Chavín de Huántar and the Early Horizon

The Chavín culture, though unfamiliar to many travelers to Peru, was one of the most influential ancient civilizations in South America. It served as an important pilgrimage site from roughly 1200-500 BCE (Kembel & Haas, 2015). As it rose in prominence, artwork bearing its religious symbols began appearing throughout the central Andes and down to the Peruvian coast. This expansion signaled a major shift in Andean beliefs during the Early Horizon Period (Rowe, 1967).

The Chavín culture was named after a large temple with an underground labyrinth in the town of Chavín de Huántar, in the highlands of Peru’s Ancash Region. It’s difficult to reach, located above 10,000ft / 3,000m, east of some of the highest peaks in the Andes, and at the end of a series of canyons leading to the Amazon. During our drive there we had to cross over two 14,000 ft passes, through some pea-soup thick fog and snow flurries.

In 2022, at the tail end of the Covid pandemic, I visited Chavín with a friend from Buenos Aires who was studying for her Archeology degree. The day before our scheduled visit, we learned its operating days had been restricted due to a covid spike. We managed to convince the site administrator to allow us to still visit, and he arranged a private tour of the temple. When we arrived, a group of Quechua locals was holding a religious ceremony at the ancient temple. Centuries after the Spanish conquest and the widespread adoption of Catholicism, some traditional Andean religious beliefs still endure.

Sections

• The Historical Significance of the Chavín Culture
• Description of the Chavín de Huántar Site
• An Interpretation of the Chavín Religion
• Chavín's Initial Period Origins
• Chavín's Religious Legacy
• Sources

The Historical Significance of the Chavín Culture

Julio César Tello (1880–1947), often called the father of Peruvian archaeology, was the first to recognize the widespread influence of Chavín culture. Born into a Quechua-speaking family, Tello initially trained as a doctor but shifted his focus to archaeology after becoming fascinated by Peru's ancient, trepanned skulls. In 1919, Tello began excavations at Chavín de Huántar. During later excavations of the Paracas culture on Peru’s southern coast, he noticed pottery in the Chavín style, like feline faces with long overlapping fangs. He named this style after Chavín De Huántar, where he had first seen it years prior.

At the time, many archaeologists, led by German scholar Max Uhle, believed that South American civilization stemmed from the Maya of Mesoamerica. Tello instead saw Chavín as the emergence of a distinct religious identity arising autonomously within the Andes, with its own unique style and pantheon of deities. He understood Andean culture to be a pristine civilization, its own independent “cradle of civilization.” At that time, Chavín De Huántar was the earliest known monument site within Peru. Tello hypothesized that this wasn’t just an important site in terms of the development of Andean religion, but rather the mother culture for Andean civilization (Shimada, 2011).

We now know that Andean civilization extends back over two thousand years earlier, to the pre-pottery Caral-Supe culture. However, it’s now even more clear that Andean civilization did indeed arise independently, confirming Tello’s original insight. And Chavín’s spread has been further established as a transformative period within the region’s ancient history. Archeologists John Howland Rowe and Edward Lanning dubbed this era as the Early Horizon within their periodization of the Andean timeline, spanning 900-200 BCE.

Description of the Chavín de Huántar Site

Chavín de Huántar’s main temple was built in two phases. The first phase included a smaller, circular sunken plaza in front of the older temple, reminiscent of earlier Caral-Supe temple architecture. Later, the temple was expanded, with a much larger square plaza capable of holding thousands of onlookers. This expansion indicates Chavín’s growing importance as a pilgrimage site. Excavations haven’t uncovered signs of warfare or defensive structures. Pottery and precious metals from surrounding regions have been found, including coastal spondylus shells likely brought as offerings. This all points towards the site being religious in nature rather than a political capital.

The temple exhibits some megalithic stonework. This would have required coordination of large teams of workers to erect, where this labor may have been offered as a form of tribute by the pilgrims. The masonry was constructed in flat layers lacking mortar, which allowed the stones to dissipate energy horizontally without crumbling during the region’s frequent earthquakes.

Zoomorphic imagery on artifacts and stone carvings show what's commonly believed to be a strong influence from the Amazon (more on that later). Depictions of Neotropic animals include caiman, harpy eagles, and snakes. The most important of these appears to be fang toothed felines, such as the jaguar, the apex non-human predator of South America. A series of stone heads mounted around the temple illustrates the transition from human to feline, believed to represent a spiritual transformation brought about during shamanic rituals. Most of these heads have now been relocated to other museums. Human bones found mixed with animal remains have led to speculation about possible ritualistic cannibalism (Pozorski & Pozorski, 2008).

Chavín de Huántar also has some of the earliest evidence of psychedelic use in South America. Snuff trays and snuff spoons were found here (Pozorski & Pozorski, 2008), such as those used with drugs such as rapé (snorted tobacco), yopo (a DMT-based drug with effects similar to ayahuasca) and vilca (a yopo relative used by the Inca). Some of the stone feline heads depict streams of mucus, the result of snorting these substances. A carving on the circular plaza shows a figure holding hallucinogenic Huachuama (San Pedro cactus). For many indigenous groups, these plants aren’t recreational but sacred tools for shamans to connect with the spiritual world, communicate with deities, and perform healing. The visions induced within these altered states of consciousness might also explain some of Chavín’s abstract zoomorphic imagery.

