Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks.chavin

This is an extract from:

Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks

© 1996 Dumbarton Oaks

Trustees for Harvard University

Washington, D.C.

Printed in the United States of America

published by

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection

Washington, D.C.

www.doaks.org/etexts.html

edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone

CHAVIN

RichardL. Burger

T he Chavfnculturedevelopedandflourishedin theMosnadrainagein the northernhigh-landsof Peruduring the first millennium B.C. Its principal centerwas establishedat the

crossroadsof two trails acrossthe glaciatedCordilleraBlancaat a locationoccupiedtoday

by the moderntown of Chavfnde Huántar.The foundingof ChavfndeHuántaroccurredcentu-

rieslaterthanmostof the majorearlypublic complexeson the coast,suchasGaragayandMox-

eke,and in other intermontanevalleys, such as Pacopampa;the sculptorsand buildersof the

Chavinceremonialcomplexdrewinspirationfrom older prestigiouscentersin theproductionof

its templesand public art. The art of the Cupisniqueculture was one of severalsourcesthat

wereblendedto producethedistinctiveChavinstyle,a styleconsideredbyanthropologistAlfred

Kroeber(1947) to havebeenthe mostbeautifuleverproducedin prehistoricSouthAmerica.

While coastaland tropical forest elementsaboundin Chavin art, the temple and its sur-

roundingsettlementat 3,150m abovesealevelweretheproductof ahighlandsocietyThepopu-

lace responsiblefor supportingthe Chavincenterand its artsubsistedon amixture of high alti-

tuderainfall farmingand llamaherding;many of the villages directly involved in thesupportofthe Chavin templewere locatednearthe upper limits of agriculture,just below the vast puna

pasturelandsthatbeginat 3,800m. Thus,while thestyleof Chavinartmaysuggesta closekinship

with the Initial Periodculturesof the coast,this stylistic relationshipshouldnotbeconfusedwith

socialand cultural similarity. Eventhe historical ties implied by the sharedartistic conventions

and themesactually may be more of a consciousstrategyto bolsterthe prestigeof the newly

foundedhighlandcenterthanthe outcomeof deephistorical links.

Chavinwasthe first civilization in the centralAndes,and,despitethecontinuitythatChavin

artpresentswith its antecedents,the culturethatproducedit brokenew groundin almosteveryaspectof daily life. Unlike traditionalInitial Periodpublic centers,Chavinde Huántardeveloped

a largeresidentpopulationthatwasinternally differentiatedalong bothstatusandoccupational

lines. Societywasdominatedby an elite groupwith economicandpolitical power,andgroupsof

specialistsdevotedat leastpartof their labor to producinggoodsfor this elite andthe religious

cult with which they wereassociated.The social and economic field within which Chavin de

Huántarinteractedincludedmostof the northernandcentralPeruvianhighlandsandcoast,and

contactsweremaintainedwith lowland groupsfurther east.The cult of theChavintemplespread

to communitiesovermuchof this vastareaandhelpedto bindthesepreviouslyunrelatedgroups;

travelandexchangebetweendifferent regionssharplyincreased.It isnot surprisingthat techno-

logical breakthroughswerecommon within this cultural environment,particularly sincethese

new technologiesweredevelopedto help symbolizethe supernaturalcharacterof the cult and

the specialprestigeof the elite associatedwith it.

45

Chavin

As in pre-Chavintimes, many of the greatestand most time-consumingworks of Chavin

civilization wereproducedto decoratethe public buildings.The stonesculptureof the Chavin

heartlandis almostuniquein its ubiquity andhigh quality.At the sametime, portablereligious

art was producedand exchangedthroughoutthe Chavin sphereof interaction.Someof these

wereitemsof ritual paraphernalia,but much of it wasjewelry andclothingworn by andburied

with specialstatusindividuals.Thus,the greatartof Chavfnwascreatedwithin the contextof a

hierarchicallystratifiedcomplexsociety,asocietyunlike thoseof the precedingInitial Period.

The two favoredmediumsof Chavinportableartwerepreciousmetalsin thenortherncoast

and highlands,andtextiles in the centraland south coast.The production of gold and silver

artifactswasitself a remarkableaccomplishmentsince it requiredthe introductionof ahost of

technologicalinnovationssuchassweatwelding,soldering,andchamplevéandrepoussédecora-

tion. Throughthe developmentof thesetechniques,it was possibleto go beyondthe tiny gold

foil sheetsproducedmore than500 yearsbefore,andfinally produceextraordinaryobjectsthat

couldbeusedin costumesandreligiousrituals.Textiles,the oldestandmostprestigiousmedium

of artisticproductionin theAndes,werelikewise transformedby theintroductionof newdecora-

tive techniques,including polychromepaintingand tie-dye. While woven cloth was a widely

appreciatedskill amongall Andeanhouseholds,the textilesbearingChavinmotifs went far be-

yond the technologicalcapacityof the peopleobservingthem.

The Chavinartstyleis thebestknown of theEarlyHorizon styles;its complexesotericimag-

ery hasbeenrecognizedthroughoutan extensivearea.Chavin themesand artistic conventions

suchasmetaphoricalsubstitution,double-profilecomposition,anatropicdesign,androughbilat-

eralsymmetry (Burger 1988; Roe 1974;J. Rowe 1962) havebeenencounteredat many sites,al-thoughthe presenceof someof thesesamefeaturesin earlierstylessometimesmakesidentifica-

tion of aspecimenas “Chavín„ far moreproblematicthanoncethought.Moreover,manyregional

“pre-Chavín”artistic styles,suchasCupisnique,continuedto evolveandevenspreadduring the

Early Horizon; siteswith Chavin influenceoften yield objectsthat eithercombineChavinandnon-Chavinelements(seediscussionof B—562, P1. 8) or areprimarily derivedfrom non-Chavin

regionalartistic traditions.

46

PLAQUE

Plate1Chavin,Chongoyapein the Lambayequedrainage,400—300B.C.

Gold. H. 21 cm; W. 10.8 cm; Wt. 96 gB—604

History: Purchasedfrom the Textile Museum,1979

Exhibition: IndianArt oftheAmericas,ChicagoNaturalHistoryMuseum,1959;DumbartonOaks,1979—

Bibliography: Lothrop 1941;Collier 1959: fig. 65;Anton 1972:p1. 5;Cordy-Collins1979:58;Alva 1992:57, lam. 43

This small, goldensheet-metalplaqueis decoratedwith a representationof the principal deity ofChavinde Huántar.It is oneof a pair of matchinggold plaques.Theotherwasacquiredin 1946 fromJohnWise by the ClevelandMuseumof Art (CMA46.117)(Fig. 12) (MargaretYoung-Sanchez,personalcommunication,1994).Thesimilarities betweentheDumbartonOaksandClevelandplaquesgo beyondquestionsof themeandstyle,andincludemanymi-nor details.This suggeststhat the samemoldmayhavebeenusedto producebothpieces.Only minor

differencesin thefinishingof someelements—suchas a snakeemergingfrom the deity’s proper leftankle,andtheplacementof a hole at thetop of theplaques—allowthepiecesto bedistinguishedfromeachother.The existenceof nearlyidentical EarlyHorizon gold plaqueshas a direct parallelin thepair of matchinggold plaquesrecoveredin Tomb2at Kuntur Wasi by Universityof Tokyo excavations(Onuki andKato 1993: 31—32, fig. 12).

Theholepunchedin theuppersectionof B—604

perhapsallowed it to be hung as a pendantor anear ornament. This functional interpretation isplausible becausethe use of pendantsis repre-sentedin Chavinart (Cordy-Collins n.d.b: fig. 56).SamuelLothrop’s (1941: 258) suggestionthat theCleveland plaque originally had been part of acrown is an unlikely alternative;neitherthe Dum-bartonOaks/Clevelandset of plaquesnor the setfrom Kuntur Wasi shows evidenceof ever beingparts of crownsor any other object. A carefullycraftedraisedbandframesthe imageof B—604andcompletestheobject; thereisno technicalor artisticevidencethat the objecthasbeenreworked.

Lothrop (1941: 251) publishedthis plaquefor

the first time along with two lots of gold thathadbeenfound near Chongoyapein the Lambayequedrainage,some450 km to the north of Chavin de

Huántar.Hesuggestedthat it “may oncehavebeen

part of the treasurefrom the HaciendaAlmendral,dispersedby the boyswho discoveredit” (Lothrop1941:258).TheAlmendralfind wasoneof the firstdiscoveriesof Chavingold reportedin the archaeo-logical literature. According to the account pub-lishedby Julio C. Tello (1929: 155—162),in 1928 or1929 severalyoung boysfound a hoardof gold atthe bottom of an irrigation ditch on the HaciendaAlmendral. The ownersof the estate,the Gayosobrothers,attemptedto recoverall of theobjects,butapparentlysomeof the childrenfled andgavethegold artifacts to their parentsor exchangedthemfor cookies at local stores.This lot of objectsin-cludedminimally threegold crowns,a gold head-band,two pairs of gold tweezers,sevendecoratedearspools, and four undecorated earspools(Lothrop 1941:253) (Fig. 13). Lothropbelievedthatthesepiecescamefrom a single grave,sincethey

all seemedto be madefor a singleindividual. Theearspoolsbelongedto six pairs of increasingsize,

and Lothrop suggestedthat thesesets may havebeenused by the buried individual at differentpoints in his life, working on the assumptionthatthe size of the earspoolcylinderswasincreasedashis ear lobe becameincreasinglydistendedwithage.The largestearspoolswereundecoratedandmaynothavebeenfinishedat thetimeof his death.

Severalyearslater, anothertomb was discov-eredelsewherein Chongoyape.Thethreeskeletonsin this intermenthadbeenburiedwith asomewhatdifferent lot of itemsalso in Chavinstyle. Lothrop(1941) concludedthat the previouslydescribedlothadbeenassociatedwith theburial of amale,whilethe gravegoodsin the secondlot hadbelongedtoa female.As noted, Lothrop believedthat B—604probablycamefrom the first tomb at Chongoyape;it is interesting, in this light, that the previously

47

Plate148

Fig. 12 Chavingoldplaque.ClevelandMuseumof Art, CMA 46/117,J. H. WadeFundpurchase.Photographcourtesyof themuseum.

Fig. 13 Six of thegold Chavinearspools(oneof eachpair) andgold headbandfromtheHaciendaAlmendrallot, aspublishedby Lothrop (1941: p1. 17).

49

Chavin

mentionedplaquesfrom Kuntur Wasi camefromthe burial of a male.

TheseChongoyapeburialswereanomalousformany decadesuntil the 1989 project directed byYoshio Onuki (1990)unearthedthe set of tombsatKuntur Wasi; the grave goods there included

Chavingold similar to that of Chongoyape.Exten-sive looting has uncoveredstill other rich Chavintombsin JequetepequeandZaña(LavalleandLang1981). Although pottery was sometimesfound intheseburials,gold artifactsdecoratedwith Chaviniconographyappearto have been the principalitemsof wealthof the deceasedindividuals.

The lot from theHaciendaAlmendralis of par-ticular interestbecauseof the extraordinarywealththatappearsto havebeeninterredin a singletomb,andbecauseof theassociationof Chavin-styleicon-ographywith an individual. Chavin iconographyappearson itemsof personaldressincludingears-pools,noseornaments,crowns,andotherobjects.Itis significant that the religiously chargedmaterialsseemto havebeenburiedwith thedeceased,ratherthanreturnedto the community for use by otherindividuals with the samestatusor role. It is alsointeresting that crowns and other objectsrepletewith sacredsymbolswerefound in associationwithgoldtweezers,an item of personalhygieneusedtoremoveunwantedfacial hair. The style, iconogra-phy, and manufactureof plaqueB—604 areconsis-tent with Lothrop’s interpretationof it as comingfrom theHaciendaAlmendralalthoughthesecrite-ria do notruleoutotherpossibilities.No otheranal-ogouslots of Chavingold wereknown at the time

of Lothrop’s first publication of the Chongoyapematerials.

As statedearlier, the DumbartonOaks plaqueisdecoratedwith a representationof the maindeityof the Chavincult in classiclate Chavinstyle. AtChavindeHuántar,this deity wasonly representedon the most sacredof stonesculptures;the bestknown of theseimagesof the main deity is on theRaimondiStela (Fig. 14). On this granitesculpture,ason the gold plaque,the deity is shownfrontallyholding a set of staffs. This characteristicpose,which hasled somescholarsto refer to the deity asthe Staff God (J. Rowe 1962),is known from othersitesas well, includingGotushnearChavinde Hu-ántarandCarhuaon theParacaspeninsula(seedis-cussionof B—545, P1. 6).Two of the crownsfrom theHaciendaAlmendrallot arealsodecoratedwith theimage of the principal Chavin deity in the “staffgod” stance(Burger 1992:figs. 204,222).Along with

the plaque, theseimagesconstituteevidencethatthe Chavinhorizonwasthe result of the spreadofthe Chavincult far from ChavindeHuántarduringthe EarlyHorizon.

A more finely grained considerationof B—604providessomeintriguing insightsinto the variabil-ity in Chavin art and the relationship of thebranchesof theChavincult to the centerat Chavinde Huántar.As already noted, this plaque andmany otherportableChavinobjectsappearto havebeenstronglyinfluencedby the representationsonthe stonesculpturesat the cult’s center.This influ-

encewas not limited to the iconography.For ex-ample, the plain raised band that borders the

plaquemimicsthe framingtechniqueemployedonChavin de Huántarsculpture.As on thesesculp-tures,the complextwo-dimensionalimageis high-lighted by surroundingloweredzones.It is worthemphasizingthat theseframing and intaglio con-ventionsarenot commonin Andeanart. Both areabsentin the pre-Chavinsculptureof CerroSechin(for example,Fig. 24); even someEarly Horizonsculpturesfrom outside the Chavin de Huántarheartland,suchas thosefrom Kuntur Wasi, repre-

sentChavin themesbut fail to place them withinraisedframes.

The style in which the principal deity is repre-sentedon theDumbartonOaksplaqueconformstothe classiccanonsof the Chavin style. The imagehasa roughbilateralsymmetry,and its fundamen-tal themeis obscuredby the abundantuseof meta-phorical substitutions—aconventioncalled “ken-nings” by John Rowe (1962) in his well-knownanalogyto Nordic sagas.For example,on B—604thedeity’s hair is representedas snakes,asaretheendsof his breechcloth.Anatropic designis anotherofthe moredistinctiveconventionsof Chavinart; im-agesarearrangedsotheycanbe“read” in an alter-native way when they are inverted (Burger 1988:119;Kubler 1975).On the DumbartonOaksplaque,thetopof thedeity’s headisshownasamouthwithfour teethanda centralfang from whichfour verti-cal snakesissue;whenthe objectis turned180 de-grees,this mouthbecomespartof a new agnathicface incorporatingthe old figure’s eyesand nose.(This anatropicarrangementis strikingly similar tothe oneon Callangotextile B—545, P1. 6.) A seconduseof anatropicdesignoccurson the trunk of thedeity’s body A pair of snakesareshowninvertedsothat they can serveas eyes for a monstrousfacewhenthe objectis rotated;in this case,theclawsofthe deity doubleas the fangsfor this visage.

