Chavin culture - Chavin

A culture that spread from northern to central Peru in the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The representative ruins are Chavin de Huantar, which is located in a valley at an altitude of 3,100 meters. It consists of an old temple with a stone platform in a U-shape that opens to the east and surrounds a circular semi-underground plaza, and a new temple with a large platform group that surrounds a square semi-underground plaza with sides of about 50 meters in a U-shape. There is an underground corridor inside the platform, with small rooms and passageways. In the central corridor inside the old temple, there is a stone carving called a lanzón, which is 4.5 meters high. In addition, large stone carvings such as the Tago Obelisk and the Raimondi Stela, as well as many nail-shaped heads and stone slabs in relief set into stone walls have also been excavated. Many lustrous and intricately made earthenware such as stirrup-shaped jars, long-necked jars, and bowls have also been excavated. In the sculptures and pottery decorations, powerful curves are used extensively to express anthropomorphic motifs of jaguars, eagles, and snakes, achieving the pinnacle of the unique Chavin style.

The motifs and expressive features of the Chavin style are found widely in the Northern Highlands, the North Coast, the Central Coast, and the Central Highlands, and are of almost the same period, so they have been thought to be the result of their transmission from Chavin de Huantar. However, recent research has shown that the ruins in the Northern Highlands, the North Coast, and the Central Coast are older than Chavin de Huantar, and the semi-underground plaza is clearly about 1000 years older. Therefore, it is believed that around the end of the second millennium BC, the features as components of the Chavin style, along with the temple rituals, appeared in various ways in various parts of northern Peru, gradually deepening their exchange, and eventually Chavin de Huantar was created as a culmination of this. From there, it is likely that they were transmitted to the southern part of the Northern Highlands, the Central Highlands, or the southern coast. At the same time, irrigated agriculture centered on corn, camel farming, theocracy, goldwork, exquisite textiles and pottery, and other cultures spread throughout Peru, laying the foundation for the rapid development of Andean civilization.

[Yoshio Onuki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

紀元前一千年紀前半のころのペルーの北部から中部にかけて広まった文化。代表的遺跡はチャビン・デ・ワンタルで、標高3100メートルの谷間にあり、円形の半地下広場を囲んで東に開いたコの字形に石造基壇を配した古神殿と、一辺約50メートルの方形の半地下広場をコの字に囲む大基壇群の新神殿とからなる。基壇の内部に地下回廊があり、小部屋や通路がつくってある。古神殿の内部中央の回廊には、高さ4.5メートルのランソンという石彫が立つ。さらに、テーヨのオベリスクやライモンディの石碑という大石彫をはじめ、石壁にはめ込んだ釘(くぎ)状頭像や浮彫り石板も多くみいだされている。鐙型壺(あぶみがたつぼ)、長頸壺、鉢など光沢のある精巧なつくりの土器も数多く出土した。彫刻や土器の装飾では、力強い曲線を多用してジャガー、ワシ、ヘビの擬人化モチーフを表現し、独特のチャビン様式の極致を達成している。

　このチャビン様式のモチーフと表現上の諸特徴は、北高地、北海岸、中部海岸、中部高地に広くみいだされ、ほとんど同時期のものであることから、それらはチャビン・デ・ワンタルからの伝播(でんぱ)の結果と考えられてきた。しかしながら最近の研究によると、北高地、北海岸、中部海岸の諸遺跡はチャビン・デ・ワンタルよりも古いものらしく、半地下広場は明らかにそれよりも1000年ほど古い。したがって、前二千年紀末ごろ、神殿祭祀(さいし)とともにチャビン様式の構成要素としての諸特徴は、北ペルーの各地にいろいろな現れ方をしながら、しだいに交流を深め、やがてその集大成としてチャビン・デ・ワンタルができたと考えられるようになった。そして、ここから北高地南部や中部高地あるいは南海岸への伝播が生じたのであろう。それとともに、トウモロコシを中心とした灌漑(かんがい)農業、ラクダ科動物の飼育、神権政治、金細工、精巧な織物や土器などがペルーに普及し、ここにアンデス文明の飛躍的な発展の基盤が完備したのである。

［大貫良夫］

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