Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAVÍN
If Caral is evidence of early urbanization, then Chavín de Huántar (
Click here
)
, near
Huaraz, represents the spread of a unified religious and artistic iconography. In a broad
swath of the northern Andes, from roughly 1000 BC to 300 BC, a stylized feline deity
began to appear on carvings, friezes, pottery and textiles from the era. As with Caral, there
is only patchy information available about the era's societies, but its importance is without
question: in Peru, this moment heralds the true birth of art.
It is still debated whether the temple at Chavín de Huántar represented a capital or
merely an important ceremonial site, but what is without doubt is that the setting is ex-
traordinary. With the stunning Cordillera Blanca as a backdrop, the remnants of this elabor-
ate ceremonial complex - built over hundreds of years - include a number of temple struc-
tures, as well as a sunken court with stone friezes of jaguars. Here, archaeologists have
found pottery from all over the region filled with
ofrendas
(offerings), including shells
from as far away as the Ecuadorean coast, and carved bones (some human) featuring super-
natural motifs. The site's most remarkable feature is a maze of disorienting galleries be-
neath the temple complex, one of which boasts a nearly 5m-tall rock carving of a fanged
anthropomorphic deity known as the Lanzón - the sort of fierce-looking creature that is
bound to turn anyone into a believer.
Published by Harvard University's Peabody Mu-
seum,
The Moche of Ancient Peru: Media and Mes-
sages,
by Jeffrey Quilter, is an outstanding intro-
duction to the history, art and architecture of the
Moche culture of the north coast.
