Description

Chavín Culture, Peru. The huge temple complex near the village of Chavín de Huántar behind the Cordillera Blanca gave its name to a culture whose influence around 1000 BC can be traced over a wide area and in later cultural forms, so that it can be called with some justification the mother culture. Recurring motifs are the jaguar or a mixture of predator, snake and condor and warriors with predator teeth, condor claws and snake hair or hair with condor heads. Here the main portal to the temple complex with the large ceremonial square in the foreground. - 1976