Today I went on a tour to explore the archeological site of Chavín. The rather long bus ride was broken up by a visit to the gorgeous Laguna Querococha. Its greenish color and the snow-capped mountains in the back made for a wonderful break.
Our next stop after about three hours in the bus was then the Chavín de Huántar temple, capital of the Chavín culture and world heritage site.
The temple is rather old - much older than any Inca buildings: its construction took place about one millennium before Christ. In a region with frequent earthquakes, it appears almost miraculous that it is still standing. But the Chavín, like the Inca much later, knew how to construct buildings in an anti-seismic manner: walls are inclined between five and seven degrees to the inside, and trapezoidal stones were used. In this manner, the outside wall looked smooth, and the smaller stones used as a filling on the inside gave flexibility and thus stability in case of an earthquake.
Another reason making it special is its lack of any obvious doors or windows. The entrances were located on the roof and ventilation in the temple was ensured by an ingenious system of ventilation ducts and air exchange with the river that was tunneled under the temple.
The rather steep stairs in all parts of the temple were not done like this because the people were particularly tall, but rather to make them do small bows with every step, as a gesture of reverence.
The Chavín people believed, like many Andean cultures succeeding them, in three aspects of the world, and therefore had three deities top represent them. The bird, often depicted as condor or eagle, represented the world above: the sky and stars. The cat, often a jaguar, represented the world on earth. Finally, the serpent stood for the underworld. The three deities were often included in a single anthropomorphic statue, with a bird's eyes, serpent's hair, and a cat's mouth, like this:
Since there were no windows in the temple, it must have been pretty dark inside. Today, everything that can be visited has electric light, of course. But in ancient times, the shamans and temple visitors had to use different means. According to our guide, they ingested the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus (containing mescaline, among other substances) to not only generate hallucinations, but also to dilate their pupils and thus be able to navigate the temple.
The temple has different galleries, all with their own entrance and slightly different architecture. This is one of them:
In another one, this statue, called the Lanzón, was found. With its feline head and human body, it is thought to represent a deity, or perhaps a shaman turned feline through the consumption of hallucinogenic substances.
As a method to control the population and keep them in awe of the deities, the shamans could use the ventilation ducts as a musical instrument. They knew exactly those seven notes we use today, and could use the system to generate, for example, the roar of a jaguar. The simple folk believed their god was talking to them and then relied on the shamans to interpret the god's wishes.
One of the most distinguishing features of Chavín were the tenon heads, protruding from the temple walls. These, again, have feline faces.
To me, the heads appeared somewhat similar to the ones I saw in the sunken temple of Tiwanaku. When I asked the guide about it, she explained that the Chavín were predecessors of the Tiwanaku, and that their influence stretched as far as lake Titicaca. Wikipedia doesn't have anything on that connection, however, and also states that the Chavín influence was much smaller. So the guide's explanation might simply have been a tale to satisfy the curious tourist, or maybe wikipedia is incomplete, who knows ;-)
Our next stop after about three hours in the bus was then the Chavín de Huántar temple, capital of the Chavín culture and world heritage site.
The temple is rather old - much older than any Inca buildings: its construction took place about one millennium before Christ. In a region with frequent earthquakes, it appears almost miraculous that it is still standing. But the Chavín, like the Inca much later, knew how to construct buildings in an anti-seismic manner: walls are inclined between five and seven degrees to the inside, and trapezoidal stones were used. In this manner, the outside wall looked smooth, and the smaller stones used as a filling on the inside gave flexibility and thus stability in case of an earthquake.
Another reason making it special is its lack of any obvious doors or windows. The entrances were located on the roof and ventilation in the temple was ensured by an ingenious system of ventilation ducts and air exchange with the river that was tunneled under the temple.
The rather steep stairs in all parts of the temple were not done like this because the people were particularly tall, but rather to make them do small bows with every step, as a gesture of reverence.
The Chavín people believed, like many Andean cultures succeeding them, in three aspects of the world, and therefore had three deities top represent them. The bird, often depicted as condor or eagle, represented the world above: the sky and stars. The cat, often a jaguar, represented the world on earth. Finally, the serpent stood for the underworld. The three deities were often included in a single anthropomorphic statue, with a bird's eyes, serpent's hair, and a cat's mouth, like this:
Since there were no windows in the temple, it must have been pretty dark inside. Today, everything that can be visited has electric light, of course. But in ancient times, the shamans and temple visitors had to use different means. According to our guide, they ingested the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus (containing mescaline, among other substances) to not only generate hallucinations, but also to dilate their pupils and thus be able to navigate the temple.
The temple has different galleries, all with their own entrance and slightly different architecture. This is one of them:
In another one, this statue, called the Lanzón, was found. With its feline head and human body, it is thought to represent a deity, or perhaps a shaman turned feline through the consumption of hallucinogenic substances.
As a method to control the population and keep them in awe of the deities, the shamans could use the ventilation ducts as a musical instrument. They knew exactly those seven notes we use today, and could use the system to generate, for example, the roar of a jaguar. The simple folk believed their god was talking to them and then relied on the shamans to interpret the god's wishes.
One of the most distinguishing features of Chavín were the tenon heads, protruding from the temple walls. These, again, have feline faces.
To me, the heads appeared somewhat similar to the ones I saw in the sunken temple of Tiwanaku. When I asked the guide about it, she explained that the Chavín were predecessors of the Tiwanaku, and that their influence stretched as far as lake Titicaca. Wikipedia doesn't have anything on that connection, however, and also states that the Chavín influence was much smaller. So the guide's explanation might simply have been a tale to satisfy the curious tourist, or maybe wikipedia is incomplete, who knows ;-)
