ies had to be built beyond the consecrated space. During the
reign of the emperor Constantine (r. 306–37 c.e.), Christians
began erecting the fi rst large sacred buildings of their own,
including several on the sites of martyr cults and burials.THE AMERICAS
BY ALESSIA FRASSANI
Sacred sites in the ancient Americas were connected with the
natural world and deeply rooted in the surrounding landscape.
Either man-made or natural, sacred sites refl ected AmerIn-
dian cosmology that considered natural forces a manifesta-
tion of the divine. Th e ecological and cultural diversity of the
American continent created cultural and subsistence systems
that were highly integrated and interdependent. Sacred sites
refl ected this feature of AmerIndian life and usually attracted
visitors from vast areas over periods of hundreds or even
thousands of years. Sacred sites, from the northern wood-
lands to the southern Peruvian desert, share similar charac-
teristics, which include orientation to cardinal points of the
compass or landscape, giant effi gy constructions, nearness to
water resources, and economic importance as trade centers of
valued and symbolic items. Religion was a pervasive aspect of
AmerIndian daily life and could not be separated from eco-
nomic activities. Religion and ritual, including pilgrimage to
distant places, was an important part of the increasing social
complexity that was developing during the rise of intensive
agriculture in the ancient period.
In North America the earliest sacred sites recovered are
related to the cult of the dead. Th e so-called Mound Build-
ers left impressive man-made constructions throughout the
eastern and midwestern woodland region of the present-day
United States. Th ese mounds, large and low, sometimes coni-
cal in shape, are most commonly found along the meanders
of the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi river drainages, from
the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes region. Th ese places were
used and visited for generations before being eventually
abandoned. People made special travels to these places to
bury their dead. (No evidence of residential settlements has
been found close to these mounds.) Once there, the pilgrims
engaged in elaborate funerary rituals that probably lasted for
several days. Th e mounds’ closeness to the transportation
system of the rivers and their visibility from afar, in an other-
wise featureless landscape, made them signifi cant and helped
spread the cult of the ancestors over wide areas.
Th e mounds take diff erent shapes. Th e Hopewell of
south-central Ohio (ca. 200 b.c.e.–400 c.e.) created earth-
works in the shape of connected rectangular and circular
enclosures. Th ey served as plazas for large public gatherings
that were probably ceremonial. Th e Hopewell followed a tra-
dition and geography of sacred places that had been previ-
ously established in the region. Serpent Mound, in Ohio, was
long thought to be an Adena culture (1000 b.c.e.–200 c.e.)
site because of ancient burials found nearby. Recent excava-
tions, however, proved that the mound was built at least bythe end of the Hopewell culture. Th e mound takes its name
from the serpentine shape that mimics the fl ow of the nearby
river. Burials and other signs of occupation were found close
to the mound, but not on it, indicating that Serpent Mound
was visited only occasionally. Among the vast quantities
of exotic materials found in the burials, a testament to the
wide-reaching wealth accumulated by the deceased, are ef-
fi gy pipes carved in the shape of birds, fi sh, and mammals.
Th ey were used to smoke tobacco, a ceremonial activity that
linked the mundane world to the spiritual one. Th e animals
represented may be mythical founders of clans, and the pipes
may have been used in rituals to the ancestors during family
burial rituals.
In Mesoamerica the earliest sacred sites either mimic
or decorate natural features of the landscape, such as moun-
taintops or caves, where water supply is generated. Concerns
for the crops and general well-being were primary motiva-
tions for the visit and care of sacred places. Th e cave of Chal-
catzingo in the modern state of Morelos in central Mexico,
dates to the Middle Formative Period of Mesoamerica from
between 700 and 500 b.c.e. Chalacatzingo carvings are in an
Olmec style, the major civilization of early ancient America
settled in the Gulf Coast. Whether or not the site was actually
built by foreigners, Olmec-related style and symbols at Chal-
catzingo reveals cultural interaction between the diff erent
areas of Mesoamerica in a period of economic and religious
change. Th e site is located on and around a mountain peak
of the same name. Th e most famous carving depicts in low
relief an enthroned character wearing elaborate attire. His
headdress is tall, and he is holding a horizontal bar, symbol
of authority, in his arms. He is shown in profi le inside a cave,
from which large volutes, or scroll-shaped forms, are emanat-
ing. Th e cave itself is an animal creature, as the oval eye on
top indicates, while the scrolls can be interpreted as signs of
water or of speaking. Th e enthroned character is perhaps an
oracle or ruler in charge of bringing water to the region.
Teotihuacán, the most important urban center in Meso-
america between 50 and 650 c.e., is dominated by the impres-
sive Pyramid of the Sun. Located along the main axis of the
city, the pyramid was both a symbolic and material manifes-
tation of the power of the city throughout Middle America.
Th e pyramid duplicates a mountain looming in back of it,
called Cerro Gordo. In this way the gigantic monument is
connected to its natural surrounding. In 1971 a man-made
tunnel leading to a multichambered cave was discovered un-
der the pyramid. Although it is natural, this cave has been
remodeled by humans and was visited centuries before the
pyramid was built. Water-related rituals took place inside
this cave and contributed to making the place sacred enough
that eventually the monumental pyramid was built there.
In South America sacred sites played a major role in the
cultural, political, and religious unifi cation of the Andean,
coastal, and tropical regions. Th e earliest sacred place of in-
terregional importance is Chavín de Huántar in the north-
ern Andes, Peru. Set between two mountain ranges wheresacred sites: The Americas 9070895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i907 907 10/10/07 2:30:23 PM