Central Andes Area
In Peru and Bolivia, there arose in early times sophisticated, talented peoples whose artistic production and socio-cultural complexity vied with the most advanced Mesoamerican civilizations.
Chronologically, this area follows a framework analogous to its northern counterpart: an Early Hunters period from 12,000-2500 B.C. followed by a Pre-Ceramic or Archaic stage 2500-1800 B.C.), the Initial Period (1800-900 B.C.), Early Horizon (800 B.C.-A.D. 200), Early Intermediate Period (A.D. 200-A.D. 600), Middle Horizon (A.D. 600-1000), Late Intermediate Period (A.D.1000-1476), and Late Horizon (A.D. 1476-conquest).
The Central Andean area is geographically divisible into three districts: 1) a heavily foliaged, relatively unknown lowland area to the east of the Andes, 2) a dry, arid coastal plain crossed at intervals by a series of rivers flowing east to west, and 3) the rugged mountainous High Andes. The latter two areas, the coast and High Andes, were the birth place of the major civilizations of South America.
PRE-CERAMIC PERIOD
The Central Andean tradition begins artistically in the Pre-Ceramic Period with early mound dwellers of the North Coast. At the site of Huaca Prieta, Junius Bird discovered the remains of a group living in semi-subterranean homes, who supplemented their fish and shellfish diet with cultivated beans, squash, gourds, and chili peppers. In the absence of a ceramic industry, the people of Huaca Prieta used carved gourd containers. Human designs incised on the surface possess wide rectilinear heads with squared eyes and slashes for mouths (this image). They may well be reinterpretations of earlier Valdivia forms. Condor motifs were also popular.
PRE-CERAMIC PERIOD
Huaca Prieta produced some of the earliest examples of textiles from Peru. Fabrics of cotton, reed, and grass fiber have been found at Huaca Prieta and in neighboring sites in the Chicama Valley. The textiles are usually twined, and bear designs produced by both dyes and pigments. The image seen here is a reconstruction drawing of a textile motif showing a snake within the body of a bird, possibly a condor.
By 1800 B.C. ceramics were being crafted in Peru; this is the most distinctive marker for the Initial Period. The Initial Period is also characterized by increased agricultural productivity, population growth and the establishment of permanent communities. One of the most fascinating, and chronologically confusing of these sites is Cerro Sechin, located on the north coast in the Casma Valley. Its temple platform was built of conical adobes like the others of the Initial period, but the adobes were faced with granite slabs, a technique shared with the great Chavin culture of the Early Horizon.
The figures carved on the stones slabs of Cerro Sechin's temple represent warriors with U-shaped eyes, and rows of severed heads (see accompanying photograph). Eyeball or spinal column friezes enhance one's initial impression of a violent warlike people.
The images here show some of the stone relief carvings from the main temple at Cerro Sechin; the examples include a full-figure warrior and a depiction of a severed head.
This is a close-up of one of the numerous severed head or "trophy head" carvings from Cerro Sechin.
Much of northern Peru fell under Chavin influence sometime during the Early Horizon. The site from which this influence emanated was located on the east side of the Andes; its name is Chavin de Huantar. Although the Chavin culture is more often pictured as a synthesizer than as an innovator, it remains the earliest, truly great civilization of Peru and the consolidator of deities and artistic motifs which were to endure for hundreds of years to come.
The ruins of Chavin de Huantar stretch along the banks of the Mosna River. Large terraced pyramid platforms faced with stone slabs and riddled with stone-lined galleries and rooms are grouped around a sunken plaza.
One of the earliest and most important of Chavin's structures is the Castillo, whose original U-shaped block of buildings houses the Lanzon cult image.
This is is close-up of the Castillo, showing its alternating usage of narrow and wider courses of stone. The walls were slightly battered (slanted inward), possibly to lend greater stability to the structure.
Stone human, feline, and serpent heads project from the Castillo's external walls, while condors and jaguars rendered by shallow incisions peer out from their position in the cornices overhead.
Today, many of the tenoned heads from the outside of the Castillo are being housed in the galleries within the great building to protect them from the elements.
Many of the buildings at Chavon are ornamented with delicate relief carvings. This example is from the small circular sunken plaza, one of the oldest parts of the site. As is true of most Chavinoid sculpture, the jaguar images here are symmetrically arranged to the left and right of the central stairway. The individual sculptures display numerous repetitions of elements, particularly of symbolic forms such as pelt markings and serpent heads. This profusion of detail creates a crowded, busy effect called horror vacuii (a fear of empty spaces).
The upper figures in this photograph appear to represent shamans; one carries a San Pedro cactus in his hand. The lower, horizontally-oriented reliefs are variations on the theme of the jaguar.
