I haven't studied Peru in particular, so I'm just basing my comments on what I have picked up about it here and there, largely via documentaries and internet articles. So take it with a grain of salt.
There appears to be contradictory opinions about just exactly what type of society existed in Norte Chico, which is what Potter is referencing by the early civilization. This was a preceramic civilization that did not build monuments, nor did it have a written language. They were socially organized, however. Here's an article that gives background information:
http://www.mesoweb.com/reports/caral2.html
Together, the Norte Chico sites indicate an advanced civilization that arose without the development of ceramics—a hallmark of other complex societies worldwide. Yet the researchers found indications of a multifaceted economy based on inland irrigation of cotton and food plants, diverse marine resources and a system of regular exchange between inland and coastal sites. Numerous remains of shellfish and fish bones were recovered at the inland sites.
Researchers also recovered botanical remains of domesticated plants—including cotton, squash, chilli, beans and avocadoes—but found almost no evidence of preserved corn or other grains. “This early culture appears to have developed not only without pottery, arts and crafts but also without a staple grain-based food, which is usually the first large-scale agricultural product of complex societies,” Creamer said. “The ancient Peruvians took a different path to civilization.
One of the immediate problems that becomes apparent is that since the civilization - whatever it was, exactly - at Caral was so much larger than any others, there really weren't any other groups to fight with. So an apologist might be able to resolve one problem - metallurgy - but creates quite a few more with this setting, in my opinion.
from wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norte_Chico_civilizationThe Norte Chico chiefdoms were "almost certainly theocratic, though not brutally so," according to Mann. Construction areas show possible evidence of feasting, which would have included music and likely alcohol, suggesting an elite able to both mobilize and reward the population.[10] The degree of centralized authority is difficult to ascertain, but architectural construction patterns are indicative of an elite that, at least in certain places at certain times, wielded considerable power: while some of the monumental architecture was constructed incrementally, other buildings, such as the two main platform mounds at Caral,[4] appear to have been constructed in one or two intense construction phases.[9] As further evidence of centralized control, Haas points to remains of large stone warehouses found at Upaca, on the Pativilca, as emblematic of authorities able to control vital resources such as cotton.[10]
Haas has gone so far as to suggest that the labour mobilization patterns suggested by the archaeological evidence point to a unique emergence of human government, one of two alongside Sumer (or three, if Mesoamerica is included as a separate case). While in other cases, the idea of government would have been borrowed or copied, in this small group government was invented. Other archaeologists have rejected such claims as hyperbolic.[10]
In further exploring the basis of possible government, Haas suggests three broad bases of power for early complex societies — economic, ideological, and physical — and finds the first two present in ancient Norte Chico. Economic authority would have rested on the control of cotton and edible plants and associated trade relationships, with power centered on the inland sites. Haas tentatively suggests that the scope of this economic power base may have extended widely: there are only two confirmed shore sites in the Norte Chico (Aspero and Bandurria) and possibly two more, but cotton fishing nets and domesticated plants have been found up and down the Peruvian coast. It is at least possible that the major inland centers of Norte Chico were at the center of a broad regional trade network centered on these resources.[9] Discover magazine, citing Shady, suggests a rich and varied trade life: "[Caral] exported its own products and those of Aspero to distant communities in exchange for exotic imports: spondylus shells from the coast of Ecuador, rich dyes from the Andean highlands, hallucinogenic snuff from the Amazon."[18] (Given the still limited extent of Norte Chico research, such claims should be treated circumspectly.) Other reports on Shady's work indicate Caral traded with communities in the jungle farther inland and, possibly, with people from the mountains.[19]
[edit] Ideology, religion, and warfare
Ideological power would have rested on access to deities and the supernatural.[9] Evidence regarding Norte Chico religion is limited, but fascinating: an image of the Staff God, a leering, cartoon-like figure, with a hood and fangs, has been found on a gourd dated to 2250 BC. The Staff God is a major deity of later Andean cultures, and Winifred Creamer suggests the find points to worship of common symbols of gods.[20][21] Like much other research at Norte Chico, the nature and significance of the find has been disputed by other researchers.[22]
The act of architectural construction and maintenance may also have been a spiritual experience: a process of communal exaltation and ceremony.[17] Shady has called Caral "the sacred city" ("La ciudad sagrada"[3]): socio-economic and political focus was on the temples, which were periodically remodeled, with major burnt offerings associated with the remodeling.[23]
What is absent is any suggestion of physical bases of power. There is no evidence of warfare of "of any kind or at any level during the Preceramic Period."[9] Mutilated bodies, burned buildings, and other tell-tale signs of violence are absent, and settlement patterns are completely non-defensive.[17] This is out of keeping with archaeological theory, which suggests that human beings move away from kin-based groups to larger units resembling "states" for mutual defence of often scarce resources. A vital resource was present (arable land generally, and the cotton crop specifically) but the move to greater complexity was apparently not driven by the need for defence or warfare.[17]