CHAVIN DE HUANTAR

Our proposal of the centrality of pilgrimage in the Chaco regional system would be incomplete without a brief discussion of another regional system of the Americas for which pilgrimage has also been suggested as the major force of integration. Chav in de Huantar in Peru was founded approximately 900 B. C. with the construction of the Old Temple, which initially may have served to integrate the local population. The original U-shaped truncated pyramid opened to the east and covered an area of 7100 sq uare meters. Its interior included a maze of subterranean passageways and a 4.5 m tall stone known as the Lanzon, which contained the image of a fanged anthropomorph who was probably the supreme deity of the cult.

By 400 B. C. a much larger New Temple complex, more than 5 times larger, had replaced the Old Temple. The sphere of influence of the Chavin cult had grown to some 200,000 km2, including regions with considerable cultural and ecological diversity. I deology, not coercive power, appears to have unified the region (Burger 1992).

The right of pilgrims to travel across local political boundaries and their access to hospitality at local communities must have been important features of Chavin's ritual network. However, each of the communities on the pilgrimage routes may have extracted tribute or received offerings. Similarly, the affluence of the center of the system at Chavin de Huantar, may have come from tribute induced by the fearsome god of the Temple. Around the third century B. C., within some two centuries of its rise to p

ower, the regional system centered at Chavin collapsed. While defensive structures had been unknown during the heights of Chavin culture, hilltop fortresses were built throughout the region. Evidence of a break-down of alliances is evidenced by a reduc tion of long-distance trade. The increase of violence is indicated by the appearance of burials without heads or limbs and by postulated evidence of cannibalism.