CHAVÍN CULTURE

Chavín de Huántar probably does not fit the definition of a true city in the eyes of most scholars, but at this ancient bustling ceremonial center (citylike center usually run by priests and rulers, in which people from surrounding areas gather to practice the ceremonies of their religion, often at large temples and plazas built specifically for this purpose), many of the seeds of Andean civilization were sown. Functioning primarily as a religious center, Chavín de Huántar became an increasingly complex society, with a robust economy, social classes, job specialization, and an elite group of rulers. Between 500 and 200 B.C.E. the Chavín people made remarkable innovations in religion, the arts, engineering, architecture, and trade, and their advancements spread to other cultures throughout the Central Andes. The Chavín cult (a group that follows a living religious leader [or leaders], who promotes new religious doctrines and practices) was responsible for uniting a large part of the region for the first time. The cultural influence of the Chavín helped the entire Central Andes region take a large step toward true civilization.

Location

Chavín de Huántar is located in the northern highlands of present-day Peru at the head of the Marañón River valley, about 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of Lima, the capital of Peru.

At its height, the Chavín culture spread throughout much of present-day Peru, from present-day Ica, southeast of Lima on the southern coast, to the northern border of Peru and into the northern highlands.

Chavín de Huántar

Chavín de Huántar lay at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) at the meeting place of two rivers, one flowing down from a tall, snow-capped mountain peak called Huantsán. The center of the site was positioned on a roadway through the mountains that lay about halfway between a tropical forest region to the east and the desertlike coastal plains to the west. The route had been used by traders for years. The center of Chavín de Huántar was occupied and built in three phases over a period of nearly seven hundred years. The size and population of the center grew during each phase.

The Old Temple

During the first phase of construction in Chavín de Huántar, the Chavín people created the magnificent Old Temple as a center of religion and authority. Like many earlier, Pre-Ceramic monuments (built between 3000 B.C.E. and 1800 B.C.E.), the Old Temple had a U-shaped design, with the open part of the U facing the mountains. Three platforms of differing heights (from 36 to 53 feet [11 to 16 meters] tall) formed the U, and a sunken circular courtyard stood within. From the outside, the Old Temple appeared to be made of solid rock. No doors or windows were visible. To a pilgrim (someone who travels to a holy place to show reverence) arriving in the city from afar, the front wall of the central platform must have inspired great awe, if not fright: About 35 feet (10.6 meters) from the temple floor, a series of very large carved stone heads protrude from the wall. The heads are part animal and part human, with menacing bared fangs. In "Chavín and the Origins of Andean Civilization" (1992), Richard L. Burger, one of the principal scholars of the Chavín, theorizes that these heads may represent the different stages of transformation, or visions, of a Chavín priest, also called a shaman. Shamans sometimes took a hallucinogenic drug (a mind- and sense-altering drug that may create visions of things not physically present) in order to achieve a sense of transformation (change in form or appearance). While in this drugged condition, the shaman might see himself as an animal or a deity (god) figure.

Inside the Old Temple is a remarkable network of passage-ways, secret chambers, tunnels, and air vents, none of which can be seen from the outside. Strategically placed ducts bring in odd geometric patterns of light and shadow as well as fresh air. Underneath the temple there is an elaborate system of water canals. The water came from the two nearby rivers, and experts believe that when it was released through special floodgates into these canals, it produced a  roar, perhaps like that of a jaguar; to the people of that time, it might have seemed that the temple itself was roaring. Pilgrims gathering in the courtyard of the temple may have been equally awestruck by what they saw and heard: Secret passages allowed the Chavín shaman to suddenly appear at the top of the platform, as if by magic, to proclaim their messages from the gods. In some of the inner rooms that were open to the public, air vents allowed voices to carry over long distances, so that someone in a central area could be heard in a remote room as if they were standing in it. In the courtyard of the Old Temple was a stone frieze (a band of carved decoration running around the top part of the temple wall) depicting half-human, half-animal figures. Like the protruding heads on the outer temple wall, these figures probably represent the transformation of a priest.