50

Chavín

The styleof the imageon B—604 indicatesthatit is an exampleof late Chavinart, perhapscoevalwith the end of PhaseD in Rowe’s sculpturalse-quence.Thepresenceof squaredeyesandthe angu-lar mouthwith cornerpointsresemblethefeaturesof the PhaseD columnsof Chavin de Huántar’sNewTemple.The simplified snakeheads(in whichthe noseand separatemouthareomitted), the bi-lobed ears,andthe presenceof scrolls are featuresthat becamepopularin the subsequentEF Phase.Thus,the styleof the representation,as well as thestaff god stance,indicate that the piece was pro-ducedduring the height of Chavin de Huántar’sNewTemple, whenthe center’span-regionalinflu-encewasgreatest.We estimatethat the piecewasmadeduring the fourth centuryB.C.

While the similarities betweenthe plaqueandthe sculpturesat Chavin de Huántarare striking,therearesomeinterestingdifferencesbetweenthisimageandthe representationsof the principaldeityat Chavinde Huántar.First of all, a triangularformis shownbetweenthedeity’s legson theplaque;thiselementhas elsewherebeeninterpretedas corre-sponding to the form of breechclothsworn bymales. Thus, in contrast to Chavín de Huántar,wherethe principal deity is shownwithout speci-fying gender,the deity on the Dumbarton Oaksplaqueseemsto be shownas male.This variationalso occurson one of the gold crownsfrom Chon-goyape(Lothrop 1941: fig. 26c) and is part of alarger pattern.Outsideof Chavínde Huántar,themain deity (or deities) is shownas eithermaleorfemale on numerousrepresentations.It has beensuggestedthat the femalerepresentationsmay ac-tually representthe sisters,wives, or daughtersofthe Chavínde Huántardeity, which servedas theindividualized divine patrons of branch oracles(Burger 1988). If this analogyis extendedto laterAndean regional cults, the male supernaturals,such as that representedon the DumbartonOaksplaque,could representthe brothersor sonsof theprincipal deity (ratherthanbeing a representationof the principal deity asusuallyis assumed).

A secondinteresting variation in the plaquerepresentationis the arrangementof the deity’sclawed handsand staffs. They areheld upwardsagainstthe chest,as if the deity is holdinga singlehorizontalstaff,whoseendsarekennedas two jaw-lessfangedfaces.The holding of a horizontalstaffhasparallelsin the staffsheldby theavian“guard-ians” on the columnsof the New Temple(J. Rowe1967: figs. 8, 9). However,the deity also appearstoFig. 14 The RaimondiStela.Drawingby JohnH. Rowe.

51

Chavín

be holding vertical staffs in the form of the toothbandsthat descendalong the sides of the plaque,from the two agnathicprofiled headsalmostto thebottomof the piece.This visualambiguity, like theconfusionintroducedby themetaphoricalsubstitu-tions and the anatropicorganization,appearstobeintentional.

A final noteworthyfeatureisthat the deity rep-resentedappearsto be standingon a pedestalorstool,decoratedwith apair of agnathicfaces.Ser-pentsissuingfromthemain figure’s clawedfeetrundown thesidesof the pedestalor stool.Thereis noknownanaloguein Chavínart to this arrangement.However,the craftsmanwho producedthis plaque

mayhavebeendrawinginspirationfor thisfrom thelocal Cupisnique artistic tradition of the north

coast,a tradition which predatedthe emergenceofthe Chavínstyle. For example,adobesculptureatHuaca de los Reyes,a Cupisniquecenter in theMochevalley repeatedlydepictsan anthropomor-phic deityin frontalpositionstandingon apedestalwhich, in someinstances,is adornedwith fangedagnathicfaces (T. Pozorski 1981: figs. 10.7, 10.10,10.11).RLB

TechnicalDescription

The metal from which this object is madeis agold-silver-copperternaryalloy

Composition(WeightPercent)

Au Ag Cu68.8 28.8 2.3

The compositioncomparesclosely with thatof ob-jects B—440, B—441, and B—605 (Pls. 3, 4, 2). Al-

thoughthe levelof silver is substantiallyhigher, itis notuncommonfor Andeangold placerdeposits.Analysis of the plaque was performedby x-rayfluorescence(at theFreerandSacklerGalleries’De-partmentof ConservationandScientific Research).

Thicknessmeasurementsmadealong the pe-rimeterof theplaqueaverage0.043cm. Themotifs,renderedin relief at the front, were accomplishedfrom the backwith tracingtools,their endshighlypolishedand rounded,thatpressedthe metal intoa bed or backingof resilientmaterial.No hammerblow marksremainfrom manufactureof the sheetitself, nor aresuchmarksevidentwithin any of theraisedmotifs or along their borders.24All the reliefwork appearsto havebeenaccomplishedby push-ing andpressingmetal, ratherthanby hammeringit. Occasionallythe bordersaroundraisedelementswereclarified from thefront withburnishingtools,whosemarksremainascontoursat thebaseof suchfeatures.Large flat areas,suchas thoseadjacenttothe earsor betweentorso andstaffs,wereworkedfrom the front, sunk slightly below the originalplaneof the sheet.Theburnishingin theseareasisso expertthat no tracesof the original tool marksremain.

In contrastto the central motif on disc B—441(P1.4), theplanechangesonthis plaquearegradual,the walls of relief elementsslope,andthe intersec-tionsof planesarerounded.Sharpanglesandcrisp-ness of effect were avoided by using polished,rounded tools and pressing the metal in longstrokesalongthe working surface.

A singlehole at the centerof the top framingborder has beenpunchedfrom front to back; theburr remainsaroundtherim. Slightly oval,theaver-agediameteris 0.37cm. HL

24Lothrop(1941:253)makesa similarobservationaboutthekinds of toolsusedto rendertherelief decorationon the Chon-goyapegold crowns: “The relief was pressedout with tools ofvarioussizes,asmaybeseenby closeinspectionof thesurface.Thereareno indicationsof hammering.”

52

FELINE CUTOUT

Plate2Chavin,perhapsfrom theLambayequedrainage,400—300B.C.

Gold. H. 7.5cm; W. 10.4 cm; Wt. 17.1gB—605

History:Purchasedfrom the Textile Museum,1979

Exhibition: DumbartonOaks,1979—

Bibliography: Emmerich 1965: fig. 1; Easby1966:72—81; Kan 1972:73, fig. 6; Alva 1992:18, lam. 1; Burger1992a:202, fig. 221

The feline, particularly the jaguar,wasone of themost common animals representedin the art ofChavíndeHuántarand in theearlyreligious artoftheAndesin general.As thedominantcarnivoreinthe tropicalforests,thejaguarwasa potentsymbolof power,strength,anddanger.As a lone andfero-cioushunterwith an ability to movefrom the landto the water or trees,the jaguarwasarich sourcefor metaphor.AndeanandAmazonianpriestsandshamansoften describedthe jaguaras their alteregoandevenclaimedto transformthemselvesintojaguarsduring critical dealingswith thesupernatu-

ral realm.JulioC. Tello claimedthat the jaguarwasthe basic elementof Chavín art, and, while thisview may be exaggerated,the jaguaris certainlyaprominentthemein the sculptureof ChavíndeHu-ántarand its branchcults.

B—605 is a small piece of gold sheet that hasbeencut in the silhouetteof a feline; it was thenworked in low relief to show the anatomicalfea-turesof theanimal.It shouldbenotedthat thegoldfelinerepresentationunderdiscussionlacksindica-

tion of thepelagemarkingsthatdistinguishthejag-uar from highland Andean felines, such as the

Plate2

53

Chavín

puma.With its crossedfangs,upright ears,clawedfeet,andprominenttail, in mostrespectsthis piece

is a classicChavínrepresentationof a feline. Threesmall holes werepunchedin the top of the piece,perhapssothat it couldbe sewn on atextile hang-ing or pieceof clothing. This classof artifact is notunique.AnalogousEarly Horizon gold cutoutsofother figures havebeenfound elsewhere,such asthe cutoutcrabornamentrecoveredfrom the tombat Chongoyape(Lothrop 1941: p1. 20). B—605 mayalso have been recoveredfrom the Lambayequedrainage(J.Rowe 1962: fig. 26).

Aswascommonwith Chavínfelines, theendofthetail wasformedasa snake,or, moreaccuratelya“cat-snake,”sinceearswere grafted onto the nor-mal snake head. Another Chavín convention,double-profilecomposition,adornsthe backof thefeline, whereit only partially succeeds.In most in-stancesof double-profilecomposition,two adjacentprofile facesare joined along a sharedaxis sothatthey canbe readboth as two independentsilhou-ettesandas a single frontal face. On the saddleofthe feline’s back in B—605, two profile agnathicmouths with nostrils are shown,separatedby a

third smallpanel.This separationpreventstheirbe-ing read as a single frontal mouth and evenob-scurestheir identificationastwo profile faces.Thismay be a situation wherethe artist tried to repre-sentan alien artistic conventionthat he or shedidnotunderstand.Theattemptto employthedouble-profile conventionon the feline’s back is unusualin the corpusof Chavínart; this areawasusuallydecoratedwith a single-profileagnathicface(fromwhich thetail appears)orwith repeatinggeometricelementsrepresentingpelagemarkings.

The gold feline cutout has a different stancefrom the feline sculpturesat Chavínde Huántar.The gold feline has its tail held upright abovethebodyand its legsdrawnup as thoughrunning.Allthe stone felines from Chavin, numbering morethan two dozen,havetheir pawsplantedfirmly onthe ground with their curled tails hanging at alower position (cf. Kan 1972,Lumbreras1977). Al-thoughthis gold feline’s stanceis unorthodox,it isnot without parallel. One of the bowls from theOfrendasGalleryat ChavíndeHuántar(Lumbreras1971: fig. 11) is closerto this position thanto those

of the stone images,and the Chavin-style felinesshownon textilesandgourds(seeB—562, P1. 8) are

sometimesdepictedin silhouette,with thepawand

tail positionsvaried in a similar, thoughnot thesame,manner(Cordy-Collinsn.d.b: figs. 111, 116).RLB

Technical Description

This singlesheetof hammeredgold wasfoldedat onetimeandhasbeenopenedandprobablybur-nishedin someareasto flatten themetal.Four foldaxesare visible; they are presenteither as raisedridgesor asalternatingridgesanddepressionsonthe front of the objectandshouldnot be confusedwith therelief decorationitself: (1) ahorizontalfea-ture that runs acrossthe entirebody at mid-torsolevel; (2) a group of featuresrunning diagonallythroughthebacklegsfrom thebuttocksto theknee;(3) a vertical ridge throughtheentirebody locatedat the front of the saddle;(4) a diagonalridge run-ning through the lower front paw. The endof thetail may alsohavebeenfolded. The sheetmeasures0.026and0.030cm thick attwo edgelocations.Twoholespunchedfrom front to backare0.6 cm apartat the centerof the saddle,nearthe upperedgeofthe animal’sback.

Thesheetmetalis madefrom a ternaryalloy ofgold,silver, andcopper:

Composition(Weight Percent)

Au Ag78.4 20.4

Cu1.2

Its compositionwas determinedby x-ray fluores-cenceanalysis of the surface (at the Freer andSacklerGalleries’Departmentof ConservationandScientific Research).The alloy anativeplacergold,is similar to thoseusedfor objectsB—440, B—441,andB—604 (Pls. 3, 4, 1).

The low-relief decorationwas accomplishedby working the metal from the front. Tracingtools—smooth,rounded, and much like burnish-ers—pressedthe sheetdown into a resilientbed-ding material. As with the relief plaque B—604(P1. 1), the useof thesekinds of tools to compressmetal and shapeboundariesbetweenplanespro-ducedroundedcontoursandrelief that is gradual,not abrupt. Marks left by theseburnishing-typetools areabundantin the depressionson the frontsurface;theyare rareon the back.HL

54

BIMETALLIC EFFIGY SPOON

Plate3Chavin,probablyfrom Chavínde Huántar,400—200B.C.

Gold andsilver. H. 11.1 cm; W. 2.6cm; D. 3.6 cm; Wt. 33.7gB—440

History: Saidto havebeenfoundwith gold gorgetB—441 in ChavíndeHuántar;formerlyin the collectionof JuanDalmau(of Trujillo),who acquiredit before1941,andthen in the collectionof JosephBrummer;purchasedby RobertBliss from ErnestBrummer,1947

Exhibition: IndigenousArt oftheAmericas,NationalGallery of Art,1948—49,1952—62;25 Centuriesof PeruvianArt, 700 BC—1800AD,PeabodyMuseum,HarvardUniversity andBostonMuseumof FineArts, 1961;Gods with Fangs,Museumof Primitive Art, 1962;DumbartonOaks,1963—

Bibliography:Kelemen 1943:252—253,p1. 207a;Lothrop 1951:226—240;Bliss 1957:no.300;J. Rowe1962: fig. 23; Benson1963:no.347;Emmerich1965:8, fig. 9; Lechtman,Parsons,andYoung,1975:14, fig. 11; Time-Life Books1987:157; Alva 1992:55, lam. 41; Burger1992a:201,fig. 219

Plate3

55

Chavín

Thisuniqueeffigy spoonof goldandsilver is oneofthe mostremarkableexamplesof earlymetallurgyfrom the Andes. It apparentlywaspart of a groupof nineteenprecious-metalartifactspurchasedbyJuanDalmau of Trujillo sometimeprior to 1941.Dalmauinformed Rafael Larco Hoyle (1941:140—

141) that the lot hadbeenuncoveredat ChavíndeHuántar.The objectsweresubsequentlyacquiredby JosephBrummer,who told archaeologistSamuelLothropthat Dalmauhadboughtthem in thehigh-land town of Recuayin the Callej6nde Huaylas

(Lothrop 1951: 226; cf. Coe 1993: 278—279; Boone,this volume: 7). Brummer’s comment to Lothroplendscredenceto theassertionthat this lot wasdis-coveredatChavíndeHuántar.Oneof the trails thatconnectsChavíndeHuántarwith theoutsideworldcrossesthe Cordillera Blancaat Yanashayashanddescendsinto the Callej6n de Huaylas near themodernvillage of Olleros;the only town nearbyisRecuayPrior to the constructionof the modernhighwaysystem,residentsof Chavínde Huántaroften journeyedalong this trail to market theirgoodsat RecuaySincevisitors to ChavíndeHuán-tarin theearly1940swereinfrequent,it would havebeendifficult, perhapsevenimpossible,to sell pre-cious Pre-Columbianobjects there (even for themonetaryvalue of their gold). Consequentlyit islogical that antiquities discoveredat Chavín deHuántarwould havebeentakento Recuayfor saleor for subsequenttransportto the coast.The alter-nativepossibility that the gold objectswerefoundnearRecuayitself seemsunlikely sinceno Chavínsiteshavebeendiscoveredin this zonedespitecon-siderableresearchduring the lasthalf century Ifoneacceptsthe Dalmau-Brummeraccount,it sug-geststhat a hoard or grave lot larger than any ofthoseknown from Chongoyapeor Kuntur Wasimay havebeenfound at Chavínde Huántar.

It is interestingin light of this hypothesisthattheitemscomprisingtheDalmaugolddiffers fromall otherlots of Chavínprecious-metalobjects.TheDalmau Collectionconsistedof four snuff spoons(Fig. 15), the DumbartonOaksgold gorget (B—441,P1.4)discussedsubsequentlyasetof matchingpinsdecoratedwith maleheads,four noseornaments(three of which weredecoratedwith Chavín ser-pents),two tweezers,a staff or pin head,a set oftwo elaboratelydecoratedearspools,a cruciformgorget,a gold necklaceand a gold flute (Lothrop1951;cf. Kelemen1943:p1. 207a;Larco Hoyle 1941:fig. 204). It is intriguing that the precious-metalcrownsand headbandsso commonin the Chavín

tombsof ChongoyapeandKuntur Wasiareabsentfrom this lot.

