complex civilizations arose as hunter - gatherers settled into semi-agricultural communities . Identifiable sedentary settlements began to emerge in the so - called Middle Archaic period around 6000 BCE . Particular archaeological cultures can be identified and easily classified throughout the Archaic period . </P> <P> In the late Archaic, on the north - central coastal region of Peru, a complex civilization arose which has been termed the Norte Chico civilization, also known as Caral - Supe . It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas and one of the five sites where civilization originated independently and indigenously in the ancient world, flourishing between the 30th and 18th centuries BC . It pre-dated the Mesoamerican Olmec civilization by nearly two millennia . It was contemporaneous with the Egypt following the unification of its kingdom under Narmer and the emergence of the first Egyptian hieroglyphics . </P> <P> Monumental architecture, including earthwork platform mounds and sunken plazas have been identified as part of the civilization . Archaeological evidence points to the use of textile technology and the worship of common god symbols . Government, possibly in the form of theocracy, is assumed to have been required to manage the region . However, numerous questions remain about its organization . In archaeological nomenclature, the culture was pre-ceramic culture of the pre-Columbian Late Archaic period . It appears to have lacked ceramics and art . </P>

What is the oldest known civilization in central and south america