At the center of the Old Temple, reverently placed in a dark, cross-shaped chamber, is what appears to be the temple’s main religious object: the Lanzón, a 15-foot-tall (4.5-meter-tall) pillar, or stela, carved out of granite. Engraved in the stone is the form of a god, perhaps the main deity of the Chavín. It is a humanlike form with a feline (catlike) face; the hands and feet have claws. The human earlobes on this deity are heavy with pendants or ear spools (large, round ear ornaments). Snarling with thick lips, the deity displays the fierce-looking fangs common to many Chavín images. Its eyebrows and hair are snakes. The top part of the Lanzón extends through the ceiling and into the room above it. When visitors prayed to the Lanzón, a priest hidden from view in the room above may have answered them, making it seem as if the engraved image of the god had spoken.

The Lanzón is still in its place in the ruins of the Old Temple; two other stone carvings from the Old Temple were long ago removed and taken to another location. One is the Tello Obelisk (an obelisk is a tall, narrow pillar topped by a pyramid shape); the other is the Raimondi Stone. The Tello Obelisk depicts another animal deity, the caiman (a South American animal similar to an alligator); this was a common deity figure in the Chavín cult. The Raimondi Stone is carved with an image of the Staff God. This Andean deity is usually shown from the front and often has a catlike head with a fanged mouth and clawed feet that are spread apart. Its hair (or head-dress) is often made up of snakes or snake heads. The Staff God always holds one staff and sometimes two. This deity did not originate among the Chavín; its image has been found on at least one artifact that dates back to much earlier times. In the Norte Chico area of Peru, scientists found an easily recognizable image of the Staff God etched into a gourd that is about four thousand years old. This is believed to be the oldest identifiable religious image ever found in the Americas. The Staff God remained a central part of many Andean religions until the Spanish invaded the region in the sixteenth century.

The New Temple

By about 400 B.C.E., Chavín de Huántar had grown considerably. It probably had about three thousand residents and covered an area of more than 100 acres (0.16 square miles/.41 square kilometers). The populations in the surrounding areas had increased as well. At this time the Chavín people decided to create the New Temple by enlarging and remodeling the south building platform of the Old Temple. Construction of the new building, which was also modeled on the U-shaped design, was in the works for many generations. The Old and New Temple were both used for religious ceremonies and events.

The Chavín de Huántar site has captivated observers throughout history. The buildings of the Chavín required precise planning, skillful artistry, and substantial knowledge of engineering, acoustics (sound), and hydraulics (science that deals with water and other liquids at rest or in motion). The complexity of the structures and of the religious symbols portrayed in Chavín architecture indicate that this was a highly advanced culture. The extraordinary features of the Castillo seem to go far beyond the needs of a standard ceremonial center. The question still looms in the early twenty-first century: Who planned such a fabulous center, and what was their purpose? Burger has offered the idea that Chavín de Huántar may have been the headquarters of an oracle or a family of oracles. Oracles are people, usually priests or priestesses, through whom the gods are believed to speak; an ordinary member of the public would have consulted an oracle for advice or help in making an important decision. Whether or not this theory is accurate, it is evident that religion and religious practices exercised an unusual amount of influence at Chavín de Huántar.

History

The Chavín people are thought to have originated in small farming communities that may have been developing as far back as 3500 B.C.E. By 800 B.C.E., many of the ceremonial centers along the Peruvian coast and in the Andean highlands had been abandoned or had suffered huge losses of population. Around that time, in a mountain pass in the northern Central Andes, the Chavín began building their ceremonial center. About five hundred Chavín people were living in the area at the time. When the center, Chavín de Huántar, was completed, people from a wide surrounding area worshiped there, while making their living by farming in the valley or herding llamas or hunting in the highland meadows.

Chavín de Huántar drew many visitors. A compelling religious cult arose there, and soon people from distant valleys were making long treks up treacherous mountain roads to visit the awe-inspiring temple, which roared with an eerie force and magically produced priests from its doorless and windowless walls (see The Old Temple earlier in this chapter). The religion practiced at Chavín de Huántar began to take hold across the Andean region. (Archaeologists have found artifacts in quite a few unrelated regions across the Andes that bear distinctly recognizable Chavín religious images: the Staff God, the jaguar, the monkey, and various birds of prey.) The people who came to this center from afar brought tribute (gift, payment, or other acknowledgement of gratitude or respect) to the gods. No one knows exactly how the tribute was collected or how it was used in the city’s economy, but some scholars believe that the tribute goods enriched the center’s economy and stimulated interest in exchanging goods with distant communities. In time, Chavín de Huántar developed extensive trade and its people prospered.