Located deep within the original temple lies the labyrinth — a dark, multi-level network of underground stone passageways. Religious devotees likely wandered through the maze while intoxicated by these psychedelics. A few holes through the walls let in narrow beams of light, while a system of underground water channels filled the space with the roar of rushing streams (Moseley, 1992). The maze was filled with treacherous obstacles, like stones jutting out at head level, or holes that dropped into the underground river. At the labyrinth’s center is the Lanzón, a carved monolith worshipped their principal deity. The anthropomorphic carving features fangs and claws, with heads reminiscent of jaguars upon its tall crown, and snake-like hair. It is often referred to as the Smiling or Snarling God.

An Interpretation of the Chavín Religion

So, what does the evidence then tell us about the Chavín religion?

Many centuries later, during the Spanish conquest, the chroniclers described how indigenous Peruvians worshipped idol statues as oracles. These weren’t seen as inanimate symbols, but as conscious beings that could predict the future or communicate with ancestors. One famous example, the Pachacamac statue, was worshipped over centuries and reportedly offered blood sacrifices (Cobo, 1653). Tello suggested blood may have been similarly poured down the Lanzón (Pozorski & Pozorski, 2008), using an opening directly above its chamber.

Another artifact, the Raimondi Stele, shows a similar deity with long fangs and snakes for hair. It’s likely an updated representation of the Lanzón god. It also holds two staffs, which some believe represents Huachuama cacti, as seen elsewhere within their artwork (Stone, 2012). Others interpret this figure as the Staff God, thought to be a widespread Andean representation of the primary creator deity. Both interpretations could be correct.

The Raimondi was found at Chavín de Huántar in the 1840s by a local farmer, but its original location is unknown. Since the Raimondi is also only carved on one side, John Howland Rowe speculated that it was displayed outside, where it could be seen by large crowds of pilgrims. As the site grew and thousands of people came to visit, the inner temple housing the Lanzón may have become restricted to priests or elites.

In this second phase of the temple, two large pillars were erected around the main entrance. Upon each were carved supernatural eagle deities, with hooked beaks and rows of teeth down their torsos. Rowe suggested that the Raimondi would have been positioned above these pillars. Supporting this theory is a Chavín style gold crown, believed to have been found in the Lambeyeque Valley. It depicts a fanged central figure holding two staffs, flanked by two inward looking beaked figures. Rowe interprets these as the same eagle attendants to the central Staff God. Similar winged figures accompanying the Staff God are also seen centuries later in depictions by the Tiwanaku and Wari cultures.

While the Chavín religion centered upon this principal deity, they also worshipped a wider pantheon of other gods. Another monolith discovered by Julio C. Tello, the Tello Obelisk, depicts zoomorphic crocodilian figures (cayman), with plants, shells, and other animals. Chavín’s carvings primarily represent predators like jaguars, snakes, crocodiles, and eagles. Game animals, such as guanacos, tapir, and deer, are mostly absent, or are smaller in scale (Rowe, 1962). The frequent use of fangs and claws suggests these are supernatural creatures that feed upon the spiritual life force of other beings.

The zoomorphic pantheon could be seen as the spiritual reflection of the region’s competitive neotropic ecosystem, an acknowledgement of food chains they saw around them, and the often-harsh battle for survival faced by both themselves and these species. The religious customs practiced by the Chavín cult and descendent religions may have been structured around metaphorically feeding this pantheon of animalistic spirits through sacrificial offerings, in an attempt to appease these supernatural entities that controlled their natural world.

Evidence of this kind of ritualized sacrifice is widespread throughout the Andean archeological and historical record. An indigenous witness described this as “feeding” of their alters during an early trial for idolatry (Benson & Cook, 2001). However, human sacrifice appears to be relatively rare, whereas llama or guinea pigs were typically used. Father Cobo wrote of later Inca sacrifices: “the most authoritative and important sacrifice was… human blood, but it… was only offered to the major gods and huacas for important purposes and on special occasions.” In our modern world, we no longer believe that natural forces are the result of our interactions with deities. But for people who once believed that the gods rewarded or punished them for their actions, and that making offerings of what they most valued could earn their gods’ favor, human life itself would be the ultimate sacrifice.

Chavín's Inital Period Origins

While Chavín De Huántar is the most famous Chavín-style site, other surrounding sites from that period demonstrate that it was part of a much wider religious tradition. The best example of this may be Kuntur Wasi, built 1000-700 BCE, and located near Cajamarca, about 370m/600km north. It has a small underground labyrinth and stone statues in the Chavín style, including a lintel stone depicting a fanged deity with snakes-like hair. This site also has a sunken courtyard in front of a staircase leading up to its temple, resembling earlier coastal sites.