Froma functionalperspective,B—440 is a smallspoonthat wasprobablyusedfor theinhalationofsnuffs. There is compelling evidencethat snuffs,probablyhallucinogenicin character,werean im-portant part of Chavín ritual; B—440 may haveservedas asnuffspoonfor theinhalationof halluci-nogens during religious ceremonies. The longtroughlikecavity of B—440 is narrowanddeepandwould not have been appropriatefor food con-

sumption. Snuff spoonsmay have been part oflarger ritual kits that included small ceremonialmortarsand pestlesin which the snuff was pre-pared.Thelattermortarsweresometimescarvedinthe form of jaguarsor eagles.One of these,nowin the collectionof the University of PennsylvaniaMuseum,wasfound at Chavínde Huántar(Burger1992a:fig. 145).

B—440andthe otherthreegoldenspoonspres-entin theDalmaugrouphaveno analoguein morenortherntombs.Although thereis a tradition ofcarved,stonesnuff spoonsfrom the northerncoast(Larco Hoyle 1941: fig. 149) and highlands(RosasandShady1970:fig. lSd), thesehavecircularratherthanelongatedbasins.In terms of the generalde-signandform, theclosestparallelto gold “spoons”like B—440 are the bone “spatulas” (Larco Hoyle1941:figs. 155,158, 162) foundin centralandnorth-ernPeru;significantly theseareoften carvedwithreligiousthemes.

There are two holes on the back of B—440 sothat it could besuspendedonacordandwornasapendant.Tiny pelletswereintentionallyplacedin-sidethe three-dimensionalsculpturethatdecoratesthe endof the spoonsothat it could alsofunctionas a rattle, an important instrumentof shamanicceremonies.Thus,B—440 wasa multifacetedpieceof ritual paraphernalia,utilized as a rattleandpartof the priestly costume,as well as a snuff spoonduring the ceremoniesof the Chavínreligiouscult.

The decorationof the spoonis particularly in-terestingin light of this functional interpretation.An adultmalefigureis depictedcrouchingwith hiskneesflexed on a small cylindrical stool or seat.Bothhandshold a ceremonialconch-shelltrumpetto his mouth, and he is apparentlyin the act ofblowing it. The figure canbe identified asa priestor mythical figure by the distinctive hairstyle inwhich the hair is drawntogetherto form a topknotabove the forehead. This coiffure resemblesthehairstyle frequently depicted on the sculptured

56

Chavín

Fig. 15 Four Chavinsnuff spoonsfrom theDalmauCollection. B—440 is labeleda. (after Lothrop1951: 236).

headsthat were tenonedinto the upper exteriorwalls of the ChavíndeHuántartemple.Theserep-resentationsof priestsor their mythical forebears

are commonlyshown in the processof shamanictransformationto jaguarsor crestedeagles,andsomeof the sculpturesshow clear indicationsthatthetransformationhadbeenfacilitatedthroughthenasalingestionof psychotropicsubstances(Cordy-Collins 1977a,1980;Cané1983;Burger1992a).Thisis implied by the strandsof mucusthat hangfromtheir nostrils,a resultof theirritation of nasalmem-braneby the hallucinogenicsnuff. In the tenonedheads,the transformationalprocessis signaledby

the incorporationof non-humanfeaturesinto thevisagesof the topknotted priests, and, in somecases,the tenonedheadsshow the fully trans-formedindividualsas felinesor crestedeagles.

Thefigureon B—440isanaturalistichumanrep-resentation,evento theextremeof carefullytracingthe delicateoutline of the fingernailsandtoenailsontothe three-dimensional,gold sheet-metaleffigyHowever,theinvolvementof this figurein shamanictransformationis alludedto by anemblematicsym-bol for the crestedor harpy eagle,which appears

on the backof the figure (seeFig. 15, photoa). Thefigure of the raptorialbird is representedin abbre-

57

Chavín

viatedform by combiningelementsof thebeak,tailfeathers,andtalonedfeet,all in classicChavínstyle.

As noted,the figureblows a conch-shelltrum-pet which,unlike the restof the object,was madeof hammeredsilver ratherthangold.The ritual im-portanceof shell trumpetsruns throughoutPeru-vian prehistory; today conchshellscontinueto beblown in partsof the Andean highlandsto markthe beginning and endof public ceremonies.ThemodernQuechuaterm pututu is applied to theseitems of ritual paraphernalia(cf. Tello 1937), but,in the earlycolonial Quechuadictionary of DiegoGonzálesde Holguin (1989: 192),theQuechuatermfor “la bozinade caracolgrande”(trumpetof largesnailshell,my translation)is givenashuayllaqquepa.Gastropodsof this size arenot nativeto the cold-water currentsoff thePeruvianshoreline;the mostcommonmaterialfor suchshell trumpetswastheStrombus,nativeto thewarmercurrentsoff whatisnow the Ecuadoriancoast(Paulsen1974).

Theblowingof theconch-shelltrumpetwasanimportantaspectof Chavínritual; it is representedin the sculpturedfrieze that decoratedthe north-westernsectionof the CircularPlazaof ChavíndeHuántar’s Old Temple (Lumbreras 1977). In thispair of twin sculptures(presumablymirroredby asecondseton the southwesternside of the plaza),two anthropomorphicfiguresare shownin proces-sionwith the shell trumpetsraisedto their lips. Inthe plazasculptures,the figuresarewearingelabo-rate ceremonialgarb, including crowns adorned

with jaguartails. The Strombusshellalso appearson the Tello Obelisk,one of the oldestcult objectsof theChavíndeHuántartemple.Thetranscendentimportanceof the conch-shelltrumpet to Chavínritual andsymbolismalsois mademanifestin oneof the two known representationsof the principaldeity from Chavín de Huántar’sNew Temple (J.Rowe 1967: fig. 21).In this sculpture,the anthropo-morphicsupernaturalholdsaStrombusshellin onehandandaSpondylusshellin the other.

Actual piecesof Strombusshellhavebeenre-coveredfrom the Galeriade los Caracoles,one ofthe subterraneanchamberand passagewaycom-plexesatChavínde Huántar(Lumbreras1977),andaStrombus-shelltrumpetdatingto theChavínhori-zon was found near the Chiclayo airport in theLambayequevalley (Fig. 16). More recently threeStrombus-shelltrumpetswereuncoveredin atombat Kuntur Wasi (Tello 1937, Onuki 1990). The ex-amplefrom Chiclayo has oneendsawedoff, indi-

Fig. 16 ChavinStrombus-shelltrumpet.Onanonymousloanto theBrooklyn Museum,L.52.1. Photographcourtesyof themuseum.

catingthat it couldbeusedasamusicalinstrument,and,like the Dalmauspoon,it has holesdrilled init so that it could besuspendedon a cord, perhapsaroundthe neck of the priest.The Chiclayo trum-pet’sexterior is carvedwith theimageof awalkinganthropomorphicfigure blowing the conch-shelltrumpet. A cascadeof serpentsissuesfrom thetrumpet,perhapsto representthe sacredcharacterof the soundsproduced.

B—440’s anthropomorphic figure is shownseatedwith kneesupraisedon top of a cylindricalstool.The stool is decoratedwith a delicateopen-workedguilloche design;this conventionsuggestsa stool madeof basketryperhapswith a woodenframe. The shaman’sstool wasan importantpieceof ceremonialparaphernaliain prehistoricsocietiesof lowland SouthAmerica(Zerries1985),and it waslikewise a sumptuary item reservedfor officialsand elite membersof Inca societyin late Andeanprehistory (e.g.,Menzel 1977: 10). The time depthof suchstoolsispoorly known,perhapsbecauseinmost areas(with the exceptionof someareasinlower Central America and northern SouthAmerica)theseitemsweremadeof woodandother

58

Chavín

Fig. 17 Enlargedview of theundersideof efñgyspoonB—440 showingthefaceon thelowerdisc. Photographby JosephMills.

organic materials rather than stone. The stoolshown on B—440 is the only representationof a

Chavínceremonialstoolof which I amaware.On theundersideof the stool or the top endof

the spoon,dependingon one’sperspective,thereisa finely tracedanthropomorphicfacewith bulgingeyes,broadnose,and ovoid mouth (Fig. 17). Thisfacewould havestareddirectlyat theindividual in-haling the snuff from the spoon,while the pelletsrattledwithin the hollow figure. RLB


This composite object is one of the earliestpieces of three-dimensionalsculpture in sheetmetalwe havefoundfromthecentralAndes.It maybe the earliest that combines gold and silver.25Madefrom twenty-two individually shapedpiecesof thin metal sheet, all assembledin a variety ofmetallurgicaljoins,it setsthestagefor a longtradi-tion of shapingmetalby working it andof creatingthree-dimensionalvolumesby solderingor weldingtogetherpre-shapedcomponents.

The metalworkerswho madethis spoonknewabout alloying and the different temperaturesatwhich certain metals and alloys melt relative toeachother.Theuseof metalswith differentmeltingpoints for the sequentialjoining of partsto form awhole is clearly at work hereandwasdeliberatelymanaged.Furthermore,metalsmithswere experi-mentingwith gold alloysasweld materialfor cer-tain typesof join. Weldingandsweatweldingwereemployed,thoughnot completelymastered.Thereis evidencethatalloygold, in theform of fine parti-cles,waspackedinto voidsat seamsthatneededtobe built up solid. When heated,the powdercoa-lescedand effectedthe join throughsintering andsweating.This dualuse of weld metal, to build upform and,simultaneouslyto join parts, is anothercharacteristicof centralAndeangoldsmithing.Thesametechniquehasbeenobservedon severalhol-low, gold miniaturesfrom the Ica valley madeof

manytiny piecesof sheet(Lechtman1988:figs. 30.2,30.4, 30.52—30.54).

SpoonB—440 is interestingand importantas aforerunnerto atraditionof Andeanmetalsculpturethat continued, largely unchanged,through theInca hegemonyThe Inca figurines in the Dumbar-

25Lothrop (1941: 260, p1. xx-c) illustratesand describesaChavin-stylepin with asphericalgoldheadandsilvershaftfroma woman’sgravenearChongoyape.Theanalysisofthe pin shaftis givenherein thetableof alloy compositions,p. 60.

59

Chavín

ton Oaks collection (B—474 and B—606, B—607, B—608,Pls.89,88) aremadeon the samegeneralprin-ciplesas thosealreadyutilized here.

AlloysThesheetgold of figureB—440is madeof a ternaryalloy of gold,silver, andcopper.The determinationwas made by x-ray fluorescenceanalysis (at theFreerandSacklerGalleries’Departmentof Conser-vation and Scientific Research)of an areaon thetorso.Thealloy probablyrepresentsnativegold,re-

trievedfrom placer depositsand melted down toform ingots largeenoughfor the manufactureofmetalsheet.CentralAndeanplacergold is typicallyhigh in silver andmay containminor amountsofcopper.Suchgoldisoftenreferredto as “electrum.”William Root’s analyses(1949: 11) of gold objectsfrom theIca valleyregionon thesouthcoastof Peruindicatethat many were madeof placergold with

an averagecompositionclose to that of B—440: 76percentgold, 20 percentsilver, and4 percentcop-per.He cites commentsby sixteenth-centurySpan-

PlacerGold from EcuadorandPeru

Locale

Au


Ag Cu

TumbesRiver valley (northwestPeru)ChinchipeRiver valley (northernPeru)UcayaliRiver valley (northernPeru)

72.958175

26.34 0.73remaindernotreportedremainderis silver

(Source:After Petersen1970)

Compositionof Gold Alloys andSilver Alloysin ChavínandChavin-styleObjects

Object Composition(WeightPercent)

Au

Figureonspoon 72.0

Conchshell 25.6

Roundgorgetwithboss(Dalmaugroup)

JanabarriuPhaseornament,excavatedatChavinde Huántar

Cruciformgorget(Dalmaugroup)

Noseornament,dangler(Dalmaugroup)

Noseornament,ring

(Dalmaugroup)

Pinshaft,Chongoyape

74.9

70.4

72.5

71.6

71.0

26.0

Keyn.d. not detectedMIT Analysisperformedat theMassachusettsInstituteof Technologywith electronmicrobeamprobe(see

Lechtman,appendixF, in Burger1984)Root Analysisperformedby William Rootby wetchemicalmethods(seeRoot’s table 14, in Lothrop 1951)

CollectionorAnalysisno.

B-440

B-441

MIT 3067

Root1345

Cu

3.6

Pb

n.d.

2.0

Root 1346

0.2

Root1347

Ag

24.5

72.2

22.4

26.3

23.7

24.2

22.0

74.0

2.7

2.9

3.8

4.2

Root—

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.

n.d.6.8

0.0 n.d.

60

Chavín

ish chroniclers who describethe stream gold ofPeruascontainingsilver or copperandrangingbe-

tween18 and20K, or 75 to 83 percentgold (Root1949:11).GeorgPetersen(1970:49 andtable3) com-

piled chemical analysesof placer golds retrievedfrom rivers in southernEcuador,northwestPeru,andnorthernPeru.Theyaresimilar to thecomposi-tions of the Chavínobjectstabulatedhere.

The analytical tableof objectchemistries(bot-tom, page60) comparesthe compositionof B—440with thecompositionof aJanabarriuPhasegold or-nament(MIT 3067) excavatedby Burgerat Chavínde Huántar (Burger 1984) and compositionsofthosegoldobjects,for whichanalysesareavailable,that Burgerdescribesasbelongingoriginally to theDalmaugroup andprobablyuncoveredat Chavín

de Huántar;one of theseis the DumbartonOaksgorget B—441. The othersare a cruciform gorget(Root 1345) and severalparts of a noseornament(Root 1346,1347).Theuniformity in alloy composi-tion amongthe five objectsis striking. Theycouldhavebeenmade from the samebatch or similarbatchesof metal from acommonsource.

The compositionsof ten Chavin-stylegold andsilver objectsexcavatedatKuntur Wasi(Cajamarca)havebeendeterminedin Japanby the excavatorsandtheir colleagues(Hirao et al. 1992;Kato 1993).Semi-quantitativex-ray fluorescencemethodsgavethe following results.

Gold Alloys andSilverAlloysin ObjectsExcavatedat Kuntur Wasi

TombNo. Object

nants.The coppercontentis relatedto the concen-tration of silver in the alloys, andthereseemto betwo systematicrelationshipsin the coppercontent,leadingthe analyststo suggestthat thereprobablyweremorethantwo sourcesof silver supply(Hiraoet al. 1992:30). Comparingthe Kuntur Wasi analy-ses with the compositionsdetermined for theDumbarton Oaks Chavín objects and others re-portedin the tableon page60, it seemsclearthatsomeof theKuntur Wasialloysweremadeby melt-ing togethergold and silver; their silver contents(e.g., 35—37 percent) appearsignificantly higherthan the concentrationsfound in north Peruviangold placer deposits,whose silver contenthoversaround25 percent.Otherobjectsfrom the KunturWasitombshavecompositionscloseto thoseof the

DumbartonOaksandDalmauitems.On thewhole,the Kuntur Wasi objectsexhibit a much broaderrangeof alloy compositionsthando theChavínandChavin-style artifacts reported in the previoustable.

