Chavín de Huantar

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The area of the Chavín and site of Chavín de Huantar

Chavín de Huantar is an archaeological site containing ruins and artifacts originally constructed by the Chavin, a pre-Inca culture, around 900 B.C. The site is located 250 kilometers north of Lima, Peru at an elevation of 3150 meters, between the Andean mountain ranges of the Cordillera Negra and the Cordillera Blanca. Chavín de Huantar has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Some of the Chavín reliefs from this archaeological site are on display in the Museo de la Nacion in Lima.

Chavin de Huantar was initially built around 900 B.C. While the fairly large population was based on an agricultural economy, the city's location at the head waters of the Marañon River, between the coast and the jungle, made it an ideal location for the dissemination and collection of both ideas and material goods.

Findings at Chavin de Huantar indicate that social instability and upheaval began to occur between 500 and 300 B.C., at the same time that the larger Chavin civilization began to decline. Large ceremonial sites were abandoned, some unfinished, and were replaced by villages and agricultural land. At Chavin de Huantar, no later than 500 B.C., a small village replaced the Circular Plaza The plaza was occupied by a succession of groups, and building stones and stone carvings were salvaged for use in house walls. Multiple occupation floors indicate the village was continuously occupied through the 1940’s.

[edit] Site description

The site contains a number of major structures, including Temples A, B, and C and areas and buildings designated as the Circular Plaza, the Old Temple and New Temple.

Circular Plaza appears to have been a sacred and ritually important open-air space within a ceremonial center. Prior to 800-700 B.C., this location had a number of functions, including serving as an atrium for entering Temple A through the temple's north staircase. The plaza in the classic period, after 700 B.C., is bounded on three sides by major Temples A, B, and C. The plaza is perfectly circular and is very close to 20 meters in diameter, with a floor consisted of pillow-shaped pavers of yellow diatomite. It appears that a center line of black limestone blocks runs on its architectural east-west axis. Walls of the plaza were constructed of cut stone, principally granite, laid in courses of varying width. The two broadest courses were carved in arcs closest to the western staircase and in two pairs of terminal stones flanking the eastern staircase.

The Old Temple, constructed early in the site's history, was an inward-facing structure composed primarily of passageways built around a circular courtyard. The structure contained obelisks and stone monuments with relief carvings depicting jaguars, caymans, and various other anthropomorphic forms. The Lanzon Gallery, located at the very center, contained a sculpture of the Lanzon, which is assumed to be a supreme deity of Chavin de Huantar. The figure is anthropomorphic, with a feline head and human body. Mortars, pestles, conch-shell trumpets, and many other items have also been found. Many of these artifacts have an anthropomorphic design or decoration and are thought to be associated with Chavin rituals.

The New Temple, constructed between 500 and 200 B.C., is also based on a gallery and plaza design and contained many relief sculptures. The Lanzon diety is also present, holding a Strombus shell in the right hand while the left hand holds a Spondylus shell.

Excavation of burial sites gave evidence of a small elite class with elaborate burial goods. Tombs contained precious metals, colorful textiles, and other valuables. The majority of burials were more simple, with bodies interred in in shallow pits with cotton clothing and a simple tool kit.

Local style in art and decoration included scrolls, simple curves, straight lines, and images of wild animals. Chavin sculpture is usually of white granite and black limestone. Carved stone mortars and pestels, conch-shell trumpets, bone tubes and spatulas, and metal spatulas and spoons were found decorated in Chavin style as were various textiles including tapestries. Pottery was found in a wide variety of forms, including bottles and bowls, decorated with a wider range of distinctive elements.