page_title: Chavín culture
section_title: Presence of elite
hierarchical_section_title: Chavín culture / Presence of elite
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le nouveau temple "El Castillo", sur le site de Chavín de Huantar English: El Castillo, part of the Chavín de Huantar ruins Español: El Castillo, parte de las ruínas de Chavín de Huantar
context_page_description: The Chavín culture is an extinct, pre-Columbian civilization, named for Chavín de Huantar, the principal archaeological site at which its artifacts have been found. The culture developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru from 900 BCE to 200 BCE. It extended its influence to other civilizations along the coast. The Chavín people were located in the Mosna Valley where the Mosna and Huachecsa rivers merge. This area is 3,150 metres above sea level and encompasses the quechua, suni, and puna life zones.
  In the periodization of pre-Columbian Peru, the Chavín is the main culture of the Early Horizon period in highland Peru, characterized by the intensification of the religious cult, the appearance of ceramics closely related to the ceremonial centers, the improvement of agricultural techniques and the development of metallurgy and textiles.
  The best-known archaeological site for the Chavín culture is Chavín de Huantar, located in the Andean highlands of the present-day Ancash Region. It is believed to have been built around 900 BCE and was the religious and political center of the Chavín people. It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: At Chavín, power was legitimized through the belief in the small elite having a divine connection; shamans derived power and authority from their claim to a divine connection.  The community believed in and had a desire to connect with the divine.  With asymmetrical power, there is often evidence of the manipulation of traditions.  Strategic manipulation is a vehicle of change which shamans could use to produce authority.  During the Chavín horizon, large changes were taking place.
  "The greater degree of elaboration of persuasion evident in the rites, materials, and settings of the belief system, the more likely that not only were the leaders aware of being self-serving in their actions but also they were actually conscious of the trajectory change."  The archeological evidence shows several examples of reinterpretation, use of psychotropic drugs, and landscape altering.  It also shows the complex planning and construction of stone-walled galleries.
  The concept of invented tradition refers to a situation in which outside elements are newly brought together to depict a seemingly old tradition.  This can be seen generally in the architecture at Chavín de Huantar, which bring together many aspects of outside cultures to create a unique new, yet traditional appearance.
  The use of psychotropic drugs introduces a medium for manipulation.  Only indirect evidence supports the use of psychotropic drugs, as noted above. Scholars have not been able to determine if the San Pedro cactus was ingested, who consumed the cactus: only the shaman elite, or more widespread among the masses. If the masses were taking the cactus, they would be more susceptible to the influences of the shamans.  If the shamans were the only ones to consume it, the practice may have been sacred and a status symbol.  The shamans would be perceived to have special powers to connect with nature and the divine.
  The extensive degree of landscape altering at Chavín de Huantar for temple reconstructions shows that someone or a group of people had the power to plan the reconstructions and influence others to carry out those plans. The large constructions that occurred at this site support the hypothesis of asymmetrical power.
  Finally, the planning and construction of the stone-walled galleries, in particular, suggest a hierarchical system.  In addition to the requirement to command and direct the manpower required, the galleries show unique planning. They allowed only one entrance; this is atypical of the time when rooms commonly had multiple entrances and exits.  The iconography on the walls of the stone galleries is highly complex.  The complexity suggests that only a select few people were able to understand the iconography; such people would serve as translators for the few others who were privileged to view the stone galleries.  The limited access, both physically and symbolically, of the stone-walled galleries, supports the existence of a shaman elite at Chavín de Huantar.  The evolution of authority at Chavín appears to have resulted from a planned  strategy by the shamans and those who planned and constructed the ceremonial center.
caption: Front view of the castle in the archeological site of Chavín de Huantar.
exif: {"Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:10:06 18:23:40", "Image ExifOffset": "146", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "328", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3628", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "5854", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2256", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "4a80da76b2df9ef0e186fbbdb8588f34"}