Conventionalized symbolic motifs seem most evident in the most important scuptures at Chavin. The Lanzon is a case in point. This 15' high prismatic granite sculpture depicts a feline-human deity whose body parts are symbolically represented by interlocking jaw motifs, and whose hair and eyebrows are formed by wriggling serpents. The use of visual metaphors such as these is known as kenning.
The Lanzon's "lance-like" shape is what suggested its name to archaeologists. With one arm raised and the other lowered, it is conceivable the Lanzon was viewed as as link among the three spheres of existence for the population at Chavin. Many have suggested the Lanzon was used as an oracle by Pre-Columbian pilgrims.
Symbolization, or kenning, appears on many Chavin sculptures. This "Smiling God" is from the southern block of the Castillo (the Black and White Portal). It is of general jaguar-human form and holds spondylus and strombus shells in its hands, probable references to fertility.
Another fine example of Chavin sculpture is the Tello Obelisk, named in honor of its discoverer, Julio Tello. The Tello Obelisk has been carefully analyzed by Donald Lathrap, who has found numerous references to Amazonia in its symbolism.
The Tello obelisk is meant to be viewed in an upright postion, but is shown horizontally in this line drawing for better visibility. Two large cayman figures can be seen facing to the right. Their bodies are covered with kenning (visual metaphors), including references to manioc, peanuts and aji (all are Amazonian plants). The caymans themselves, as well as the jaguar and harpy eagle which appear in the relief, are also Amazonian.
The "Smiling God" from the Castillo (three illustrations back) and the Raimondi stela (this image) may both represent a forerunner of a god later called Chuquichinchay. According to 17th century Spanish chroniclers, Chuquichinchay was a nature deity, a guardian of felines, and appeared in the North sky. The pattern of drill holes on the Raimondi stela and other Chavin reliefs may well refer to the constellations with which the Chavin gods were associated. As Peru's first major civilization, one might reasonably expect Chavin to reveal early versions of many Peruvian traditions. The jaguar cult, sophisticated stone architecture and sculpture, kenning, and the orientation of sites to the cardinal directions are among the culture’s contributions. Chavin also was the source of the earliest goldwork of South America, ca. 1500 B.C., and the first of the country's great indigenous ceramic styles.
Many aspects of the Chavin art style are found far beyond Chavin de Huantar's northern highland location. In the southern coastal site of Carwa, magnificent painted textiles have been discovered in which a staff carrying deity is shown replete with Chavin-style kenning. The figure seen in this drawing of a textile is often described as the Staff Goddess, because she is shown with protruding breasts and an exaggerated "vagina dentata." Her frontal pose, fanged mouth, staffs, and U-shaped eyes are similar to the Raimondi stele deity.
Chavin ceramics have been found not only at Chavin de Huantar, but at a number of northern coastal valley sites as well. This charming example with a small modeled mouse is from Chongoyape. Like most Chavinoid pottery, the work is a stirrup spout ornamented with rocker-stamped textural patterns.
This Chavinoid stirrup spout is from the northern coastal site of Tembladera. The smooth burnished (polished) surfaces are typical of the Tembladera Chavinoid substyle.
Tembladera is noted for some fine post-fired resist vessels such as this bottle. The major motif here is an upturned, fanged head with a U-shaped eye.
Another impressive substyle of Chavinoid ceramics from the north coast is named Cupisnique. It was typically hard, monochromatic blackware ornamented by rocker-stamping, incisions, zoning, and/or modeling. The earliest examples are full-bodied, bulging spout vessels with massive relief decorations. The opening of the stirrup is small and round in Cupisnique I; the spout's lip is reinforced (as in this ceramic). This main design is that of a fanged feline.
As the Cupisnique style evolves, stirrups become more open and angular, rim reinforcements disappear, the spout begins to flare at the top, then finally develops a concave profile. More recognizable images, effigies of a mother and child or a half-jaguar/half-human, replace the earlier, more abstract forms. This stirrup spout is a dualistic effigy vessel possibly referring to the shamanic transformation from human into jaguar. It is a Cupisnique IV stirrup spout.
The gourd-shaped stirrup spout is another fine example of the Cupisnique IV style. A relief modeled clay rope imitates the real strand that would have been used with a gourd container.
Although this vessel is not a stirrup spout, it is a good example of the more realistically modeled ceramics of Cupisnique IV phase. At first glance, it might appear to be a depiction of an old woman, but closer inspection proves the image to be that of a man slowly metamorphosing into a jaguar. Note the high, tab-like feline ears protruding from the sides of the head.