The silver sheetused for the conch shell ofB—440 is a ternaryalloy of silver, gold,andcopper.It is anintentionalalloy probablymadeby meltingtogethermetallic silver andnativegold.Thiswouldaccountfor the high concentrationof gold in thealloy andfor thepresenceof somelead,introducedwith thesilver. Theproportionof silver to gold en-suresasilver-coloredmetal. For purposesof com-parison,theChavínandChavin-styletableincludesRoot’s analysis(in Lothrop 1951) of a pin from thenorth coastsiteof Chongoyape,the only otherob-ject of possibleChavínstylemadeof goldandsilverparts.The sphericalpin headis gold; the shaftap-pearsto be silver in color. The compositionof thesilver-looking shaftis extremelycloseto thatof the

85 15 B—440 silver conchshell. Altering the colorsof gold91 9 andsilver throughalloyingwasawidespreadprac-

tice of Chavínmetal technologyAnother impres-sive exampleof its use is treatedin the technicaldiscussionof B—442(P1. 5).


Au Ag

1 Gold crown1 Smallgold sheet

2 Gold crown2 Plaque2 Pectoral2 Pectoral

3 Two earrings

4 Pendant4 Pendantof gold and

silver

63 3773 2776 2479 21

Rattle65 35 The pellets that rattle inside the figure must be63 37 quite small and madeof a low-density material.

Theydo notappearonthe x-radiographsof theob-ject (seeFig.18).

89 1190 1030 70

Theinvestigatorsreportthatthesegold-silveralloyscontain small amountsof copper and sometimesiron; no other elementswere found as contami-

SuspensionTwo circularholeslocatedon thebackof thefigure,betweenthe shoulders,servedto suspendit. Thereis no indicationof thekind of materialusedfor thesuspendingcord.The holeswerepunchedfrom the

61

Chavín

Fig. 18 X-radiographof effigy spoonB—440. The seamsontheheadandtorsoarevisible. X-radiographby PaulJett.

outersurfacethrough to the hollow interior. Theyweremadebeforethe torso wasassembled,facili-tating removalof all burr aroundthe exterior rimand mostof the burr on the interior. Distancebe-tweenholes: ~ 0.75 cm; hole diameter:0.014cm.

Shapingand DecoratingthePartsTheobject is anassemblyof twenty-twoindividualparts.Theseare indicatedin the diagramof Figure19.

Head:face,backof head,topknot, two earsTorso: front,backLegs: left andright side

Feet:onefor eachlegArms: left andright sideSpoon:scoopandcylinderbody;two cylinder

endsConchshell: left andright side

The overall form of the largerpieces(e.g., thefront andback of theheadand front andbackofthe torso) may havebeenachievedby hammering

and raising over an anvil, but anatomicaldetails(eyes,nose,mouth,fingernails,andtoenails)andalldecorativefeatures(the harpyeagleon thefigure’sback, the faceon the undersideof the spoon,andthe guilloche patternon the spooncylinder) wererenderedby working the metal with tracingtools,primarily from the front,on abedof resilientmate-rial. All suchtracing,whetherto establishvolumet-ric form,suchas the noseor mouth,or to providelinear detail, suchas locks of hair, wascarriedouton the appropriatepart before it was joined to aneighbor.Inside the sunkeneyes,thereis a tracedcrosshatchpatternon the eyeballs.The sametoolusedto detail the earsleft its mark and is identifi-ablein the tracedoutline of the raptorialbird onthefigure’s back.The slightly proudguillochemotifon the cylinderof thespoonwaslaid outandraisedfrom the backwhenthe cylinderwasstill flat (seeFig. 19); the holeswerepunchedat the sametime,from back to front, and the burrs removedlater.Substantialtoolingof theguilloche appearsto haverefined its form after the cylinderwasclosed.Fig-ure 17 showsthefacetracedon thedisc thatclosesthe baseof the cylinder. The nosemay havebeenraisedslightly from the back of the disc,but thetracingwasaccomplishedfrom the front. The eyepupils areholespunchedthroughfrom the backofthe sheet;burrsremain.

The scoop portion of the spoon was partlyformed and undoubtedlyfinished by sinking themetal into aresilientbacking;the prominentham-mer facetson the concavesurfaceindicatesuchaprocedureandprovide surfacetexture.This samekind of facetedsurface,though less pronounced,occurson the front torso of the figure. The reartorso, like the convexsurfaceof the spoon,is morehighly burnished,certainlyto providean adequategroundfor the tracedeaglemotif; the buttocksre-tain somefaceting.

The generaltreatmentof the metal surfacesonthis object is similar in quality to the surfacetreat-ment of the disc with central boss, B—441 (P1. 4).Both juxtaposetexturedand smoothareas.These

62

Chavín

I~--~~~

Fig. 19 Schematicdrawingof effigy spoonB—440’sconstruction:heavylinesoutlineindividual, shapedparts;dashedlinesindicatejoin locations.The diagramof thespoonshowsstagesin its forming andassembly.Drawingby ElizabethWahle.

objects differ markedly from gorget B—442 andplaqueB—604 (Pls.5, 1), for example,which empha-sizehighly burnishedandpolishedmetalfields.

Joining thePartsThe seamsand joins referredto in this discussion

arediagrammedin Figure 19;heavylinesrepresentthebordersof anelement(e.g.,the reartorsoor theface), dashedlines locate joins betweenelements.All joins aremetallurgical.

The FigureHead. The front and back of the head abut

along their commonperimeter;thereis no overlap

at the seam.Thejoin wasachievedby sweatweld-ing theseoppositeedges.X-radiographsof the fig-ure (Fig. 18) reveal that the weld is intermittent

alongtheseam;thejoin istackedatsiteswheresur-facemetal sweated,ran into the seam,and solidi-fied there.Long stretchesof thejoin areinvisible;inthe finishing operations,metal from adjacentsur-faceswaspushedoveronto thejoin andburnishedthere.Patchesof seamnot coveredin this mannerexhibit a oncemolten,now dendriticstructure.

Torso. The lateral torso seamsareso carefullyfinishedthat the joining procedureis no longerap-parent. X-radiographsindicate clearly that frontandbacktorsoabutandareweldedtogether,prob-

63

Chavín

ably by a sweatweld. Thereis no evidenceof anyaddedweldmaterialat thejoin, eitheron thefigureitself or in the radiograph,but the radiographre-cordstiny sphericalporesalongthejoin whichwereoncegasbubblesin the moltenmetal sweatedintothe seam.This join is more continuous,thus stur-dier, than the sweatweld on the head.At the baseof the figure, in the buttock area,the back of thetorso fits insidethe front, in an overlapseam,butthe nature of the join is obscuredby the tight

crowdingof anatomyin that region.Arms. The two parts of eacharm appearto

havebeenjoined by the techniqueusedfor the head

andtorso.Thereis noevidenceof solderor of weldmetal having beenaddedat the seams.It furtherappearsthat the inner arm, closestto the torso, isfitted slightly insidetheouterarm,forming abarelyoverlappingseam.Somesectionsof thejoin exhibita slight differencein level on eitherside,aresultofthe overlap configuration and of the final bur-nishing of metalfrom onesurfaceoverandonto theother.Burnishinghashiddenlargeportionsof thesejoins, but evidence of once-moltenmetal at theseamsoccurson botharms.Thelengthof join at theundersideof thearmsisnotwell finished,probablybecauseit could notbe seen.

Legs. Theseamsformedalongthe midplaneofeachleg exhibit a somewhatdifferent aspectfromthoseof thehead,torso,andarms,althoughthelegjoins areweldsandmay be sweatwelds. Oppositeedgesof thehalvesof eachleg meetin abutt seam.Thebackof thelower legsandthe undersideof the

thighs experiencedoverheatingand an excessofmetal flow. This entirezoneappearsto havebeenheated locally to producesweating and welding.The joins, normallyhiddenfrom view, wereleft asmade,with no furthersurfacefinishing.

In contrast,theseamalongtheupperthigh thatcontinuesdownthefront of thelower leg (betweenkneeand ankle) is finished with great care. Thelower-legseamsexhibit featuresnot apparentelse-whereon thefigure: excessmetal thatstandsproudof the seam,on eitherside or on both sidesof thejoin. The generalconfigurationat thejoin is shownin Figure 19a.This excessmetal takesthe form of extremelythinstripsof gold that run parallelto the seamandarepresseddown ontoone or both seamedges.Theymay representthin ribbons of weld metal intro-ducedat the seam,or they may be long burrs ofmetal deliberately raised by abrading the freeedges,then presseddown onto their respective

Plan

Section

Join

i2~~~-’~~.

Join

—~~/~~5~--

ZI:i ProudMetal

Fig. 19a Diagramof thelower-legseamsof efñgyspoonB—440 showingtheproudmetal.Drawingby ElizabethWahle.

edge.In eithercase,thesestrips,madeof the samealloy as theleg metal,servedasweld filler materialat the seambetweenthe two abuttingedges.Dur-ing localheatingof the seam,theextremethinnessof these featuresrelative to the leg metal wouldcausethemto heatquickly to sweator melt andtorun into the seambefore the leg metal reachedsweattemperature.Removalof the heatsourceal-lowed this moltenmaterialto solidify effectingthejoin.

Sectionsthroughtheselower-leg joins (seeFig.19a)showtheir characteristicfeatures:proudmetalthattravelsalongsidetheseamon oneor bothsides,andaslight depressionat the line of thejoin, filledwith once-moltenmetalthat shrankupon freezing.Carefulburnishingof thesejoins tendedto spreadthe proud metal laterally giving the joins a

broaderappearance.Thistechniqueis extremelysophisticated.It has

beendocumented,in slightly different form, on a

setof goldjaguarsfrom theLambayequevalley thatdateto the endof the Early IntermediatePeriodorthe beginning of the Middle Horizon (Lechtman,Parsons,and Young 1975; Lechtman 1988). Theprinciple is the same,but the spoonfigure presents

a much earlierexample.

The SpoonFigure 19 showsthe constructionof the spoon.

Threejoins closeandsecurethecylindricalportion:

64

Chavín

at thevertical seam,formedby the two short sidesof the rectangularsheet,and along the circumfer-enceof the upper and lower discs.All threejoinswere accomplishedby sweatwelding. They aresofinely renderedthatdetailsof their constructionarevisibleonly on anx-radiograph,whereintermittenttacking and spherical pores characterize thesweatedjoin. The vertical seamis an overlap;theupperdiscrestson topof theopencylinder,but thecircumferentialjoin is hiddenby carefulburnishingof the seam;the lower disc fits up inside the baseof the cylinder,flush with theedgeplane.

TheConchShellThe fragile sheet-silvershell is brokenandhas

beenreinforced to preserveits form. This moderninterventionhasmadeit difficult to determinehowthetwo halvesof theshellmay havebeenjoined orif they wereever joined (seeFig. 18). It is possiblethat one side was joined to the figure’s left handandthe otherside to the right hand.Thereis goodevidencethat the middlefinger of the properrighthandwassolderedto thetopof onehalfof theshellwith what appearsto be silver solder.But the de-tails of thearticulationof the shellwith respecttoits own integrity asan independentitem andwithrespectto the figure’s handsarenow obscured.

All thejoins on the constituentpartsof the fig-ureandon thespoonareweldedjoins,andmostifnot all are sweatwelds. Those on the spoonaremore expertlydone than thoseon the figure. Thesweatweld techniquemaintainsat the seamthemetal color of the adjacent surfaces.No addedmetal is introducedat theseam.

AssemblingtheWholeIn assemblingthepartsof thefigure and in joiningthe figure andspoon,metal wasaddedat the joinsites. Many of the joins exhibit similarcharacteris-tics: the addedmetalis closeto the colorof the ele-ments being joined; the added metal is oftenspongyor granularin appearanceand may havebeenintroducedin theform of tiny bits,resemblinga coarsepowder;thematerialatthe join sinteredormelted partially but rarely reacheda temperatureat which it ran freely along the join. In someloca-tionsthe addedmetalappearsto havebeenpackedinto recessesin orderto build up the form, increasethe surfaceareaoverwhich bondingcould occur,andstrengthenthemetallurgicaljoin. Thecomposi-tion of the addedmetal has not beendetermined.

It may be weld metal,but it is morelikely a gold

alloy solder whose melting point is somewhatlower thanthatof the gold alloy sheet.

TheJoinsEar to head. Added metal was introducedpri-

marily behind eachear; partial melting and sin-

tering occurred; the join has a spongy granularappearance;the configurationof addedmetal sug-gestscompletemelting wasneverintended.

Topknotto head. X-radiographyrevealsthe top-knotasahollow, independentelementjoined to thehead; the join appearsgranular and as if metalreacheda pastyconsistencyduring heating.

Headto torso. Anatomically the figure has noneck. The headis attacheddirectly to the torso;only the addedjoining materialmakesa transitionbetweenthem. Both head and torso are closedforms; theuppertorso hasneitherholenor collar toseatthe head.At two locationsat the backof thefigure,metal addedat theseammeltedandflowedto makethejoin. Elsewhere,the join is discontinu-ous;small patchesof addedmetal appearto havemelted and solidified locally At the front of thefigure, themetalat thejoin is granularandsintered.

Heretheappearanceis of coarsemetalpowderhav-ing beenpackedinto the juncture betweenheadand chest,in part to build up thepronouncedde-clivity Thematerialwasheateduntil sinteringandsomeincipient melting occurred.

As a resultof this variety of joining events,thejuncturebetweenheadandtorsois discontinuous,bumpyand irregular.The addedmetal mayhaveameltingpoint somewhatlowerthanthatof the goldsheet. On the other hand,it may be of the samecompositionas the sheet,which might explainwhyit wasintroducedin particleform, to facilitatesin-tering and somesweating,effectingthe join with-outbringing themetal sheetto its melting point.

Armsand legsto torso. Thefront andbacktorsoparts shownin Figure 19 indicatethe mechanismby which partialsocketswerecreatedto accommo-date the upperarm andupper thighprior to theirarticulationwith the torso.The reartorso providesfour short extensions,almostlike capsleeves,thatprotrudetoward the front at shoulderheight andthigh level. With the limb in place,this capor exte-rior socketrim is presseddowntohug thelimb me-

chanically maintaining its position. On the fronttorso,the gentlycurvedchestandabdomenbendinabruptlyat the socketsto form flat, interior rimlikesurfacesthat completethesocketchannel.Both in-teriorandexteriorsocketrimsprovidelargesurface

65

Chavín

Stage Assembly

1 Joiningof like partsmadeofthesamemetal/alloy

JoinType

Sweatweld

Temperature

T1: surfacemeltingtemperatureof allparts

2 Joining togetherofpreviouslysweat-weldedelements,all madeof thesamemetal/alloy

Weld or solder;sinteringandscantliquidformationofaddedmaterial

T2: sinteringorsweatingtemperatureof theweld/soldermaterialT2 < T1

3 Joiningof two completeforms,eachwith sweat-weldedandweldedorsolderedjoins; bothmadeofthesamemetal/alloy

areasof potentialcontactwith thelimbs overwhichmetallurgicalbondingcanoccur.

A rangeof join types,similar to thevarietyex-hibited at the neck, characterizesthe socketjoins.Metal that appearsto have been introduced ascoarsebits waspackedinto thefree spacebetweena limb andits interior socketrim, In the caseof thethighs,this materialwasalsousedto build up andfill out the form on the exterior, at the anglebe-tweenthigh andtorso. Whenheated,the packingmay havesweated,sintered,andremainedgranu-lar, or partially meltedandrun alongthe seam.Allthreestagesin the history of the alloy’s behaviorunderincreasinglyelevatedtemperaturearevisibleat the sockets.Thesejoins are rough and evenshabby but they are strong. Where the exteriorsocketrim metalpressescloseupona limb surface,sweatingof eitheror bothsurfacesoften producedabond.Noneof thesocketjoinson anyof thelimbsis finished with the care common to the sweat-weldedjoins. Surfacesthatcould notbe seenwereleft as joined.

