Understanding Chavín and the Origins of Andean
Civilization
©2000 by James Q. Jacobs
Chavín was once compared to the Olmecs and depicted
as the Mother Civilization of the Andes. The term Chavín has
been applied to a developmental stage of Andean history, to an archaeological
period, to an art style and to a hypothetical empire. Chavín
has been interpreted as a culture, a civilization and a religion.
The idea of a Chavín horizon was proposed by Julio Tello.
In the 1930s Tello claimed that Chavín was Peru's oldest civilization.
His definition of a pan-regional Chavín culture included attributes
of ceramics, architecture and sculpture. The incorporation of
sites with some Chavín characteristics eventually led to a perceived
culture spanning two millennia and reaching from Ecuador to Argentina.
Tello's criteria has since been narrowed and recent research, especially
radiocarbon dating, has refined understandings of Chavín and
regional site relationships.
In the 1960s John Rowe's Andean chronology defined the Early Horizon
as the time beginning with the first appearance of Chavín influence
in Ica. This arbitrary criteria requires a definition of Chavín
influence and a clear understanding of the Chavín style horizon.
The style can be unevenly documented on the coast from Lambayeque to
Ica, and from Pacopampa to Ayacucho in the highlands. Adhering
to Rowe's definition presents some problems. For one, new dates
at Ica might change the Andean chronology. And, as has been subsequently
determined, it also means that Chavín influence precedes the
first sculptures at Chavín, the content of which defines the
style, and precedes Chavín itself.
There are several important areas to consider in assessing the role
of Chavín in the origins of Andean civilization. Landscape
context is an important aspect of all cultural development trajectories,
and particularly so at Chavín. In early Andean communities
dependence on more that one life zone promoted interaction, exchange
and interdependency, a pattern first evidenced in the coastal valleys
where the exchange pattern involved the series of elevation-stacked
ecological zones beginning with maritime resources and extending inland
to agricultural and pastoral habitats. An excellent example is
found in the Casma Valley, at Moxeke, 18 km from the ocean, where almost
all animal protein was maritime. Chavín civilization may
be the best early expression of a similar pattern on a larger ecological
scale, that of interaction between the three major ecological zones, the
coast, the highlands and the tropical forests.
Chavín de Huantár, the archaeological site, is uniquely
situated in the region of the Callejón de Huaylas, where there
are only two ranges in the Andes, rather than the usual three.
The glaciated Cordillera Blanca has, in a 180 km long span, a few passes,
all over 15,000 feet in elevation. Chavín de Huantár,
midway between the coast and the jungle, is located on a route accessing
the very extensive Marañon drainage. Almost all the large
rivers of the central Andes flow to the Amazon drainage. The Callejón
de Huaylas' Santa River drains to the coast, transecting the Cordillera
Negra. Via the Santa Valley it is possible to cross the Andes
by crossing only one high pass.
Chronology is also significant in assessing Chavín's presumed
influence. Tello considered Chavín to be older than the
coastal sites with Chavín style, and viewed the stylistic evidence
as indicating Chavín's expansion. John Rowe's 1962 stylistic
seriation of sculpture and of Ica ceramics provided only a relative
chronology for Chavín. Peter Rowe's subsequent stylistic
assessment of chronological placement of coastal and highland sites
concluded that there was gradual expansion of influence from Chavín.
In 1979 Burger clarified the ceramic sequence at the Chavín site,
naming three sequential phases based on 11 stratigraphic excavations.
Burger also analyzed 20 carbon samples, half each from the monument
and the settlement areas. Radiocarbon measurements established
an absolute chronology for Chavín de Huantár, spanning
from 850 BC to 200 BC. By 500 BC Chavín de Huantár
was a flourishing center double in size from the time of first construction
300 years earlier. Most of the construction dates to 400-200 BC.
Around 400 BC the monument was remodeled and greatly expanded and the
settlement increased to over 40 ha and about 1.2 km in length.
Population may have reached 3000, making Chavín one of the largest
highland centers in the Andes.
Radiocarbon dates from coastal sites with Chavín style ceramics,
sites that had been interpreted as provinces of Chavín, were
compared by Burger. Three widely distributed major sites were
selected, Las Haldas, Caballo Muerto and Ancón near Garagay.
