From the outset, the public that the Chavfn temple attracted seems to have been drawn from beyond the immediate area. This is reflected in the offerings brought to the center and found in chronologically early contexts such as the Gallery of the Offerings. The contents of these chambers contain objects from areas hundreds of kilometers away including pottery of the Manchay culture on Peru’s central coast, two types of Cupisnique pottery from Peru’s north coast, a carved stone beaker typical of the Jequetepeque drainage on the far northern coast, and vessels decorated in a curvilinear painted pottery style from the Cajamarca highlands to the north (Burger 1984: 172-187; Lumbreras 1993). The impression that Chavfn de Huantar had become a center of visitors from many distant regions is reinforced by the contents of refuse from Chavfn de Huantar’s earliest residential occupation that included pottery in the Kotosh Kotosh style of the highlands to the south, the Haldas style from Casma Valley on the north-central coast, and the Pacopampa-Pacopampa style of the far northern highlands (Burger 1984: 75-80; cf. Druc 1998). This unusually cosmopolitan patterning resonates with the early historic description characterizing Chavfn
De Huantar as an oracular center with a pan-regional influence comparable to Jersusalem or Rome in the Old World.
The Chavin de Huantar style appears to have intentionally drawn from the religious traditions of many regions while copying none of them (Burger 1993). Thus, the flat topped U-shaped pyramid pattern can be seen as being inspired by the central coast (Burger and Salazar 1991, 1998; Patterson 1985; Quilter 1985; Ravines and Isbell 1975), while the circular plaza that fronted it seems drawn from the traditions of the north central coast (Shady 1997; Williams 1971, 1985). The importance of columns at the center seems to reflect a long-standing tradition from Peru’s north coast known from Cupisnique centers such as Huaca Lucia and Huaca de los Reyes. The idea of subterranean galleries and finely cut stone veneers may have been based on elements developed at Late Preceramic and Initial Period centers, such as La Galgada (Burger 1992; Grieder 1985). These highland and coastal elements were combined with a symbol system that drew generously from the fauna and flora of the tropical forest, so much so that many investigators have argued that Chavin de Huantar’s cosmology had a tropical forest source (Figure 35.9) (Burger 1992; Lathrap 1973, 1985; Roe 1982; Tello 1923). At the same time, many of the artistic conventions employed in the style of Chavin religious iconography can be traced to the Cupisnique, Manchay and other Initial Period cultures where they appear on the clay sculptures that decorated their temples centuries before the stone sculptures at Chavin de Huantar (Larco 1941; Pozorski 1976; Ravines 1984).
Figure 35.9. A sculpture from the small rectangular patio of the New Temple depicts a priest in a monkey costume blowing a Strombus shell trumpet. Monkeys are native to the Amazonian lowlands to the east of Chavin de Huantar. (Richard Burger)
Thus, in creating their public architecture the builders of the Chavfn de Huantar complex sought to create an international style that blended diverse traditions into a seamless and distinctive whole that from late Initial Period times on served as a sacred place for a diverse audience of worshippers and travelers. The currently available evidence suggests that the art and architecture of Chavfn de Huantar corresponded to what anthropologists and historians refer to as an “invented tradition,” a pattern in which alien antecedent elements are appropriated and melded together to give the false impression of an old and prestigious tradition (Burger 1993).
A possible chamber of the Kotosh Religious Tradition—which is known from neighboring highland valleys—has recently been encountered near the Huachecsa at Chavfn de Huantar. Deeply buried beneath later Early Horizon deposits, it is unclear whether it dates to the Initial Period or Early Horizon. It could be contemporary with the Chavfn style architecture in the ceremonial core (Daniel Contreras, personal communication), but until its age is determined its relationship to the development of the Chavfn architectural style remains unclear.
World History