Feet to legs. Eachfoot is shapedfrom a singlepiece of metal sheet.A hole cut in the ankle areaaccommodatesthe end of the leg, anda shortrimraisedaroundthe hole providessomemechanicalfit as well as increasedsurfacearea for bonding.Metal addedaroundthe rim circumferencemelted

Solder T3: meltingtemperatureof thesolderT3 <T2

and ranalong the seam.Thesejoins appearto bewelds.

Figure to spoon. The figure touchesthe uppercirculardiscof thecylinderat threesites,andit wassolderedat all three:the buttocksandthe heelsofbothfeet.Only thejoin betweenthe properleft footandthecylinder remainsintact.Thesolderappearsto be silver alloyedwith a smallamountof copper;it maycontainsomegold. It wasappliedin theformof small but ratherthick, roughly circular pallions,placed betweenthe figure and the cylinder, thenheatedin situ. The intact pallion haslargelymain-tained its shape,indicating that the heatappliedcausedjust enoughmelting to makethe bond.

DiscussionIt appearsthat the threestagesin theassembly

of thisobjectrequiredjoiningproceduresandmate-rials chosenfor their effectivenessat successivelylower temperatures(see chart above).Without ananalysisof the metaladdedat anatomicaljoints onthe figure,wecannotbe certainaboutthedegreetowhich the compositionsof weld metalsor solderswerecontrolled,but the physical stateof the joinsprovidesenoughevidenceaboutthe heatingprop-ertiesof thesematerialssothatwecanobservetheirselectiveuse.HL

66

GORGET

Plate4Chavin, probablyChavínde Huántar,400—200B.C.

Gold. Diam. 12.3 cm; D. 2.5cm; W. 56.2 gB—441

History:Saidto havebeenfound with effigy spoonB—440in ChavíndeHuántar;formerlyin the collectionof JuanDalmau(of Trujillo)who acquiredit before1941,andthen in the collectionof JosephBrummer;purchasedby RobertBliss from ErnestBrummer,1947

Exhibition: AncientArtsofthe Andes,Museumof ModernArt, 1954;25 CenturiesofPeruvianArt, 700 BC—1800AD,PeabodyMuseum,HarvardUniversity andBostonMuseumof FineArts, 1961;GodswithFangs,Museumof Primitive Art, 1962; IndigenousArt oftheAmericas,

NationalGalleryof Art, 1948—62;DumbartonOaks,1963—

67

Plate4

Chavín

Bibliography: LarcoHoyle 1941:141, fig. 204;Kelemen1943:252—253,p1. 207a;Lothrop 1951:226—240;Harnoncourt1955:fig. 3;

Bliss 1957:no.301; Sawyer1961:279—281;J. Rowe 1962:p1. 22; Benson1963:348; Bushnell1965: 153—154;Emmerich1965: fig. 7; Benson1972: figs. 1—2; LavalléeandLumbreras1985:68;Alva 1992:59, lam.

46;Burger 1992a:202,fig. 221

B—441 is probablythebestknown of the seventeenpiecesfrom Chavínde Huántaracquiredby JuanDalmau.It is a small circular objectof hammeredgold only 12.3 cm in diameter,with a shallowconvex-curvedcenterand a broad,flat edge.Thecenterof B—441 is decoratedwith a frontal, jawlessfangedface,andtheouterborderis decoratedwithan angularguilloche.Two holeswerepunchedinthe uppersectionof the artifact sothat it couldbesuspended,presumablyto wear it as a breastplate

or gorget. This dual perforation is typical of theChavínhorizonanddirectlyparallelsthe treatmentof B—440(P1. 3).The objecthasastrongreddishcastexceptin thoseplacesthathavebeenrepolishedinrecent times. Some scholars (Lothrop 1951) as-sumedthat this color wasdue to remnantsof redpaint, but recentanalysesof the redmaterialiden-tify it as a naturalcorrosionproductof high-silver,gold-silveralloys (see HeatherLechtman’sTechni-calDescription).

In contrast to many other gold objects, thispiece hasno direct analoguein the sculpturesofChavínde Huántar,and its inspirationmay lie intextiles.The low-relief treatmentof the decorationandits intagliobordersis, of course,reminiscentofChavínstonecarving,but the circularformatof theobject,including its border designand its centralmotif, is aliento thestonecarving,in which a rect-angularformatis the rule. Similarly thestonecarv-ers did not use the guilloche as a border,and thedisembodiedfanged face never appearedas thecentral or principal representation.On the otherhand,both the guilloche and the agnathicfangedface are basic secondaryelementsin the classicChavínstone-carvingrepertoire.

The guilloche has a long history in the art ofChavíndeHuántar.Themaincult objectof the OldTemple,known as the Lanz6n,had a long verticalguilloche running down its back from its upper-mostsection,set into the rafters,to its lowermostsection,lodgedin the floor. Thisguilloche seemstovisuallyunderscoretheroleof theLanz6nasanaxismundi, and it appearsas a rope connectingtheworld abovewith the underworld. On the samesculpture,threeothersmallerverticalguillochesap-

68

pear on the lower sectionof the Lanz6n,which,along with the main guilloche, seemto mark fourcardinaldirections,perhapscorrespondingto acos-mogramof the world or universein its horizontaldimension(Burger 1992a).Guillochesalsoareusedto representthe braidedhairof mythical figuresorpriestsof theOld Templeandof theprincipaldeityin the New Temple (J. Rowe 1967: fig. 21; cf. Tello1960: fig. 60). In thesecasesthe guillochesend insnakeheads.

The agnathicface in the center of B—441 ismerelya version of the agnathicfrontal facesthatappearfrequently on the stonesculpturesasken-nings in the representationof eagles,cayman,andthe principal deity (J. Rowe 1967:figs. 8, 10, 18, 19).Thus,thefrontalagnathicfacemaybeageneralized

indication of a figure’s sacredcharacter.Its treat-menton B—441conformsto thedictatesof anatropicorganizationdiscussedpreviously What sets theiconographyof this pieceapartis not the guillocheor agnathicfaceperse,but that theyareusedinde-pendently rather than as secondaryadjuncts tootherthemes.

Nevertheless, this combination of the twothemesappearson other portablemedia,particu-larly on potteryandtextiles.Potterybowlsusuallyhavea circularformat, andthereis a longtraditionof decoratingtheirexterior or interior with acontin-uousguilloche.On thecentralcoast,thisdatesbackto pre-Chavintimesat sitessuchas Anc6n; on thesouthcoast,the guilloche continuedto be usedasa circumferentialbandon the Paracas-styleceram-ics of the EarlyHorizon. In a similarvein, versionsof the agnathicfacedepictedon the gorget appearas principal themeson the chambersof Chavin-stylebottles, many of which havebeenfound incoastalcemeteries(e.g.,J. Rowe 1971:115,fig. 21).

Therealsoarecloseparallelsbetweenthe icon-

ographyof thisgorgetandsomeof theChavin-styletextiles recoveredat Carhuaon the Paracaspenin-sula.Many of the paintedcotton textilesfrom this

site usea circularformat in the decoration,and,insomeinstances,a disembodiedfrontal fangedfaceis shownwithin acircularcartouche(Cordy-Collinsn.d.b: figs. 72a, 72b; Wallace1991: figs. 3.17, 3.21).

Chavín

In at leastone of the textiles,aguillochebandwaspaintedon acloth to definea circulardesignregis-ter in a mannerdirectly parallelingits use on theouterbandof the gorget (Cordy-Collinsn.d.b:fig.74;Wallace1991: fig. 3.16).

The L-shapedlateral canineson the centralface, therectilinearcornersof themouthof thecen-tral figure, the conflationof the eyesandmouth ofserpents(with the completeomissionof the ser-pent’snose),andthe angularityof the guilloche allindicate that B—441 was madelate in the relativechronologyof Chavínart, perhapslate PhaseD orPhaseER In any case,this would suggestthat theChavínde Huántargold wasproducedduring theJanabarriuPhasesometimeafter constructionbe-ganon theNew Temple.It is likely thatB—440 (P1.3) and the other gold objects said to havebeenfound at Chavínde Huántar,likewise, dateto theJanabarriuPhaseandthat they like the gold fromthe tombs at Chongoyape,were producedduringthe Chavínhorizon.RLB


AlloyandColorThe compositionof the goldin this sheet-metaldiscwas determinedby x-ray fluorescenceanalysis(attheFreerandSacklerGalleries’Departmentof Con-servationand Scientific Research)of an area onthe back:


Au Ag Cu74.9 22.4 2.7

This compareswell with the compositionsof ob-jectsB—440, B—604, andB—605 (Pls. 3, 1, 2),andwithWilliam Root’sanalyses(in Lothrop 1951:238)of agroupof Chavin-stylesheet-goldobjects,includinga plaqueor gorget andparts of a noseornament(seecompositiontablefor ChavínandChavin-styleobjectsin the technicaldiscussionof B—440, P1. 3).

At the timeof manufacture,the discpresentedbrightgoldensurfacesat front andback,similar tothoseof B—442(P1. 5).Theredfilm presentlydistrib-uted unevenlyover thesesurfacesformed duringthedepositionalhistoryof theobject.Thismaterial,asilver-goldsulfide, is anaturally occurringcorro-sionproductknownto form,undercertainenviron-mental circumstances,on gold alloy objectscon-taining high concentrationsof silver. DeborahSchorsch,26who analyzedthe mineral on the disc

26DeborahSchorschis associateconservatorat theSherman

(in September1992),first identifiedthiskind of cor-rosionon ancientEgyptiangoldobjects(FrantzandSchorsch1990). She removedtiny samplesof theredmaterialfrom B—441 at locationswheretheac-cumulationsarethickest,thedepressedareas.X-raydiffraction analysiswith a Debye-Scherrercameradeterminedthemineraltype,identifiedin compari-son with the powder diffraction standard forAgAuS (JCPDS19—1146). The levels of silver andsulfur in thematerialweremeasuredby energydis-persivespectrometrywith a scanningelectronmi-croscope.27

The contrastingredandgold color patternonthe disc is a result of moderncleaningprocedures.It is likely that,whenfound,theentirediscwascov-ered with the sulfide film—lighter accumulations

on the raisedareas,thicker layers in the depres-sions. On the front, mechanicalcleaningand pol-ishingof only the raisedareashaveremovedmuchof the redfilm from thesesurfaces,leavingthedarkreddepressionsundisturbed.Attemptsto cleanthemineral from thesmooth,concavewalls at the backof the bosswereonly partially successful;the sur-faceabrasionmarksleft by this actionareevident.Thus,thecontrastingcolorzonesof thediscareen-tirely artificial, the result of naturalcorrosionphe-nomenaandaselectivecleaningprocedure.

FabricationLike disc B—442 (P1. 5), this objectwasraisedfroma flat sheetof gold,hammeringand stretchingthemetal from the front overananvil, as if to producea flat-bottombowl. Unlike B—442, the facetsformedby individual hammerblows wereleft to be seenon theslopingconvexfrontwalls of theboss.In this

respect,disc B—441 is quite different from discB—442 andplaqueB—604,whosesurfaceswerecare-fully planishedandburnishedto removeall traces

of tool marks. It is much closer in treatmenttospoonB—440 (P1. 3),whichalsoretainshammerfac-ets, especiallyon its scoopportion. The wide rimof the disc washammeredflat and its perimetertruedafter the bosswas complete.Thicknessmea-surementsmadeat locationsalong therim perime-

Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation,MetropolitanMu-seumofArt, NewYork City.

27William Root, as reportedby Lothrop, suggestedthat... inasmuchassomeof thesespecimens[theChavin-stylegold

alloy objectsheanalyzed]containa considerableamountof sil-ver,theredcoatingmaybetheresultof corrosionof thatmetal”(Lothrop1951:229).

69

Chavín

ter give an averagevalueof 0.051cm; the metal isquiteuniform in thicknessall alongthis edge.

The motif that fills the circular, barely convexcenter of the bosswas achievedby working themetal from the front to definethedesign,followedby refinementof its contoursfrom the back. Finetracingtools pressedthe gold sheetdown into abed of resilient material, sinking the narrow out-lines of the design below the level of the sur-roundingmetal.This createda field of flat, slightlyproud areas (golden) with sunkenborders(nowred). The metal was then worked from the backwith narrow tracing tools, hammered lightly

aroundtheborders(raisedat theback),to createanabruptchangeof planebetweenborderandneigh-boring flat field. The tool strokesoutlining the bor-dersare visible. Thesechangesof plane arenear

orthogonalat theback,sothat thewalls of eachde-signelementaresteep.Thisprovidesthemotif with

a crisp appearanceat the front, as if it had beencarved.Certaindetails,suchas the serpents’eyes,are raisedfrom theback.

Theprecise,crispappearanceof thecentralmo-tif on thebossof this disc is substantiallydifferentfrom the smooth, rounded contoursand gentlechangesof planecharacteristicof the guillochede-signof discB—442 (P1. 5) andthefigure depictedon

plaqueB—604 (P1. 1). The carvedquality is not aninescapableconsequenceof sinkingmetal from thefront; portionsof the B—604 figure (P1. 1) wereexe-cutedin thatwayandall thelow relief on theB—605feline(P1. 2) wasachievedfrom thefront. Thetech-nique waschosenandenhancedto producethede-siredeffect.

The guilloche motif on the flat rim is raisedfrom the back. Two concentriclines on the front,oneencirclingthebaseof theboss,the otherseveralmillimeters in from the perimeterof the disc,out-line the bandavailablefor the motif. Thestrokesofthe tracing tool were renderedto the back of the

sheet, delimiting the zone. The borders of eachraisedelementof the designwere further definedwith tracingtools, hammeredfrom the front. Aswith the bossmotif, sharpnessandclarity of junc-

turesbetweenwalls and their surroundwereim-portantandcontributedto the crispquality of thedesign. The guilloche was renderedfree hand,working the metalon abedof resilientmaterial.

Two holes,punchedfrom the rearto the front,arelocated2.55cm aparton thebosswall abovethecentral motif. Most of the rim burr has beenre-moved.Thoughmisshapen,the holesare roughlycircular, measuring0.020and 0.024 cm in diame-ter. HL

70

HUARMEY GORGET

PlateSChavin,Maltina nearHuarmey400—200B.C.

Deliberatealloy of gold, silver,andcopper.Diam. 20.8cm; D. 2.9cm;W. 162.5gB—442

History:Said to havebeenfound on the hilltop knownasMaltina,eastof the PanAmericanhighwaynorthof Huarmey;purchasedbyRobertBliss from Walramvon Schoeler,1949

Exhibition: IndigenousArt oftheAmericas,NationalGallery of Art,1949—62;DumbartonOaks,198S—

Bibliography:Lothrop 19S1:227;Bliss 19S7:no. 302;Benson1963:no.349;Alva 1992:58, lams.44,4S

Prior to the 1989 Universityof Tokyo discoveriesatKuntur Wasi in the Jequetepequedrainage(Onuki1990),all majordiscoveriesof Chavíngoldhadbeenmade by huaqueros (illegal looters). Besides thelooted materialssaid to comefrom Chongoyapeinthe Lambayequedrainageandat Chavínde Huán-tar in the Mosna drainage,therewas a third im-

portant find madeon a hilltop known locally asMaltina, a few miles north of Huarmey(Bennett1932: 24; Goddard1921: 447). This discoverywasmadearound1919by anold huaqueronamedSeñorMoreno.He is said to havelearnedof the locationof the treasurefrom the spirits throughthe tech-niqueof “automaticwriting.” While diggingfor the

PlateS

71

Chavín

Fig. 20 Oneof thebi-color gold Chavinbreastplatesfrom theMaltina cache.AmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory,no.41 .0/3706.Photographcourtesyof themuseum.

promisedriches,Morenoaccidentallyburnt off thefog vegetationfrom the side of a hill and noticedgold sticking out of the sand on the side of theridge. Therewas no evidenceof a burial or otherassociatedfeatures,and it is not clearwhethertheobjects were found in situ or whether they haderodedfrom their original intermentin the hill.