Monumental construction at Las Haldas dates from 1190 BC to 900 BC.
At Caballo Muerto the constructions that resemble Chavín also
predate Chavín, ranging from 1730 BC to 850 BC. The presumed
Chavín influenced ceramic phases at Ancón dated from 1345
BC to 810 BC, with a mean of 1074 BC. These coastal monumental
centers prospered between 1700 BC and 900 BC, while the earliest constructions
at Chavín dates to about 850 BC. The coastal sites are
older than Chavín. The architectural features and iconographic
style at Chavín de Huantár actually developed elsewhere,
and the direction of influence is the reverse of what was first assumed.
Relative comparison of site size can illustrate or define possible relationships.
The Chavín monument is less than one-tenth the size of Sechín
Alto, in the Casma Valley. The Casma has the largest and
most elaborate Initial Period constructions. The shortest route
from Chavín to the coast, across the Cordillera Negra, descends
into the Casma Valley. Sechín Alto covered 300-400 hectares,
and it is just one of several monument precincts in the Casma drainage.
Sechín Alto is also one of the largest architectural complexes
in the world. The monument complex alone extends nearly 2 km.
The entire community of Chavín would easily fit in Sechín
Alto's central plazas. Also in the Casma Valley, Las Haldas covers
about five times the area of Chavín. At Moxeke the monument
complex alone extends over a kilometer in length, with 70 platform mounds
flanking the sides of the central plaza. Other coastal monument
complexes also greatly exceed Chavín in size. Of course,
Chavín features unprecedented architecture due to its remarkable
engineering, quality masonry and very fine sculptural stone art, in
contrast to mostly earthen and adobe plaster over stone monuments on
the coast. This may be a response to the local climate more so
than an indicator of relative importance.
Casma-Sechin
Placemarks
Socio-political organization changes dramatically during the Early Horizon.
One expression of the preceding Initial Period social pattern is found
in the monumental architecture. Distinct style areas of monumental
architecture are seen, with the central, north-central and the north
Peruvian coast having distinct monument styles. Each of these
zones were represented by a major site in Burger's radiocarbon comparisons.
Early regional political relationships may be evidenced by these style
zones and by concentrations of or by extremely large inland mounds in
the Moche, Casma and Chillón-Rimac Valleys. Sechín
Alto evidences over a millennium of construction.
There is little evidence of economic or social stratification during
the early Initial Period in the Casma Valley. Evidence of some
stratification is seen by the late Initial Period, with a difference
in two groups of dwellings. Dwellings attached to the monument
precinct were of more substantial construction. New social classes
may have emerged by the end of the Initial Period, coincident with the
end of massive public architecture projects. The first settlements to
evidence social differentiation are the Preceramic sites of Rio Seco,
El Aspero and Bandurria, communities of up to 3,000 population, a size
comparable to the maximum at Chavín.
Stratification is evidenced at Chavín in the settlement pattern.
Rich burial accompaniments in northern highland areas during Chavín's
last phase evidences status differences, reinforcing the status interpretation
of the settlement differences at Chavín. Craft specialization
also appears in households. The first evidence of urbanism and
these social changes date to the last phase at Chavín only. Burger
calls the site proto-urban at this time.
Trade is an important factor in the development of Andean civilization.
Interregional trade rose sharply during the Early Horizon. Chavín's
interaction sphere, as a supra-political entity, is characterized by
a new scale of interaction and exchange of goods and ideas. Exchange
items included pottery, shell, stone resources, wool, textiles, metals,
and dried fish. The more unified iconography may be related to
this social change.
Chavín's location allowed flow of and/or control of trade between
major environmental zones. Long distance trade fueled Chavín's
success and growth. Trade was dependent on llama conveyance. Domesticated
llamas first appear with frequency at multiple sites outside their natural
range during the Early Horizon.
By 400 BC sophisticated economic systems involving distant trading had
been established and roads were developed. The several regional
spheres of interaction during the Initial Period became a single economic
interaction sphere spanned nearly 1000 km, from Pacopampa to Pata de
Huamanga, and including coastal, highland and the eastern Andean slopes.
Studies sourcing obsidian evidence a sharp increase in long-distance
trade. Obsidian from the Quispisisa source, 450 km south of Chavín,
reached the northernmost extent of the Early Horizon exchange network.
