Chavín de Huántar’s Contribution to Understanding the Central Andean Formative: Results and Perspectives

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Chavín de Huántar’s Contribution to Understanding the Central Andean Formative: Results and Perspectives" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Chavín de Huántar is an important Middle-Late Formative site (1200–500 BC) of the north-central highlands of Peru, recognized for its precocious worked stone monumental construction, enigmatic architectural forms including subterranean galleries, and extensive stone art that decorated many architectural contexts. The site's primary function was religious, judging from the elaborate development of ritual contexts and material culture. The Programa de Investigación Arqueológica y Conservación en Chavín de Huántar began in 1994, addressing the multidimensional complexity of the site. Its transdisciplinary research marked a significant shift in the generation of knowledge about the emergence of authority in the Andes. Greater understanding of previously known contexts and discovery of new ritual spaces have revealed an iconic tradition marked by both continuity and innovation. Detailed excavations of galleries, including those in the Atrium of the Circular Plaza, have sophisticated understanding of function and organization of the Chavín entity. Across 30 years of fieldwork and analysis a variety of locations in and around the monumental site have been investigated. This session focuses on the Programa’s new knowledge and research perspectives, reevaluating concepts of Andean Formative organization and its complexity, and questioning how or if the Formative was elemental in development of Andean states.