The Maltina cacheconsistedof at leasttwenty-six gold objects.In theoriginal discoverythe loot-ers found ten or elevengorgets,sevenbreastplates(Fig. 20), six plumes,and two stirrup-spoutedbot-tles.ApparentlyMorenomelteddownatleastthreeof theplumesandthreeof thebreastplatesfor theirmetallic value,andotherobjectsmayhavebeendis-

persedwithout record.Two yearslater,Pliny God-dard,the curatorof ethnologyat theAmericanMu-

seumof NaturalHistory in NewYork, visited thesupposedlocationof Moreno’sdiscoveryandwaspresentwhenan additional matchinggorget wasuncovered.The gorgetin the DumbartonOakscol-lection may be the final one recoveredfrom thespot.At thepresenttime,eightof thegorgetsalongwith the other gold artifactsarepart of theAmeri-canMuseumof NaturalHistory collection;one ofthe gorgetsis at theUniversityMuseumof theUni-versity of Pennsylvania;and one is in the MuseoLarco Herrerain Lima.

Judging from the style and technology ofB—442, it canbedatedto themid-EarlyHorizon(ca.400 B.C.), andcanbe seenas relatedto the Chavínde Huántargorgetalreadydescribed(B—441, P1. 4).B—442 hastwo holespunchedin it (asdo the otherHuarmey gorgets),presumablysothat it could be

hung aroundthe neckasa largependantor chestornament.It will be recalled that the Chavín deHuántargorgethadsimilar perforations.Althoughthereissomedifferencein the sizeof thegorgets,allwere decoratedwith an angularguilloche pattern

resemblingthe samepatternthatadornedthebor-der of the Chavín de Huántar gorget. Like the

Chavínde Huántargorget,it has a convex-curvedbody with abroad,flattenedshelflike rim. Theguil-locheson the Huarmeygorgetsdiffer from thosefromChavíndeHuántarin beingmorestylizedandrepresentingabraid with aZ-twist ratherthananS-twist.Exceptfor the guilloche that rings the cir-cumference,B—442 and other Huarmey gorgetswere left undecorated.

Thesimilarity in theform,size,technologydec-oration, and apparentfunction of the Huarmeygorgetsto the Chavin-stylegorgetfrom ChavíndeHuántardiscussedabove(B—441,P1.4)hasled mostscholarsto identify Huarmeygold as anotherex-ampleof Chavínmetallurgyproducedduring theEarly Horizon(e.g.,Lothrop1951;Emmerich1965).In the 1940s,somespecialists,suchasPalKelemen(1943)andWendellBennett(1946: p1. 50), believedthat theypertainedto theChimuculture,but subse-quentresearchhasshowntherarity of theguillochedesignin post-Chavintimes. Moreover,the type ofgorgetsin the Huarmey lot haveno known ana-logue in later cultures; the Early Horizon dateofthe Huarmeygorgetsnow seemscompelling.Theguilloche on B—442 has small raisedcircles in itsinterstices.If the guilloche at its lowest level repre-

sentscordageor rope, thesecould correspondtostrandsin the coreor backgroundof the cordage.Similar intersticial dots are shown in some guil-locheson the Chavin-stylepainted textiles fromCarhua(Wallace1991: fig. 3.28).

The other piecesfrom the Maltina lot sharefewer features with other known examples ofChavíngold, andsomescholarssuggestthat thesemay be later in date. If so, the gorgetsmay havebeenheirlooms keptfrom severalcenturiesearlier(Emmerich1965: 6). Although it remainsan openquestionwhetherthe other piecesfrom Huarmeywereproducedat the sametimeas the gorgets,theargumentsraisedagainsttheir contemporaneityaretenuous.Thethreemassivegoldenbreastplates(seeFig. 20) wereconsideredto be technologicallymore

advancedthan the gorgetsbecausethey alternatebandsof reddishgold and whitish gold, and thiswas said to imply a post-Chavindate. However,thereis no doubt that Chavínmetalworkersknew

72

Chavín

how to producebothwhite-gold artifactsand red-gold artifacts (eachwith different alloy composi-tions). It is alsoestablishedthat theChavínartisanspossessedthetechnologynecessaryto join stripsofthese together by sweat welding or soldering.Lechtman’s analysis of a soldered, gold jewelryfragment from Chavín de Huántar has demon-strated that JanabarriuPhasecraftsmen alreadyhadexcellenttechnicalcontrol overalloy composi-tion and localized heating(Lechtman1988). Thus,we cannotassumethat productionof multicoloredbreastplatesin the Maltina cachewerebeyondthecapacityof EarlyHorizon metalworkers.While noother examplesof two-colored gold objects areknown for Chavíntimes, it should berememberedthat the Early Horizon wasatime of greatexperi-mentation and technologicaldevelopment.Someinnovationsmay havehadonly limited acceptance.It is noteworthyfor example,that besidesspoonB—440 (P1. 3) andaChavin-stylepin from Chongoy-ape,no otherexamplesdatingto the EarlyHorizonare knownof silverworkeitheraloneor in combina-tion with gold.Lechtman’sconclusionthat thegoldsurfaceof B—442 hasbeenintentionallyenrichedismoretroublingfor the EarlyHorizondatingof thisspecimensince surfaceenrichmenthas not beenpreviouslyencounteredin the analysisof precious-metal objectsof the Chavínhorizon.

On stylistic grounds,the patternof geometricinterlocking snakesthat decoratethe two goldenstirrup-spoutedbottlesin the Maltina lot immedi-ately call to mindthe decorationsof theEarlyInter-mediatePeriod,particularlythoseof the Lima cul-ture. But interlockingsnakeswereapopularthemebeginning with late Preceramic textiles (Bird1963b),andthey appearon potteryby the late Ini-tial Period (Burger 1987:368).28Thus,the represen-tationof this themeonEarlyHorizon goldis notaspuzzlingas it might seemat first. RLB

28Recentlooting in theJequetepequevalley hasproducedgoldworksimilar to thatof theHuarmeylot,andoneof thestyl-ized plumesis evendecoratedwith interlockingsnakessimilarto thaton theHuarmeystirrupspoutbottles(LavalleandLang1981: 128—129). Unfortunately,the ageandassociationsof theJequetepequespecimensarealsounknown,so theydo not clar-ify theissue of contemporaneityof thepiecesin theHuarmeyhoard.

Oneof thefew examplesof earlygoldworkcomparabletotheMaltinabottleis agold plumedecoratedwith bicephalicin-terlocking snakesthat seemsto havebeenrecoveredon thesouthbankof theJequetepequeRiverin 1974 atthesiteof Balsar(Alva 1992:81—82, lam.50). It is saidto comefrofm atombcon-taining dozensof goldobjects.Alva believesthatthesematerials


Alloy and ColorThisobjectis fashionedfroma ternaryalloy of gold,silver, and copper.X-ray fluorescenceanalysis(attheFreerandSacklerGalleries’Departmentof Con-servationandScientific Research)of the front andback surfacesof the central bossdeterminedthegorget’scomposition:


Au Ag Cu60.6 17.5 21.9

This isanintentional,notanaturalalloy Whencastinto ingots,themetalwould havea reddishor pink-ish color. Thealloy correspondsto about14K gold,whoseredcopperycolor is diminishedby thegoldandsilver components.

Considerableevidenceon the front andbackofthe disc indicatesthat the gold surfaceis enriched

and overlays metal of a different color. In areaswherethegold hasworn thin from abrasionorpol-ishing,suchasalong theflat rim at thebackor thetops of the raised,convexguilloche reliefs at thefront, the exposedmetalbeneathhasapinkishcast.The metal color at a few small sites, whereheavyabrasionor deepscratchinghas removedthe goldcompletelyis a strongsilver-pink. Someof the lowareasborderingraisedrelief motifson thefront rimexhibit thin corrosionfilms.

During manufactureof themetal sheetfor thisdisc and in the further sequencesof hammeringandannealingto shapeanddecoratetheform,sub-stantialamountsof surfacecopperwereundoubt-edly lost. Assumingthatno copperremainsin theultimatefew micronsof surfacemetal andthat theconcentrationsof gold and silver in the enrichedsurfacezonehaveincreasedin proportionto theirrelative weight fractionsin the original unalteredalloy the resultantsurfacelayer is an alloy con-taining approximately76 percentgold and24 per-centsilver. This is the equivalentof 18K gold,andit isundoubtedlythis enrichedlayer that is respon-

comefrom the tomb of a female,and, on stylistic grounds,hedatesthe gold objectsfrom it to atransitionalstageof the For-mative,atermheusesto referto theperiodimmediatelyfollow-ingtheChavínhorizon(i.e., lateEarly HorizonorUpperForma-tive). Nevertheless,Alva illustratesDumbartonOaksHuarmeygorgetB—442 from the Maltina cacheandplacesit within hiscategoryof “Chavin” gold that includesB—441 (P1. 4) andtheothergold objectssaidto havebeenfoundatChavíndeHuántar.

73

Chavín

BreastplateAMNH 41.0/3706

Band-pair

4 (topmost)

3

2

1 (bottom most)

BandNo.

87

65

43

21

sible for thebright andslightly yellow color of thedisc.As pointedoutearlier,the ternaryalloy of themetal sheetisno morethanabout14K gold.

RichardBurgerrefersto agroupof largebreast-platesfrom Huarmeynow in the collectionsof theAmerican Museum of Natural History, that maybeararelation to disc B—442. Oneof theseis illus-trated herein Figure 20. Eachbreastplateis con-structed from eight alternating bands of gold-looking and silver-looking metal sheet. All eightbandshavebeenanalyzedon thebreastplateshown

in Figure20; the results(above)illustrate how met-alworkerscontrolled color throughalloy composi-tion.29 The gold-colored bands, probably native

29Theanalysesreportedabovewerecarriedout with ascan-ningelectronmicroscope(SEM) andanenergydispersivespec-trometer.DeborahSchorschremovedthe samplesfromtherearof thebreastplate;Mark T. Wypyski conductedthe SEM analy-ses.Botharestaffmembersof theMetropolitanMuseumof Art’sShermanFairchildCenterfor ObjectsConservation.

In 1921,band-pair#1 wasanalysedby a metallurgicalandchemicalengineeringfirm in New York City Accordingto therecordsof theAmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory WilliamRootanalysedthesameband-pairwith somewhatdifferentre-sults.Theanalysesprovidedby the industrialfirm andby Rootaregivenhere.Root’s resultsarecloseto thoseobtainedin therecentSEM determinations.These analyticalvaluesare pub-lishedbelowwith thepermissionof theDepartmentof Anthro-pologyAmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory

AMNH 41 .0/3706

Band-pair# I

Gold-coloredband

Silver-coloredband

BandColor

Silver

Gold

Silver

Gold

SilverGold

SilverGold


Au Ag

53.585.1

55.777.7

52.878.2

54.179.0

39.78.3

36.611.3

39.014.1

38.713.4

Cu

6.86.6

7.611.0

8.27.6

7.27.6

placergold,areequivalentto 19K gold, the silver-

coloredbandsequivalentto 13K. The silvery alloymay havebeenmadeby melting togethermetallicsilver, containing some copper,with placer gold.The versatility shownin the designof gold-silver-copperalloys to accomplishspecific color effectslinks DumbartonOaksdisc B—442 to the Huarmeybreastplates.It shouldbe noted,however,that thecompositionof discB—442 differs substantiallyfromthe objectcompositionstabulatedin the technicaldescriptionfor B—440.

FabricationThe metal sheetof B—442 is extremelyuniform in

thicknessalong the disc perimeter(averagethick-ness= 0.047cm). Like discB-441 (P1.4), thecentralbosshasbeenraisedfrom thefront oversomeformof anvil, as if the final form wereto be a shallowround-bottom bowl. Individual hammer blows,oriented circumferentially are visible on x-radiographsand on the front vertical wall of theboss,closeto its juncturewith the flat rim, wherethe metal wasstretchedmost.But thesetracesof

tool actionaredifficult to find. The planishing,bur-nishing,andpolishingof the bossandrim arenear

perfecton bothfront andback.The broadrim sur-rounding the bosswas hammeredflat and truedaround its perimeter once the central zone wasraised.

The guilloche motif was raised by workingfrom theback.Eachelementof the designhasbeen

Analyst executedfreehand,hammeringthe metalinto are-

silient bed.No guide linesareevidenton the discor in theradiographs.Theblows left by round-end,

Industrial 46.7 43.9 8.5 highly polished tracing tools, including punches,Root 54 40 6 are just visible within someof the depressionsat


Au Ag Cu

Industrial 79.6 12.8 6.9Root 80 14 6

74

Chavín

the back.Carewastakento exertuniform pressurein hammeringsothat tool strokeswould notrenderat the front. The depressedmotifsat the backalsoshow evidence of final burnishing to achievesmooth,uninterrupted,androundedcontours.No-whereis therean abruptchangeof plane.It is pos-siblethatall of thework on thisobjectwasexecutedfrom the back, as thereareno tracesof finishing

operationsalongthebordersof the raisedmotifsonthefront surface.

Two holespunchedthroughfrom the front andspacedabout 3.7 cm apartare located along thebosscircumference,at the boss-rimjuncture. Theyarequite circularand appearto havebeenreamedout;burrswereremovedcarefullyat the back;holediametersmeasure0.250and0.258cm. HL

PAINTED TEXTILE WITH SUPERNATURAL

Plate6Chavin,Callango,Ica valley 400—200B.C.

Paintedcotton.H. 27.4 cm; W. 78.5 cmB—545

History: Saidto havebeenfoundwith B-544,apaintedtextile withcayman,andB—562, apyroengravedgourd,anda ceramicbottlein atombin Callango;acquiredby JohnWise andthenby MichaelD.Coe;givento DumbartonOaksby MichaelD. Coe,1964

Exhibition: Godswith Fangs,Museumof Primitive Art, 1962;DumbartonOaks1968— ; TheAncientAmericas:Art from SacredLandscapes,Art Instituteof Chicago,HoustonMuseumof FineArts,andLos AngelesCountyMuseumof Art, 1992—93

Plate6

75

Chavín

Bibliography:J. Rowe 1962:fig. 29; Menzel,Rowe,andDawson1964:

38—39; Benson1969:no. 456;Sawyer1972: fig. 8; Cordy-Collins1979:51; Wallace1991;Burger1992b: 276—277,fig. 19; Cordy-Collinsn.d.c

In 1962, two Chavin-stylepainted textiles (B—545,B—544, Pls.6, 7) weredisplayedin an exhibitat theMuseumof Primitive Art in New York. They hadbeenfoundin 1960 or 1961 andwereacquiredsub-sequentlyby the collectorJohnWise. As far as is

known, thesepaintedChavíntextileswerethe firstof their type to be discovered.Their proveniencewassaidto be a singletomb in the Callangobasin

(J. Rowe 1962: fig. 29, MichaelCoe personalcom-munication),a small but fertile pocketof agricul-tural land in the lower reachesof the Ica valley Itwas reported that these textiles were associatedwith anOcucaje4bottlein the collectionof Mr. andMrs. Paul Tischman(Menzel, Rowe, and Dawson1964:51, fig. 11a;J. Rowe 1962: fig. 53), the pyroen-gravedgourdin theDumbartonOakscollection(B—562,P1. 8) (seedescriptionbelow),andasmall cloththatwasfound insidethe gourd.Concernedaboutthe preservationof theseunique organicartifacts,MichaelCoe acquiredthe gourdand paintedtex-tiles from Wise, and,after arrangingfor their con-servationwith the assistanceof JuniusBird, hedo-nated them to the Dumbarton Oaks collection(MichaelCoe,personalcommunication,1992).

