chavin culture

Geographic location

Chavin Culture originated in the village called Chavin, which is an archaeological site located in the district of Chavin, Huari province, Ancash department. It is 462 kilometers northeast of Lima, 300 km. north of Lima, spread from Lambayeque to Palpa (Ica) along the coast and from Cajamarca to Ayacucho in the mountains.

                                         

         


ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES
They developed notably agriculture, livestock, fisheries and trade based on barter between the mountain villages, coastal and possibly the Amazonian people.

AGRICULTURE
Tubers: sweet potatoes, nasturtiums, olluco papa.Desarrollaron agriculture and cultivating various products which include corn and potatoes, other agricultural products were:
Legumes: beans and lima beans
Oilseeds: Mani
Spices: pepper and annatto
Grains: kañiwa, quinoa
Fruits: avocado, cucumber, tomato
Among agricultural techniques is the use of the channels; the construction of the first platform and use lachaquitaclla (foot plow), which increased agricultural productivity was also initiated.

LIVESTOCK
They developed based livestock South American camelids (llamas and alpacas) and guinea pig breeding.

                                                                                 

Chavin sculpture
The monolithic lance (representing a god with the fierce face or as John Rowe to 'Smiling God') is a sculpture of 5 meters high, is stuck in the middle of a small square-shaped space within a cruise that is under the earth, in the central part of the Ancient Temple of the archaeological complex of Chavin. It was dubbed the "lance" for his giant head shaped projectile, although this name is misleading, because in reality it is a huanca (Wanka Quechua) or sacred stone, of primary importance in religious worship. The reason for its peculiar shape is still a matter of debate; It was possibly carved to simulate the shape of a fang. On its surface is carved the image of a god with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features (among the latter include hair and eyebrows as snakes, mouth with two large fangs and hands with feline claws). The anthropomorphic being represented brings her left hand resting on his thigh and right hand raised. Possibly it was the chief deity of the Old Temple of Chavin and apparently is similar to the god represented in the wake Raimondi (the main difference is that it does not carry staves) .The sandeel monolithic

The Tello Obelisk

The Tello Obelisk (on whose surface is carved representation of two mythical deities, or in any case, a double god) is a stone sculpture of prism-shaped, 2.52 m, carved on all four sides. Represents a complex divinity, exist different interpretations of nature: a "double divinity" or hermaphrodite god with feline head (Tello); the union of two alligators (Rowe); or bird god with feline mouth or "feline flying" split laterally (Kauffmann). Men, birds, snakes, cats and plants (squash, peppers, peanuts, cassava, etc.) across its surface multitude of other elements are represented. Tello Obelisk fame is attributable to wealth containing Chavin iconography; it is the most complex of Chavines iconographic figure objects. As noted above, the Chavin art is basically naturalistic, and the main themes are human beings, birds, snakes, cats, other animals, plants and shells. Idealized forms of these elements are covered with abundant smaller elements, often metaphoric substitution in some sections of the body represented in the Tello Obelisk.

The Raimondi Stela
The Raimondi stela (depicting a god with two walking sticks on the hands) is a polished granite monolith of 1.98 m side by 0.74 m wide, carved in only one side. It represents a god with felínicos features with arms outstretched holding in each hand a stick or staff. Similar representation also appears in other sculptures of later Andean cultures, like Tiwanaku and Huari, which is known as Viracocha, the "Divinity of the two Staffs" or "God of Varas."
This monolith is named in honor of the Italian naturalist Antonio Raimondi (1824-1890), who promoted his transfer to Lima for study and conservation (1874). It was exhibited in the old Exhibition Park. It was saved from pillage of Chilean occupation troops in 1881, he dropped to the floor showing only his back, which is smooth, so the robbers thought it was a simple stone slab worthless. For this fortuitous occurrence that Peru could preserve this valuable piece of sculpture. It is now kept in the courtyard of the National Museum of Archaeology Anthropology and History of Peru.