By about 400 B.C.E., the religious cult of the Chavín had spread to remote parts of the Andean region. Chavín technology in tiles, ceramics, dyeing techniques, metalwork, stonework, and other fields found its way into distant settlements. Chavín religious imagery appears on artifacts—ceramics, textiles, and carvings—from as far south as Nazca  and throughout the northern coastal and highland communities.

It is very unusual for religion to spread in this way without military conquest, but there is little evidence of war among the many groups that adopted the Chavín culture. Most scholars believe that the disappearance of pre-Ceramic (3000 B.C.E. to 1800 B.C.E.; see Chapter 3 for more information) ceremonial centers created a spiritual need and that the Chavín religion was alluring to the Andean people because it filled that need. Many scholars also believe that the spread of the Chavín culture  marked the first time that the ancient Andean communities were united. This union of diverse Andean communities of the Chavín culture was a pivotal event in the history of Andean civilization.

According to Adriana Von Hagen and Craig Morris in "The Cities of the Ancient Andes" (1998), Chavín de Huántar was never more than a ceremonial center and does not seem to have had any central governing body or military enforcement. Von Hagen and Morris note that, even so, Chavín de Huántar was the center of culture and ideas for a vast area. The exchange of religious ideas and imagery with other areas developed into a system of goods exchange, and this connection of religion and economy was a crucial contribution to later Andean civilizations. Von Hagen and Morris conclude:
"The exchange system was tied to religion and ceremony, and production was geared to providing the goods the religion and the elites required. Artistic innovation created the designs and symbols for communicating religious ideas and marking the identities of the religious elite, and technological innovations introduced new ways of producing the goods that the religion required. This fusion of the ceremonial and the economic would become a fixture of Andean cities".

Government

Little is known about the governing of Chavín de Huántar, but such a large and powerful ceremonial center must have had a strong administrative system in place. (Administrators are people who manage or supervise the day-to-day operations of business, government, and religious organizations.) The priests in Chavín de Huántar almost certainly had a great deal of power. The priests, the administrators, and wealthy traders probably made up an elite group of rulers in the community. There also must also been a big pool of laborers to build the large temples of Chavín de Huántar. It is likely that nearby farming villages sent crews of workers to public building projects as a kind of tribute payment to the religious center.

Economy

At the time Chavín de Huántar was built, most of the people in the area were farmers, herders, and hunters who had successfully adapted to the mountainous terrain. By about 500 B.C.E. the economy of the region seems to have been driven by he temple. As the Chavín religion spread, people traveled to Chavín de Huántar from all over the Andes, bringing gifts and tribute for the priests and oracles and greatly enriching the city. Traders who lived in or near the ceremonial center also traveled, taking Chavín goods and ideas to remote parts of present-day Peru.

As Chavín de Huántar began to prosper, its people continued to develop their skills in the arts and technology. Eventually, at the height of the center’s prosperity, many people specialized in their own fields and carried on businesses in their homes, creating goods that could be exchanged to people in far-off places. Aside from being expert stone carvers, the Chavín people were potters, bead makers, weavers, and metalworkers. Within the temple, new kinds of occupations arose. Some temple workers created religious imagery that artists were to reproduce on Chavín artwork, which was then dispatched throughout the region. The temple also employed administrators, whose job was to keep the place running smoothly.

Because of its mountain location, Chavín de Huántar initially had limited trade. It took a tremendous effort to carry goods up to the ceremonial center. Around 500 B.C.E., however, people began to herd llamas (South American mammals that originated in Peru) and use them as pack animals. A llama driver could handle as many as thirty animals at a time, and each llama could carry a heavy load up the mountain trails. Thus, trade in the city increased greatly. As more and more teams of llamas headed up the trail, it became necessary to build better roads.

Remains discovered by archaeologists show that after 500 B.C.E. the residents of Chavín de Huántar were eating more llama purchased from herders and more fish brought up from the coast. This indicates that their trade was good, and some people in the center were getting quite rich. But life was not necessarily good for everyone. From the refuse left behind, it is clear that the people who lived closer to the temple ate a healthier diet than the people who lived on the outskirts of town. While the people who lived nearer the center ate their food off ceramic serving dishes and owned many goods from foreign places, the houses on the edges of the town had none of these goods and conveniences. People who lived on the outskirts of town were clearly not as wealthy. Social classes, in which certain groups of people were more privileged than others, had emerged.