The two painted textiles from Callango pro-vided strongsupport for Julio C. Tello’s claim thatthe Chavín civilization had penetratedthe southcoastof Peruandhad influencedthe local Paracasstyle (cf. Kroeber 1953; Tello 1929). The classicChavíniconographyon theCallangotextilescloselyresembledthe imageson the Chavínde Huántarstonecarvings, and they seemedto demonstratethatat leastsomepeopleon the southcoasthadadetailedknowledgeof the Chavínpantheonandthe stylistic conventionsusedto portrayit. Prior tothesefinds, the impact of Chavínreligious arthadbeenidentifiedthrough local renditionson Paracaspottery but thesesimplified representationshadnotpreparedarchaeologistsfor thepresenceon thesouth coastof Chavínart in all of its beautyandcomplexity It is likely that the Chavínstylewasin-troducedprimarily through painted textiles likethosefrom Callango(Cordy-Collins n.d.b; Sawyer1972).

Since 1961,additional paintedChavíntextileshavebeenuncovered,butaswith themetals,virtu-ally all camefrom looted tombs.The most impres-

sive of theselots camefrom a largeburial at thesite of Carhua,locatedto the southof the Paracaspeninsulaon the Bahiade Independencia,but iso-latedpiecesalso havebeenuncoveredin the Chin-chavalley nearCabezasLargason the Paracaspen-insula, and at Samacain the lower Ica valley(Burger 1992;Conklin 1971, 1978;Engel 1987: 115,fig. 111—10). Thus the two Callango textilesare nolongeran anomaly They canbe discussedwithinthe larger context of earlyParacasculture, includ-ing the paintedChavíntextiles found at someofits sites.

Dwight Wallace (personal communication,1992) hascarriedout a technicalanalysisof the twopaintedclothsat DumbartonOaksandfound thattheywerestructurallysimilar. Bothareplain-weavecotton textileswith single two-ply warpsandone-ply wefts madeof Z-spunthread.While thisweav-ing configurationalso‘occursin someof the Carhua

paintedfabrics,it is notcommonnor isit typical ofthe weavingtradition of the south coast(Wallace1991).Basedon acomparisonwith otherearly tex-

tile assemblages,Wallaceconcludesthatcloth withthesefeaturesmayhavebeenbroughtfrom outsidethe southcoast,andactuallymayhavebeenwoven

onthecentralcoast(DwightWallace,personalcom-munication,1992). Of course,it is possiblethat aweavertrainedon thecentralcoastcould havepro-ducedthefabric in the Ica valley or that thetextilewaspainted locally evenif the plain-weaveclothwasimported.

B—545 waspaintedwith the imageof aChavíndeity usingbrownandreddish-brownpaint;a fine,dark brown outline delineatesthe details of themulticolor figure. The textile under discussionis

only apieceof a muchlargercloth. It measures79cmin width and27 cmin height,but if we calculatethesizeof thecompletedeity its heightwasat least70 cm.Similar textilesfrom Carhuarepresentaver-tical column of deitiesandthe cloth originally mayhavehad a length of 140 cm or more.Both B—545

andB—544 (P1.7) wereprobablyequivalentor largerin size than many of the well-known sculpturesfrom Chavínde Huántar,and their original func-tion may havebeensimilar to the stonecarvings

that inspiredthem. Suchtextilesmay haveservedaswall hangingsatthelocalbranchesof theChavín

76

Chavín

cult or in theresidencesof elite membersassociatedwith the cult. As in the caseof the Carhuatextiles,the purportedintermentof the Callangotextilesinburialsmaynotdirectly reflectthe originalfunctionof the paintedfabrics.

The imageon B-545 is executedin astylesimi-lar to that of the dualcolumnsusedin the Black-and-WhitePortalof ChavíndeHuántar’sNewTem-ple (Menzel,Rowe,andDawson1964:39). This as-sessmentwould placethetextiles’ datesometimeintheJanabarriuPhaseor PhaseD of JohnH. Rowe’s

sculpturalchronologyThe squaredeyes,the sim-plified snakes,and the decorativepoints in themouthof themain figureall pointto thischronolog-ical position.Thus,the Callangotextilesappeartoberoughlyequivalentin ageto theChavíngoldde-scribedearlierin this section.

The iconographyin the fragmentaryDumbar-ton Oakstextile representsthe upperportion of amajordeity in the staff god posewith interlockingcaninesand stylized rectangulareyes;snakesandcat-snakesissuefromthe topof thehead.On eitherside, the clawed hands of the deity can be seengrasping vertical staffs that terminate in profilefangedfaces.Thetop of the deity’s headopensintoan inverted agnathicface out of which a centralsnakeandsix leaflikeplumesemerge.This portion

of the textile was designedwith anatropic prin-ciples in mind, and the image readswell whenturned180 degrees.

While the staff god poseand mostof the spe-cific elementsof B—545 sharetheir stylewith thesculptureof Chavínde Huántar,severalelementsappearto belocal.The mostsignificantof thesearetheleaflikeplumesandtheovoid fruitlike append-

agesthat figure prominently on the deity’s headandon thestaffs.If aspecificplant isbeing referredto here,it hasnotyet beenidentified,but thestrongvegetativeassociationsof the deity representedareclear. A link betweenthe deity with staffs andplantsalso exists in paintedChavíntextiles fromCarhua(Cordy-Collinsn.d.c,1977a,1979),andsev-eral Carhuatextiles representa deity in the staffgod pose with virtually the sameleaflike formsgrowingfrom theheadandstaffs(Fig. 21).TheCar-hua textiles are more complete,and it is evident

that the deity in questionis a female, with herbreastsand genitals representedby metaphoricalsubstitutions.

Although therearesomeminor differencesbe-tweentheseCarhuacloths andB—545, suchas theabsenceof the ovoid fruitlike elementsand the

Fig. 21 Femalesupernaturalpaintedon a Chavintextilefrom Carhua(afterSawyer1972:fig. 9).

pointy-nosedsnakes(which appearon otherCar-huacloths),it seemsverylikely thatthedeity on thecloth from Callangowasalsoafemalesupernaturalassociatedwith agricultural fertility Elsewherewehypothesizethat this deity maybe awife, sister,or

daughterof themaindeityfrom ChavíndeHuántar(Burger 1988); alternatively Alana Cordy-Collinsproposesthat this imagerepresentsthefemaleas-pectof ChavíndeHuántar’sprincipalgod.In eithercase,this textile in the DumbartonOakscollectionwould havebeenassociatedwith the local branchof the Chavíncult, and it illustratesthe linkagebe-tween the society on the south coast and othergroupssharingsuchbeliefs in centralandnorthernPeru.RLB

77

Plate7

PAINTED TEXTILE WITH CAYMAN

Plate7Chavin,Callango,Ica valley 400—200B.C.

Paintedcotton.H. 90 cm; W. 63 cmB—544

History:Saidto havebeenfound with B—545, a paintedtextile withsupernatural,andB—562, a pyroengravedgourd,andaceramicbottlein a tomb in Callango;acquiredby JohnWiseandthenby MichaelD.Coe;givento DumbartonOaksby MichaelD. Coe,1964

Exhibition: Godswith Fangs,Museumof Primitive Art, 1962;DumbartonOaks,1968— ; TheAncientAmericas:Art fromSacredLandscapes,Art Instituteof Chicago,HoustonMuseumof FineArts,

andLos AngelesCountyMuseumof Art, 1992—93

Bibliography:Rowe 1962: fig. 30; Benson1969:no. 455; Dynner1972:5—11, 30;Lapiner 1976: fig. 115;Cordy-Collins 1979:51;Lavalle 1983:41;Clifford 1984:50;Lavallée 1986:365;Wallace1991;Burger 1992a:197, fig. 209; Burger 1992b:276—277;Cordy-Collinsn.d.c

Thesecondtextile said to havecomefrom the Cal-langotombin theIca valley is alsoa fragmentfroma largecloth hanging.It measures63 cm in widthandoriginally measured1.2m or more in height.Like B—545 (P1. 6), the designson its white cotton,

plain-weavecloth had been outlined with darkbrownpigment,andselectedzoneshadbeenfilledin with brown or reddish-browncolor.

The cloth representedat least two supernatu-rals with cayman attributes. The uppermost ofthesetwo figuresis incomplete,but it appearsto be

almost identical to the lower completeone. Thedenseforest of metaphoricalsubstitutionsmakestheseimagesparticularly difficult to recognize.Per-haps even more frustrating for the uninitiated

vieweris the “splayed-peltconvention”that is em-ployed in representingthe cayman.The figure issplit down the middle and opened up, thusallowing the depiction of all sides of the three-dimensional supernatural creature in a two-dimensionalformat. As a result,a single verticallyorientedfangedmouth is sharedby the eyesandnostrilsthat flankit on bothsides.In classicChavínsculpture,the splayed-peltconventionis usedonlyfor the cayman,and its best-knownexampleis thelargegranitecarvingdocumentedin Yauyaby Julio

C. Tello (1960).Near the bottom of the DumbartonOakstex-

tile, the two backlegs of the caymanarevisible inflexedpositionas thoughthe creatureis swimmingor flying; this is the typical position in which the

caymanwasshownin Chavínsculpture.Thecentralaxis or vertebralcolumnof the caymanon the Cal-lango textile is representedby repeatingagnathicfaces;six cat-snakesandtwo snakesissuefrom thetail endof the creature.It is worth noting that the

caymanwasprobablythemostimportantsupernat-ural at the Chavínde Huántar temple,other thanthe principal anthropomorphicsupernaturaldis-cussedpreviouslyIn the ChavíndeHuántarheart-land, this specialstatusis expressedby theunusu-

ally largeblocks on which the caymanwascarvedand the rarity with which it wasdepicted.Unlikeraptorialbirdsand jaguars,the caymansupernatu-ral was never representedin repetitive friezes ofsmallstonecarvings.Only thecaymansupernatural

and the principal anthropomorphicdeity werecarvedon thenotchedprismaticstonecolumnsthatfunctionedasmajorcult objects(oridols)at Chavínde Huántar.The prominenceof the caymanin theChavínpantheonis also evidenton the Callangotextile (andthe relatedCarhuatextiles).It is oneofthe few imagesthat fills an entirelargecloth with-out theadditionof secondarysupernaturalsor mo-tifs; no otheranimal image(birds,jaguars,etc.) areshownon thesouthcoasttextilesat a scalecompa-rableto thatof the cayman.

In termsof B—544’s date,the style is similar tothat on B—545 (P1. 6) and is consistentwith aPhaseD date or mid-Early Horizon date. As in B—545,therearea seriesof localelementsthatdistinguishthe Callangocaymanimagefrom thoseonthestone

79

Chavín

sculptures in the Chavín heartland.Among themostnotableof theseare the small stemswith cir-cular and bi-color rectangularflowerlike endingsthat sprout directly from the body of the creatureandfrom thecat-snakesthatprojectfrom it. Whiletheseplantlike appendagesareunusual,it shouldberememberedthat the singleChavínsculptureonwhich plantsaremostcommonwasthe Tello Obe-lisk (Fig. 22),a carvingthatshowsthe supernaturalcaymanas thebearerof lowlandcultigens.Anotherlocal featureof B-544 is theuseof profile agnathic

mouthsandsquaredeyesassemi-independentele-

mentsthathangfrom the caymanbody ratherthanbeing incorporated as metaphoric substitutions.Other oddities of this textile are the interlockingsnakesthat appearon the posteriorof the caymanin placeof the usualtail feathers(or fins), andthefrontal facewithupturnedmouththatwasinsertedinto the cornerof the cayman’smouth. Theseandother featuresareunusual,but evenin the Chavínheartlandthereis tremendousvariationamongtheknown caymanrepresentations.RLB

Fig. 22 TheTello Obelisk.Drawingby JohnH. Rowe.

80

PYROENGRAVEDGOURD

Plate8ChavínandCupisniqueinfluenced,Callango,Ica valley 400—200B.C.

Gourd.H. 8.3cm; Diam. 15.9 cmB—562

History:Saidto havebeenfound with B-544,apaintedtextile withcayman,andB—545, a paintedtextile with supernatural,andaceramicbottlein a tomb in Callango;acquiredby JohnWise andthenby MichaelD. Coe;givento DumbartonOaksby MichaelD. Coe,1967

Exhibition: DumbartonOaks, 1968

Bibliography:J. Rowe 1962: figs. 55, 552;Benson1969:no. 457;Burger1992a:196, fig. 206

Unlike goldjewelry andpaintedcloth, the produc-tion of pyroengravedgourdshasa longhistorydat-ing backsometwo millenniabeforethe Chavínho-rizon (Bird 1963b).Although pyroengravedgourdswerevaluedin Pre-Hispanictimes,theyneverseemto havebeeninvestedwith prestigecomparabletothat accordedto fine textilesand preciousmetals.

The depiction of Chavínmotifs on the pyroengra-vedgourdsof thesouthcoast,like theirappearanceon Paracas-stylepottery,illustratesthe penetrationof the Chavíncult into the daily life of Early Hori-zon agriculturalistsand fisherfolk, and the adop-

tion of Chavínreligious themesand stylistic con-ventionsby local artisans.

Plate8

81

Chavín

However,theChavínculturewasbutoneof themany involved in the Chavín interaction sphere,andtheChavínstylewasnot theonly sourceof in-spirationfor artistic innovationsonthe southcoast.The Cupisniquecultureof the north coastcontin-uedto beinfluential during theEarlyHorizon,andaspectsof its art stylewere emulatedevenat thesiteof ChavíndeHuántar(Burger1992a).Thesmalldecoratedgourdin theDumbartonOakscollectionexemplifiesthe wayin which the CupisniqueandChavíntraditions both influenced the art of thesouth coastduring the Chavínhorizon. As notedabove,this piece may have comefrom the sameOcucaje4 tomb in Callango, where the paintedclothswerefound.

Throughoutthe centralAndes,the fruits of the

bottlegourd(Lagenaria siceria)weredried,andthenusedascontainersandfor servingandstoringliq-uids. Thedecoratedgourd in the DumbartonOakscollectionis asmallcontaineronly 15.9 cmin diam-eters. Consideringits size and form, it may havebeenusedasadrinking vessel,perhapsfor maizebeer(chicha). Cut gourdvesselsarestill a popular

alternative to glassesat modernpicanterías (bars)servingchicha in manypartsof the Peruvianhigh-lands.

To produceB—562, the top or neckof the fruit

of abottle gourdwascut awayanddiscarded,andthe remnantedgewasthenabradedto form a rimbeveledon the exterior. The gourdwasdecoratedby a combinationof scraping,burning, and incis-ing. Mostof the iconographicdetail wasproducedby narrow incisions made in the surfaceof thegourdwith a sharpinstrumentin amannernotun-like the tracing of details in golden objects. Byscrapingselectedzones,a contrastwascreatedbe-tweenthe mattereflectionof theabradedzoneandthe naturally reflective surfaceof the unmodifiedone.By burning somescrapedzones,a dark tonewasachievedthatdifferedmarkedlyfrom thenatu-ral brown surfacecolor of the bottle gourd; these

blackenedareaswere usedto makethe imagerymore vivid and easier to understand.In several

panels,thebackgroundwasscorchedto adarktoneto serveas a foil for the lighter andslightly higher

(andmorelustrous)iconographycarvedin thefore-ground.In otherportions of the gourd,the artisandarkenedspecific featureswithin a thematicele-ment (suchas thepupil of an eye).

