Chavín: How Do We Understand Thee? An Inquiry into the Jaguar and the San Pedro Cactus

This essay surveys the archeological understanding of Chavín de Huántar (900 BC-AD 0) conducting an inquiry into the means of intelligibility offered by archeology and finding that without the deployment of Inca civilization categories of huaca, ayllu, tinku, and others, Chavín would remain shrouded in darkness. Here, I delve into the problematic question of the consumption of the mescaline cactus San Pedro with regard to the art and meaning of Chavín. This article brings up five key problems pertaining to our understanding of Chavín. First, was Chavín a huaca/oracle? What is the link between monumental architecture and "religion?" How is religious authority acquired and deployed in the Andes? How do we interpret Chavín's art and architecture without deploying Inca cosmology? Of what does Chavín's iconography speak?