Religion

The nature of the Chavín religion will probably always remain a mystery, but it is of great interest because some of the distinct features that emerged helped form the basis of all the major Andean religions. The Chavín religious imagery, the idea of sacred geography and huacas, or shrines, and the act of transformation, particularly into an animal spirit, are early developments in the complex Andean religion.

Scholars have tried to gain some understanding of the Chavín belief system by interpreting the depictions of Chavín gods on art objects. The three deities found on artifacts in the Old Temple — the “snarling” god of the Lanzón, the caiman of the Tello Obelisk, and the Staff God of the Raimondi Stone — are certainly major deities in the Chavín pantheon (the recognized gods of the Chavín). Scholars believe that by the time of the New Temple, another god had taken the “snarling” god’s place but its image was lost. Other deities, particularly feline (catlike) figures, are depicted in stone carvings, in textiles, and on ceramics. Images of animals and portraits of half-human, half-animal figures abound. Many of the apparently religious images involve a creature with a combination of human, cat, bird, and snake features. Most have fangs and appear to be snarling and ferocious.

When the builders of Chavín de Huántar erected their city, they expressed a sense of “sacred geography,” placing their buildings in positions aligned with the surrounding features of nature that the Chavín considered sacred. The people revered the mountain peak, Huantsán, that loomed over their city as sacred. They felt connected to the mountain through the Moqsna River, which flowed down from the mountain and right through their city. The site of their city was also the meeting point of the Moqsna and another river; this meeting of the rivers, too, was considered a lucky or even sacred feature of nature. The shrine or huaca built upon a sacred place was considered the most direct link to the gods who had the power to help the Chavín people or destroy their lives. People considered it a wise investment to travel to the sacred sites and deliver their tribute. They were also ready to provide labor in the building or repair of the huaca. In return, they expected the supernatural beings to make them safe and provided for them.

The shamans of Chavín de Huántar used a type of hallucinogenic cactus—San Pedro cactus—to achieve visions, or hallucinations, which they interpreted as messages from the spirit world. In Peru, San Pedro cactus has been used in this way continuously for the past three thousand years. Some of the carved pictures of beings that are half-human and half-animal may represent the visions the shamans had when they were under the influence of the hallucinogen and saw themselves transforming into animals or deities.

Arts and sciences

When experts refer to “Chavín style,” they are referring to the style the Chavín used in their stone sculptures. Through trade, other communities became familiar with Chavín style and adopted it in their own artwork; thus, some art pieces done by peoples other than the Chavín may also be said to have Chavín style. The stone carvings made by the Chavín—both the huge monuments and the small sculpted pieces—are considered the most notable artwork of the culture. However, the Chavín were also master artists in metalwork, especially gold, and in textiles and ceramics.

The administrators of the Chavín de Huántar ceremonial center in its heyday were apparently actively working to distribute their religious ideas through a complicated system of artistic imagery. Using a system of iconography (a method of relaying meaning through pictures and symbols) the Chavín artists expressed a variety of religious concepts that would be understood in far off places by placing traditional religious images in certain orders and repeating them in a variety of ways. The creators of these figures intended them to be understood and interpreted in combination with each other. Only people who knew what the figures were intended to represent would have been able to interpret this art. In this way, the art was somewhat like written text, in that some of the depictions may have had a literal (factual or real) meaning. According to anthropologist John Howland Rowe in his undated lecture at the University of California, Berkeley, called "Form and Meaning in Chavín Art", the most common icon, or religious image, used by the Chavín was the snarling, fanged mouth of a cat. The Chavín gave human, snake, and even bird figures this feline mouth. Rowe explained that the cat, or jaguar, mouth probably signifies that the creature in the picture is either divine or mythological (relating to an imaginary story, being, or thing). This is an example of how religious ideas were conveyed.

Decline

The Chavín influence only lasted for about three hundred years. No one knows for certain what caused its demise, but sometime after 300 B.C.E. the building of monumental centers in the surrounding region suddenly ceased. People scattered, abandoning the areas of the large ceremonial centers, including Chavín de Huántar. Without the unifying religious and trade network of the Chavín in the years following its abandonment, the Andean region was once again divided into small communities that remained independent of each other.

In "Early Civilizations in the Americas - Almanac" Volume 1, Sonia Benson & Deborah J. Baker, Project Editor, Thomson Gale, (The Thomson Corporation). USA, 2005, excerpts p.59-73. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.