Chavin de Huantar is an striking archaeological and cultural site surrounded by structures of dressed stone, with complex terraces and squares, in the Andean Highlands of Peru. It was constructed before 3000 BC, and occupied by later cultures until around 400-500 BC.
The cultural expressions found at Chavin did not originate in that place, but can be seen as coming into their full force there. It served as a gathering place for people of the region to come together and worship the Creator.
The site is located in the Ancash Region of Peru, province of Huari 250 km/160mi North of Lima.
At 3,180m /10,430ft in elevation, it sits between the Eastern (Black: snow less) and Western (White: snowy) ranges of the Andes, near two of the few Mountain Passes that allow passage between the desert coast to the West and the Amazon jungle to the East. It is also located near the confluence of the Huachesca and Mosna Rivers, a natural phenomenon of two joining into one that may have been seen as a spiritually powerful phenomenon. The location also seems to have helped make it a special place.
The central building is a massive temple complex constructed of rectangular stone blocks, containing interior galleries that incorporates bas-relief carvings on pillars and lintels.
New findings of a recent archeological-acoustic study suggests that the ceremonial center in the central Highlands of Peru, practiced a fine art and science of manipulating sound with architecture to produce desired sensory effects.
The Lanzon, a sacred statue depicting the central deity of the ancient Chavin culture is housed in the central chamber of a series of underground passages within the Old Temple of the ceremonial and religious center with a central duct connecting the area of the monolith with that of the Circular Plaza.
The Lanzon was treated as an oracle with the power to emit sounds thanks to a hole in the roof of the chamber. The divinity was treated as a symbol of trade between the 3 dimensions of existence, fertility, dualism, and humankind's interaction with nature, or any combination of these.
The 4.5m/15 ft-tall obelisk is a painstakingly carved piece of white granite in a roughly lance-like shape, and depicts a human-feline hybrid with claws, writhing snakes for hair and eyebrows, fangs curved sideways in a smile, and one arm raised while the other is lowered. Other carvings depict the Lanzon clutching a Strombus shell in one hand and a Spondylus shell in the other.
The place was considered mystically sacred and religious ceremonial activities of great significance was performed there. Acoustic evidence have been discovered for selective sound transmission between the site of the Lanzon monolith and the Circular Plaza. The duct built in was specifically designed to filter to a certain sound range frequencies emitted by the Chavin pututu (shell trumpet) instrument.