Further towards the northern coast was the earlier Cupisnique culture, with pottery and artwork similar to Chavín’s. A Cupisnique gold crown features the Staff God (Scher, 2018), and felines are common within their iconography (Dagget, 1987). Interestingly, Cupisnique culture is dated anywhere from 1000-200 BCE (Cordy-Collins, 1992) to 1500 to 500 BCE (Shimada, 2010). The latter estimate predates Chavín de Huántar. This suggest Chavín might have evolved from the Cupisnique traditions (Harris & Zucker, 2016). For example, the Cupisnique site of Huaca de los Reyes, dated to 1300 BCE (Pozorski, 1980), features a giant clay frieze of a feline head with overlapping fangs.

Much further south in Lima, the Garagay site, dated to 1640-897 BCE (Burger, 1992), appears to be another precursor of the Chavín style (Pozorski & Pozorski, 2008). Here two large fanged feline heads are juxtaposed, separated by a vertical row of teeth, resembling a crocodile’s jaws. And the site of Cerro Sechín, dating to 1600 BCE, has paintings of two large felines on either side of its main temple entrance. This suggests that the ‘Cult of the Feline’, previously suggested by Tello to have originated in Chavín de Huantar, may have instead been influenced by these earlier coastal river valley traditions (Oneeglio & Mejía, 2014; Dagget, 1987).

A common narrative is that Chavín’s animal motifs originated in the Amazon, where they still exist today, but after looking at the historic ranges of these animals, that assumption might be wrong. During the Initial Period, Peru’s coastal river valleys were much more densely packed with trees before deforestation had occurred. Game species such as deer are known to have still been plentiful in ancient time. These would have been ideal prey for large cats like jaguars and pumas. The range of jaguars is known to have once stretched much further than simply the Amazon basin, before their population declined significantly in the last couple centuries. We do see these large cats frequently depicted in coastal Peruvian pottery too. The American crocodile, although also having experienced a large population drop, is still present on the west coast of South America down to the border of Peru and Ecuador (Thorbjarnarso, 1992). Their historic range would likely have also once been larger. And jaguars are also known to feed upon crocodilians such as caiman too.

Julio C. Tello's initial perception of the Chavín culture appearing as a sudden horizon line within the archeological record, originating through contact with species within the Amazon Basin, may have been more a byproduct of only having a limited number of sites from that early period. We now see that the religious architectural tradition of sunken plazas leading to raised temples became widespread in the earlier, coastal Norte Chico / Caral-Supe cultures. And the 'Feline Cult', often attributed to Chavín de Huantar, also existed earlier, in sites to the west. Now with more evidence accumulating, we're now able to see Chavín existing as part of a longer continuum within the development of Andean culture, one that may have deeper roots extending to the coast rather than within the Amazon.

Chavín's Religious Legacy

By 500 BCE, Chavín de Huántar's significance as a pilgrimage site began to decline. Permanent homes were built over the courtyards and on top of the temple’s flattened pyramid, and the population began to shrink (Moseley, 1992). Meanwhile, on the coast, the Cupisnique culture evolved into the Salinar and Moche cultures. These groups carried forward some Chavín-inspired imagery, like the fanged feline, but developed their own unique deities and traditions. Moche representations of sacrifice also became more overt, with depictions of various zoomorphic “Decapitator” gods bearing large ritualistic Tumbi knives and holding the heads of their victims.

Elsewhere too artwork and beliefs continued to morph and diverge into their own distinctive regional forms. Both the Tiwanaku and Wari cultures had their own representations of what many archeologists interpret as this same Staff God, including the aforementioned John Howland Rowe and Julio C. Tello. Others are skeptical of this connection, seeing the link as imaginary (Isbell & Knobloch 2006). At Bolivia’s Puma Punku ruins (Tiwanaku), built around the 6th century BCE, a carving on the Gate of the Sun shows a Staff God with snake-like hair. To either side of this principal deity are dozens of zoomorphic winged eagle figures. This echoing the iconography of the attendant deities that Rowe noticed at Chavín de Huántar.

Similar depictions of a Staff God flanked by eagle attendants are seen on Wari culture pottery. It appears as though these bird figures were part of a wider legend about the Staff God that continued for centuries beyond Chavín. However, some of the characteristics of this God had shifted by this time too, with the long fangs now gone. In some Wari images it is also depicted with not just snakes extending from its head, but also other animals’ heads with long snake-line bodies. This is consistent with the idea that it may be an original creator deity who created these animals. The Tiwanaku and Wari cultures are seen as predecessors to the Inca, originating in the same region. Some see the Inca's creator god, Viracocha, as a later expression of this same Staff God, although representations of Viracocha depicted their artwork is almost non-existent after their artifacts were mostly destroyed by the conquistadors.

The legacy of the Chavín culture extends far beyond its physical ruins at Chavín de Huántar. Even centuries after its decline, Andean cultures retained practices like pilgrimages to sacred sites and offerings to supernatural deities. Through its artwork, architecture, and religious practices, it left a lasting mark on the ancient Andean world. Today, the labyrinthine passages and towering stone obelisks of Chavín de Huántar still evoke awe, reminding us of the centuries of shamanistic ceremonies that occurred here.