The wake of Yauya

Yauya the wake of a prism-shaped monolith on one side of which is carved the figure of a mythical being. It is currently broken into four parts. Its main fragment was discovered near the town of Yauya (Ancash) by Tello in 1919, who named it with that name. The other fragments were discovered between 1960 and 1990. Of these fragments are inferred an exact idea of ​​the original shape of the monolith. Measuring 3 m high, 50 cm wide and 18 cm thick. On its reliefs are various interpretations. According to Tello, it is the representation of a deity or ictiomorfa fish-shaped; It is mainly based on designs that look vertebrae of the spine of a fish and stylized scales. According to Rowe is the image of an alligator. According Kauffmann depicts a flying cat, playing as far as Tello feathers seemed scales.
Ball heads
On its role, some researchers argue that played the role of fierce guardians of temples, or possibly chased away evil spirits. According to Tello, they head trophies represent his enemies, custom deeply rooted in the forested areas, which fit his thesis of wild origin of the Chavin culture. Other scholars think that could be portraits of priests Chavines (as part of religious rituals where hallucinogens are used, the effects on the faces of the priests would be portrayed allegorically in each head nails, as a sequence) .The ball heads packages are sculptures representing heads of deities, made in different sizes. Each has an elongated structure on its back, with which they were embedded in the walls of the main temple or castle of Chavin. In some cases they have anthropomorphic features and other zoomorphic (cat and bird of prey), or a combination of both style sandeel monolithic figure.
Tello obelisk represented the cycles of nature and the jaguar, was a hermaphrodite, ie, having two sexes. This is the most complicated representation of Chavin sculpture.


                                     

                                               





ARCHITECTURE CHAVIN

The prime example of the architecture is the temple of Chavin. The design of the temple would have generally resisted the climate in the highlands of Peru, as had been flooded and destroyed during the rainy season, but the people of Chavin created a successful drainage system. Several canals were built under the temple for drainage. The village of Chavin had advanced sound knowledge (hydraulic engineering). During the rainy season the water ran through the channels creating a sound like a roar. This would make the temple of Chavin de Huantar seems to be roaring like a jaguar. The temple is built of granite and white and black limestone.
The Chavin culture represents the first widespread artistic style in the Andes. Chavin art can be divided into two phases: The first corresponds to the construction of the Temple "Old" in Chavin (900 BC-500 BC) phase, and the second, which corresponds to the construction of the "New" Chavin de Huantar "(500 BC -200 BC). The architecture is spread throughout the territory, characterized by structures in the form of" U ", platforms, truncated pyramids, sunken circular and rectangular squares and wells.
Its buildings were mostly lytic (made of stone) although in some places also used the mud and adobe. They used platforms for the building of their temples with underground galleries were adorned with the famous Stone Heads heads.
                                       


The most important temples are Chavin
- Chavin de Huantar (Ancash)
- Kunturwasi and Pacopampa (Cajamarca)
- Chongoyape (Lambayeque)
- Dead Horse (La Libertad)
- Garagay (Lima)
- Chupas (Ayacucho)

Ceramic chavin
Pottery was found in a variety of shapes, including bottles and cups, decorated with a wide range of distinctive elements and styles.
* It is characterized by monochrome, gray and brown with designs based inficiones.
* Distinguished by offering a host of pottery with decorations of wild animals (jaguar, puma.etc) and snakes and fish, and anthropomorphic figures that instilled terror.
Forms of Chavin ceramics: they form globular, solid body with cylindrical neck and stirrup with designs in high relief of zoomorphic, anthropomorphic beings.

                   

THE RELIGION CHAVIN

-The Village Chavin was polytheistic and worshiped gods terrifying. Chavin religion would have selvatica influence and sculptures show their supernatural beings, who collected feline features such as Jaguar and Puma but also alligators and snakes etc. and various Andean birds like the eagle, and the falcon condor. Chavin cult stimulus due to advanced techniques used in agricultural production, textile, advances in manufacturing large fishing nets, and discovering techniques of jewelry with gold and silver, and copper metallurgy. These economic developments led to the construction of ceremonial centers and cities.

The iconography of feline anthropomorphic figures is an important characteristic of the Chavin civilization. All these deities are represented in different cultural events and ceramics, metal artifacts, textiles and architectural sculptures.

Chavin was a focal point in particular to religious rituals. Clothing and music were part of important ceremonies. Chavin religion had as main head priest. In the temple of Chavin de Huantar, there are several places in the rooms used to make fire with leftover food, animals, and ceramics, whose presence suggests that the site was dedicated to making sacrifices.

Religion chavin involved the transformation of the human being to another through the use of hallucinogenic substances. Many sculptures represent the transformation of a human head to a jaguar head. The use of hallucinogens for religious purposes was common according to archaeological findings.