Of the three phases at Chavín, the final Janabarriu phase reflects
the most extensive communication networks, when obsidian use at Chavín
increased 500 fold. Products from Ecuador and Chilé found
their way into the exchange network. At the same time the pattern
of interaction is uneven, indicating local determinism.
Technological innovations appear suddenly and diffuse over a wide area
during the Early Horizon. In textiles, use of camelid hair in
cotton textiles, dying camelid hair, textile painting, resist painting,
discontinuous warps, warp wrapping, and the heddle loom transformed
the Andean textile tradition. In gold metallurgy three dimensional
forms, soldering, sweating, welding and silver-gold alloys appear. Wide
distributions accompanied these technological advances.
Chavín's elaborate iconography is found on hammered
gold and textiles as well as on ceramics, stone sculpture and clay friezes.
Chavín iconography represents an unprecedented unification of
previously heterogeneous groups, yet without total cultural homogenization.
A wide range of groups in the mid-Early Horizon modified traditional
ceramic styles, yet the pottery continues to display regional style
variations. In contrast, textiles of the Chavín horizon
do not display regional distinctions in technology or style, and are
therefore an excellent horizon marker in areas of good preservation.
The Early Horizon panregional ideological codification reflects a shared
ideology and a far wider group identity than during the Initial Period.
Chavín de Huantár's iconography reflects an ideological
system incorporating material from the tropical lowlands, the coast
and the highlands. Nonetheless, the hypothesis emerged that Chavín's
stylistic homogeneity, over a wider area than all previous cultural
styles, resulted from a single point, rapid dispersal of the style.
There was a long-standing consensus among anthropologists and archaeologists
that Chavín style expresses a religious ideology and represents
a religious diffusion. Rafael Larco viewed Chavín as a
pilgrimage center erected by members of a feline cult. Rebecca
Carrión called the Chavín empire a religion that spread
a homogeneous art style. Gordon Willey interpreted the diffusion
as a peaceful spread of religious concepts. The basis of these
assumptions, rapid dispersal from a single source, has been undermined,
yet the consensus interpreting Chavín iconography as religious
remains.
 The design features of the Chavín monumental architecture have
their origins in coastal sites. Chavín's building style
is unique and synthesized. Chavín's Old Temple, the initial
monument, combined the architecture of the central coast U-shaped pyramids
and the north-central coast sunken circular court, a synthesis that
was seen earlier at Sechín Alto. Some of the iconography at Chavín
is found in the clay friezes on the earlier coastal monuments.
The antecedent for low relief stone carvings decorating the monument
exterior dates to 1200 BC at Cerro Sechín in the Casma Valley.
After 500 BC decorated cylindrical columns, an architectural element
from the northern highlands, were added.
What was the function of Chavín? Hundreds of decorated
ceramic vessels for eating and drinking evidence group feasting.
The pottery includes items created hundreds of kilometers from the site,
indicating possible usage by distant communities. Coastal mussels
and fish were found with the pottery, further evidencing distant contacts.
Chavín art is basically naturalistic, lacking in political content
and devoid of historic personages or scenes. While the consensus
is for a religious function, Karen Olsen Bruhns writes that "There
is little direct evidence concerning Chavín religious beliefs
or practices..." There is also little direct evidence of
political function.
It seems that the preeminence of Chavín de Huantár continues
to be exaggerated due to, first, the early misidentification of Initial
Period iconographies as Chavín, second, the need to use stone
in the highlands resulting in differential preservation, third, the
sequence in the discovery and investigations, fourth, changes in available
methods, particularly radiocarbon dating, and fifth, the presumption
of a Chavín religion. Interaction and exchange seem adequate
explanations for the developments at Chavín in such an economically
significant location. The significant increases in trade parallels
the chronology at Chavín, therefore I see exchange during the
Early Horizon as a very plausible explanation for the diffusion of a
universalist iconography and art style.
During the third century BC a disintegration of the Chavín interaction
sphere is evidenced by halting of construction, replacement of Chavín
style ceramics by local styles, widespread construction of hilltop fortresses
in the highlands and coastal valleys, a decline in interregional trade
and intensified socioeconomic stratification. Two centuries
after Chavín's fluorescence the hypothetical civilization waned.
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