122 art: The AmericasTh e Lanzón acted like a supernatural channel, in that it was
placed in the center of this space rooted in both the ground
and the ceiling. Th e Great Lance is a misnomer, as the shape
actually refers to digging sticks used in the highlands for
farming and not to a blade. Th e shape of the work suggests
that the Lanzón refers in some way to plentiful crops and
the survival of the people. Th e supernatural deity stands
with the right arm up and left arm down, as a sign of unit-
ing the heavenly and the earthly. In typical Chavín style,
the Lanzón is incised with round eyes, fl at nose, upturned
mouth with large fangs, and clawed feet. Th e entire deity
is covered with small repeating elements that perform dual
functions and may be read in two ways, thus challenging the
viewer’s perception. Th is technique of using one set of lines
to create two images is called contour rivalry. For example,
on the deity’s belt, fanged mouth bands with eyes may be
interpreted as faces in either direction.
Th e second phase of Chavín art, known as the Early
Horizon/Late Chavín Period (500–200 b.c.e.), focused on
the New Temple addition in Chavín de Huántar. Monumen-
tal stone works centering on themes of transformation and
fertility continued to be produced and become more synthe-
sized, as is exemplifi ed by the Raimondi Stela. Th is monu-
mental work carved in diorite presents a complex dual image
using contour rivalry. When looking at the stela in the up-
right position, the viewer sees a standing agricultural deity
known as the Staff God. Th e deity displays eyes with pendant
irises, a fanged mouth, and clawed feet. In either hand, the
fi gure holds two staff s composed of snakes, faces, and veg-
etation. From the deity’s head grows an enormous headdress.
Yet when the stela is inverted, the viewer is confronted with
an entirely diff erent image. Th e headdress now forms a se-
ries of supernatural animal faces growing out of one another
and charging down toward the earth. Th is stela exemplifi es
the Chavín culture’s extraordinary facility for expressing the
concept of duality.
Portable art also made up a large portion of Late Chavín
artistic output. Ceramics, cut shells, textiles, gold work, ob-
sidian, drug paraphernalia, and weaving tools have been
found in association with the site of Chavín de Huántar. Of
particular note is the use of gold to create wearable art, such
as pectorals (breast coverings), crowns, masks, or appliqués.
During the period from 200 b.c.e. to 600 c.e. South
American art continued to evolve among the Paracas, Nazca,
and Moche peoples. In what is now Peru’s Ica region, located
along the southern coast of the central Andes, the Paracas
peoples developed some of the most sophisticated, unique
aesthetic systems to date. Th ey became nearly obsessed with
the detailed process of creating their works, mostly in ceram-
ics, textiles, and gold. Th anks to the arid, desert climate in
which the Paracas lived, many examples of their work have
been preserved. Paracas art demonstrates an avid interest in
color, repetition, curvilinear forms, and geometric patterns
and oft en features a nima ls a nd colors indicative of t he region.
Th is obsession with process and detail became one of the key
characteristics of later Andean art, particularly among the
Inca. Th e primary deity featured in both Paracas and Nazca
art is a monkey-like fi gure with round eyes and a grin on his
face. Th is deity is oft en engaged in the act of head-hunting, an
essential component of Andean culture. It was believed that
the act of decapitation allowed the captor to retain any power
or energy the captive possessed. Th e victim’s power could
then be added to that of the aggressor.
Th e people living near the Nazca River, southeast of Ica,
also made textiles and ceramics of extraordinary quality. But
the Nazca are perhaps best known for their enormous earth
drawings or “geoglyphs.” Utilizing geometric principles and
simple survey techniques, the Nazca created their lines by
moving the darker top layer of earth away to reveal the light-
er layer underneath. Th ese large-scale drawings found in the
desert most oft en depict abstract images of birds, animals,
anthropomorphic (humanlike) fi gures, plants, and geomet-
ric designs, which may be seen in their entirety only from an
aerial perspective. Many of these same designs are echoed in
the painted ceramics of the Nazca. While the geoglyphs have
long puzzled archaeologists and art historians, they probably
served a ritual purpose, one that reinforced the Nazca’s re-
lationship to their unique landscape. Many theories on the
meaning of the Nazca lines have been formulated, from as-
tronomical associations to indications of water sources, but it
is clear that the lines were intended to be viewed solely from
the celestial realm.
Moche is a term used to describe the culture, people, and
kingdom that developed along Peru’s northern coast at this
time. Th e Moche peoples are now best known for their ceram-
ics, but they also created textiles and engaged in metallurgy.
Th eir ceramic output consists primarily of portrait heads of
rulers as well as ancestor fi gures and supernatural animal-
headed deities. Moche ceramics are all stylized, though they
are rendered in a naturalistic, three-dimensional style. Th ey
are typically limited to a color palette of cream and red. While
their ceramics do portray supernatural beings, the Moche
most ly were concerned wit h t he human world, a unique char-
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