Origins of Metaphysics and Myth

Metaphysical concepts were clearly developed by the middle of the second millennium BCE in western South America. Numerous archaeological sites exhibit art that almost certainly depicts religious concepts involving mythic animals, powerful individuals, and other themes. The architecture of the public buildings in central settlements suggests they were built to orchestrate processions of a political or ritual nature. The famous site of Cerro Sechin in the Casma Valley of northern Peru is a classic example. The site was built against a low mountain. Its adobe and stone buildings enclose a space of highly restricted access. Along the front wall of the site is a series of carvings depicting macabre scenes of war, decapitations, trophy heads, body parts, kings, captives, and warriors. The art most likely depicts scenes of actual political and social violence prevalent in that society. However, it is also likely that such art, designed to last for generations, had multiple meanings. Richard Burger describes the Sechin art as an example of a major building “decorated with religious and mythical themes.”

Moxeke and Cerro Sechin, two other major settlements in the same valley, are contemporary with Sechin Alto. The sites of these large, elaborate settlements contain carved stone blocks with serpents, hands, and multicolored clay sculptures. The elaborate buildings have restricted access and most certainly had religious functions of some sort. The restricted access and the carvings placed along walls and steps suggest orchestrated movement in ritual processions. Such architecture is generally understood to be the product of a priestly class that creates and maintains religious dogma. Throughout the Andes, we find settlements of this time with similarly complex architecture and art. We can therefore say with some confidence that the first evidence of a priesthood, or at the very least a ritual-specialist class, developed in the second millennium BCE in western South America.

In the period 1500–500 BCE, we see a more coherent and rich suite of iconographic motifs in the art and architecture of the cultures of the Andes. The culture of Chavin is emblematic of this tradition. To many scholars, Chavin art represents the first truly esoteric religious tradition in western South America. Chavin art and presumably religious ideology spread throughout the central Andes, over a vast area. The main site of Chavin is a large, proto-urban center with massive temples, underground chambers, large open courts, staircases, and elaborate carved stone. Burger notes that Chavin art is fundamentally representational with natural forms intentionally mystified by their artists. The sculpture and bas reliefs are dominated by images of tropical forest animals such as caymans and jaguars, serpents, birds of prey, and other symbols sometimes associated with shamanistic visions. Anthropomorphic heads with some animal elements, such as fangs, are also common. Burger views Chavin art as “primarily a vehicle to embue worldly matter with a transcendent message belonging to the religious system.” Regardless of our interpretations, there is little question that by the first millennium BCE in the central Andes, a complex religion had developed. This religion included an esoteric component that would have required the intervention of a priestly class to execute. These religious principles spread throughout a number of cultures in Andean South America at this time.