Thedecorationenvelopingtheexteriorof B—562depictsa looped,netbagfilled with felinesandtro-phy heads(Fig. 23). The bag is representedby aninterlocking angularguilloche, or twined fret pat-

Fig. 23 Drawingof imageson pyroengravedgourdB—562. Drawingby ElizabethWahle.

tern. A continuousangularfret patternwascarved

on thescrapedbutunburntrim of thegourd.It mayrepresentan S-twistedcordat the edgeor the topof the loopedbag.The intersticesof thebagareir-regular pentagonsand hexagonsarrayedin twohorizontalregisters.In the upper register,one an-thropomorphicheadwith crossedfangsand fourprofile felinescanbeseenthroughthe openings.Intheintersticesof thebottomregister,therearethreeanthropomorphicheadsandtwo felinesin profile.The bottom of the bagwasrepresentedby a crosswith acircular center.

A loopedbagfilled with trophyheadswasnotpartof thesymbolicvocabularyof ChavíndeHuán-tar, but it wasone of the mostpopularthemesde-pictedin the Cupisniquepotteryof thenorth coast.During the late Initial Period, numeroussingle-spoutedand stirrup-spoutedbottleshavethis im-ageas their centralor sole theme;referenceto it ismadein the description of a Cupisniquesteatitecup in the DumbartonOaks collection (see B—580,P1. 11).Evenacursoryreviewof themanyexamples

of this themeonCupisniqueceramicsrevealsvaria-tions in the treatmentof the bagandthe portrayalof the trophy heads(Alva 1986: figs. 222—225,248,442; Larco Hoyle 1941: 7; Lumbreras1974: fig. 81).Nevertheless,thestyleof theheadsonthe Callangogourd is similar, thoughnot identical, to someofthe profile trophy headson Cupisniquepottery

82

Chavín

(e.g.,Alva 1986:figs. 247—442).In manyof theCupi-snique bottles, as in B—562, the headsare shownwith open eyesand a closed downturnedmouth.While the profile headsarenot naturalisticrepre-sentationsof severedheads,as is the casein CerroSechinor Yurayakusculptures,the vertical scoringaboveandbelowsomeof theheadscouldrepresentflowing blood. A single face on the DumbartonOaks gourd has a set of exposedteethand inter-locking fangs,and it mayrepresenta supernatural.

While the looped-bagthemeand the trophyheadshavestrongsimilarities on the north coast,therearenumerousiconographicelementson theCallango gourd that cannotbe explainedby re-courseto Cupisniqueantecedents.The portrayalofprofile felinesin conjunctionwith thebagof trophyheadshas no known analogueon the north coast.The portrayalof repeatingfelinesin profile is moresimilar to the processionof jaguarsdecoratingChavín de Huántar’s Circular Plazathan to any-thing in Cupisniqueart. The portion of the friezethat flankstheCircularPlaza’seasternentrancefea-tures profile felines in both the upper and lowerregisters.While felinesaredepictedon Cupisniquepottery they generallyareshownmodeledandas

the principal figureson the vessel(Alva 1986: figs.174, 180—185).

The form of the felines and the profile headsshown on B—562 also reflect the influence of theChavínart style.For example,threeof the felineshavea tail thatendsas a simplified serpent,a localversionof classicChavínmetaphoricalsubstitution.This specifictreatmentof the felinetail appearsonmost feline representationsat Chavínde Huántar(Lumbreras1974: fig. 59), whereasfelinesdepictedon Cupisniquepottery havenaturalistic tails. The

recurvedrays that emergefrom severalof the fe-lines and profile faceson B—562 are characteristicof thelater portionof the Chavínartisticsequence.Although the recurvedrays are bestknown fromthe RaimondiStela(Fig. 14), theyalso wereusedtoadornfelines(Lumbreras1974: fig. 59).

Finally the designelementat thebottomof thegourdis a centralcircle borderedby four wedgelikeprojectionsthat formacross.Thecenterof thecircleincorporatesthenaturalprotuberancethatexistsonthe baseof all bottle gourds,and thecrossmotif ishighlighted by scorchingthe crossto a blackened

shade. Iconographic elementsanalogousto thiscombinationof crossandcircle play an especiallyimportantrole in ChavíniconographyThiselementappearson the top of the notchedportion of the

Lanz6n,and it occupiesan equallycrucialposition

on the Tello Obelisk (Fig. 22) and the Yauya Stela(Burger 1992a: 219; J. Rowe 1967: figs. 6, 18). All

threeof thesesculptureswere major cult objects,and in all cases,the circle-crosselementwasshownat critical junctures in the iconographyDonaldLathrapsuggeststhat thecross(or notchedsquare)representsthe membranebetweenthe upper andlowerhalvesof theuniverse,which in Quechuacos-mology correspondsto the earth’ssurface,andthat

thecircle is interpretedasrepresentingan orifice inthismembranethroughwhich theflux of supernat-ural power is channeled(Lathrap 1984: 251). IfLathrap’sideaiscorrect,thecrosslikearrangements

surrounding the circle may representthe fourcardinaldirectionsthatdefinetheworld of humans.Thus, the cross-circleelementcan be seenas ashorthandcosmogramin Chavínart for the uni-verse and the way in which supernaturalforcescouldbe channeledthroughrituals andothercere-monial activities.Although crossesare sometimesshownassecondarygeometricelementson someCupisniqueart, the cross-circlecosmogramis notrepresented.

Thus,the Callangogourdcanbe seenasbeingtheresultof a fusion of CupisniqueandChavínele-ments.Thereis also an admixtureof purely localfeatures.Forexample,the stanceof thefelineswith

at least one and in somecasestwo legs flexed asthoughrunning isunlike classicChavínrepresenta-tions,as is the decorationof the feline’sbody with

small punctuationsrather than the stylized spotsthatdistinguishthejaguarfromotherlargecats.Al-thoughmetaphoricsubstitutionswere popular inChavínart, terminationof theupperlip of aprofilefaceas asnakewasnotconsideredappropriate;yet,that is how oneof thetrophy headson the gourdisshown.Theorganizationof thefiguresin theinter-sticesof the bag is, likewise, dissimilar from bothCupisniqueandChavínart. In theformer,it is com-monto haveprofile figuresfacingin a singledirec-tion, while in Chavínart, thefiguresareusuallyar-rayed symmetrically aroundan imaginary centralaxis (Salazar-BurgerandBurger 1983).In contrast,B—562’sfiguresfaceto therightin the upperregisterandto both the right and the left in the lower reg-ister.

In summary,the pyroengravedgourd reflectsthe complex patternsof long-distanceinteraction

andtheinnovationsthat thesestimulatedin partici-pating small-scalesocieties.In the past, the devel-

opment of the Paracasstyle sometimeshas beenseenas a local responseto Chavíninfluence.Theiconographyon B—562 illustratesthe rich multicul-

83

Chavín

tural influences that were unleashedduring theEarly Horizon by the growth of the Chavínsphere

of interaction,andthe impact they had in the for-mationof the Paracasstyle.RLB

MACE HEAD

Plate9Salinar,north coast,200 B.C.—A.D. 100Diorite. H. 12.6 cm; Diam. 10.7 cmB—428

History: Purchasedby RobertBliss from Walramvon Schoeler,1948

Exhibition: IndigenousArt oftheAmericas,NationalGallery of Art,1952—62;Art and Life in Old Peru,AmericanMuseumof NaturalHistory 1961;Gods withFangs,Museumof Primitive Art, 1962;DumbartonOaks, 1963—

Bibliography:Bliss 1957:no. 299; Natural History 1958: 133; J. Rowe1962: fig. 36;Benson1963:no. 344;Lapiner 1976: fig. 135

Plate9

84

Chavín

WhenRafaelLarco Hoyle first identified the exist-

enceof the Cupisniqueculture, he emphasizeditsdistinctivestyleof potteryastheprimary basisforits identification.At the sametime, he recognizedthat it wasalsocharacterizedby a particularset ofnon-ceramicartifacts, including a classof carvedstoneartifactsthat heidentified asmaceheads.InhisvolumeLosCupisniquesheillustratessixof thesepieces(1941: 92,95) referringto themas“mazasdepiedra admirablementetalladas.” All but one ofthosepublishedby Larco Hoyle arecharacterizedby a combination of projecting vertical ribs andnubbinsin their upper sectionand a tapered,un-adornedlower section.The sixthpiecein the LarcoHoyle volume (1941: fig. 128) imitatesthe form ofthe hallucinogenicSan Pedro cactusand conse-quently lacksthe circular nubbinsandstronglyta-peredlowersection.

Noneof thesesix pieces,or artifactssimilar tothem, were found by Larco Hoyle in associationwith theCupisniquetombsfromPalenqueandBar-bacoa.Although no proveniencewasprovidedforthe illustratedpieces,it is probablethat they camefrom looted cemeteriesin Chicama,Cupisnique,orone of the othervalleysof the north coast.LarcoHoyle’s identification of this class of artifacts as“mace-heads”wasbasedon their formal features.It is a plausible interpretationand has beenac-ceptedby manysubsequentinvestigators.

The DumbartonOaks maceheadstrongly re-semblesthreeof those illustrated by Larco Hoyle(1941:136).PresumablyB—428 wasdesignedto behaftedonawoodenshaftor staff, for it hasa circu-lar hole drilled through it, which tapersat its topfrom 3.4 cm in diameterto 3 cm in diameter.Be-tweenfour fan-shapedverticalribs arepairsof ver-tically arrayedspikesor ribs. The ribs and spikescompletelyencirclethe circumferenceof the stoneartifact.Therecanbelittle doubtthat if B—428 wereusedas a club head,it would havebeenpotentiallylethal andthat its effectivenessis enhancedby itsdistinctiveandcharacteristicform.

It is worth notingthat thestoneselectedfor thisartifact is a gray diorite, a relatively hard stone.While this raw materialis moredifficult and time-consumingto carvethan the steatiteusedin pro-duction of Cupisniqueritual cupsandplates,it isfar more resistantto wearand breakage,particu-larly if usedin combat.Like many maceheads,B—428 seemsto displaysomeuserwearin the form ofsmall chips along the edgesof its projectingribs.The patterningandpossiblesourcesof damageonthis classof artifactshaveneverbeenstudiedsys-

tematically but suchan analysismight shedlighton its function.

Thecareandskill withwhichB—428wascarvedfar exceedsthe minimal requirementsof a weaponof this kind. The exterior of the entire piece hasbeencarefully smoothedandpolishedusingabra-sivesto producean aestheticallypleasingproduct.This surfacetreatmentis much finer than that ofmost star-shapedmace heads from later Pre-Hispanictimes.Moreover,thereareelementson B—

428 that appearpurely decorativein function. Forexample,eachrib is flankedby apair of superficialvertical incised lines andall of the circular spikes

or nubbinshavelow tubelike framessurroundingthem.

In contemporaryEnglishdictionaries,themaceis defined both as a heavy often-spikedweaponand as an ornamentalstaffcarriedas a symbol ofauthorityIndeed,in manyunrelatedculturesmace-like artifactsserveboth asarmsof war andasem-blemsof specialstatus.B—428 also may haveful-filled both functions,althoughwe cannotestablishthiswith any certainty

Thatit couldhaveservedasa weaponin hand-to-handcombatis a seriouspossibility Its raw ma-terialandribbedandspikedform isconsistentwithsuch an interpretation. Stone-tippedmacesand

clubswere a popularweaponin the Pre-HispanicAndes immediatelyprior to the Spanishconquest(J.Rowe 1946:276); FelipeGuamanPomade Ayala(1980: 128) illustratestheir usein his treatmentofIncaandpre-Incabattles.It alsoisworthnoting thatthe individual buried in the EarlyHorizontomb atKuntur Wasi hadapparentlybeenkilled by a blowto thehead(Onuki 1992:35).Evidenceof skull frac-turesresultingfrom violent conflict arecommonintheburials of the late EarlyHorizon cultures,such

asSalinar;in fact,blows to the headappearto havebeenamajorfactorleadingto the widespreadprac-ticeof trephination(JohnVerano,personalcommu-nication, 1992).

At the sametime, iconographicrepresentationsof ornamentalstaffsarewell known from the cen-tral Andes. GuamanPoma(1980: 76,78, 88, 90,92,336) illustrates several Inca emperorsholding astar-headedmace as a symbol of their authorityCeremonialstaffswith elaboratesilver headscon-tinue to serveasemblemsof civil authority amongQuechuacommunitiesin thesouthernhighlandsofPeru.Representationof staffsor sceptersemblem-

atic of specialstatus were produced during theEarlyHorizon. Perhapsthebest-knownexampleisthe staffsheld by the deity on the Raimondi Stela

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Chavín

of Chavínde Huántar(see Fig. 14). A moredirectantecedentfor B—428 canbe found on the famousstone sculpturesdecoratingthe lower terrace ofCerro Sechin in Casma.This Initial Period friezedating to approximately1300 B.C. depictsa mythi-cal or historical processionof victorious warriorsand mutilated victims. The victors are distin-guished from the vanquishedby their costume,which includes pillbox hats, breechcloths,andmaces(Fig. 24). Themacesorstaffs(Tello 1956: figs.54,72) haveacircularelementon thebottomof theshaftwhich canbe interpretedas astylized depic-tionof amaceheadseenfrom abovewith its central

circular perforationand four vertical ribs, In theCerro Sechinsculptures,the maceor ceremonialstaffappearsto havefunctionedbothasan emblemof statusandasaweapon.

Larco Hoyle did not publish evidence thatclearly establishedthe Cupisnique affiliation ofstonemaceheadslike B—428. Therehavebeenrela-tively few archaeologicalinvestigationsof Cupis-niquesitessinceLarcoHoyle’swork, andnopiecesresemblingthe distinctive stonemaceheadshavebeenreportedfrom unambiguousCupisniquecon-texts. Recentexcavationsat the late Initial PeriodCupisniquecemeteryof Puémapefailedto encoun-ter stonemaceheads(EleraandPinilla 1993),andalthougha ceramicclub headwas recoveredat theEarlyHorizon siteof SanDiego in the Casmavalley(Pozorskiand Pozorski 1987: 59), it does not re-sembleB-428.

Accordingto JoséPinilla (personalcommunica-tion, 1994),thereareunconfirmedreportsthat loot-ershaveencounteredelaboratestonemaceheadslike B—428 in Salinarburials at the siteof Urricapein the southernbranchof the quebradaof Cupis-nique. At the presenttime, the best evidencefordating B-428 and similar artifactscomesfrom thework of the Viru Valley Project.A finely carvedstonemaceheadsimilar to B—428 was found at

CemeteryV-66 nearPuertoMoorin in the backfillof a looted Salinarburial. It hasevidenceof anoldbreak that had beenrepairedwith resin. Subse-

Fig. 24 Major monolithB (22) from thesideof theprincipalfacadeof thetempleat CerroSechin(afterTello 1956:ñg.54).

quentexcavationin refusedepositsof the Salinarcultureat the siteof V-272 encounteredtwo similarmace heads in unambiguous Salinar contexts(Strongand Evans1952:55—56, p1. IIIE). Thus,theexistinginformation suggeststhat the DumbartonOaksmaceheadwasprobablyproducedby theSa-linar cultureduring the final centuriesof theEarlyHorizon. RLB

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