My family recently visited a place in Peru that we had wanted to visit for a long time. While not as famous as Machu Picchu, the Chavín de Huantar Ruins are quite fascinating in their own right. Most visitors after reading their guidebooks want to see a carved stone obelisk that sits at the center of underground passages in the “Old Chavín Temple.” Known as the “Lanzón,” the obelisk has various animal features, and is thought to have been worshiped as something of a nature god, or treated as an oracle by the people using Chavín. The outside of the Chavín Temple was decorated with carved stone heads, that likewise were anthropomorphic.
All of these mysterious features and others have lead archaeologists to believe that this was an important religious site to the Chavín culture, and also that the culture’s influence was widespread during its heyday from approximately 850 to 200 B.C. What is unclear though, is why the Chavín culture disappeared. I’m no archaeologist, but I did once work as a park ranger at Mesa Verde National Park. My experiences there give me some guesses as to why the civilization and culture might have disappeared at Chavín de Huantar.
Could the People of Chavin Have Left for Environmental Reasons?
One of the theories as to why the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly known as the Anazazi) left the cliff dwellings you can see in Mesa Verde National Park and other places in their greater civilization like Chaco Canyon is that because in combination with sustained droughts, over time it is thought that these people had denuded the landscape of important natural resources like trees, effectively forcing them to leave and go elsewhere.
Could this be what happened to the people at Chavín? Located at an interesting mid-point along trade and travel routes in a valley of the Andes Mountains, Chavín was right in between Peru’s coast and Peru’s Amazon rainforests. From my understanding, the population around Chavín de Huantar grew as did the Temple’s influence: its ability to deal and exchange a variety of harder to find materials like obsidian and sea shells probably made it popular, archaeologists believe. It seems entirely possible to me that the landscape around the temple was denuded of vegetation and other important resources as more people came to live in the area. In fact, in one archaeological brief I was reading about the site, it was suggested that the people who might have constructed the original temple were from the rainforest region of what we now think of as Peru, and came to the area because they themselves had been displaced due to population pressure!
Of course, another possibility is that the frequent earthquakes in this area of the Peruvian highlands convinced people to leave. Chavín de Huantar, in fact, was constructed in a manner as to prevent damage from earthquakes. Nonetheless, despite these efforts, the ruins seem to have been damaged by earth movements over time– but probably they would have been damaged more so without prevention efforts.
But Aside from Environmental Reasons, What Might Be Another Theory As to Why the Chavin Disappeared?
One of the most common theories for why civilizations end, disappear, and/or move is one that involves power struggles. For example, archaeologists and historians believe that this might be a possibility for why both the Mesa Verde and Chavín civilizations came to an end. This seems entirely possible in both places, and perhaps could even work in tandem with the environmental theory above. As resources become more scarce, people tend to get more selfish with them.
Wait a Second! It Might Not Be Accurate to Say Either Culture “Disappeared”
Perhaps I am helping to perpetuate a myth. It is well known, for instance, that the Ancestral Puebloans who lived at places like Mesa Verde in the American Southwest are the ancestors of the Pueblo Tribes that now live in relatively nearby areas to the south like Taos and Hopi. And as for the people of Chavín, perhaps a portion of them migrated elsewhere, and the Chavín culture might have simply morphed into a new culture or cultures. Nonetheless, we do have to wonder why civilizations and cultures reach terminal points where they either end, or turn into something else.
So… What Does this All Mean for the Global Culture of Us?
While there is no way if knowing whether or not my hunch about Chavín de Huantar is correct, it still makes me think that there are numerous examples from the past where cultures and civilizations did not recognize the need for conservation of natural resources. If I’m right that the landscape was denuded around Chavín de Huantar, then this would be especially ironic, because the people of Chavín are thought to have worshipped nature gods, and in particular the jaguar. I suppose, however, that there are inconsistencies in all cultures. So what might this mean for us?
Not to go into too much detail, but it seems that our current challenges of global warming, deforestation, pollution, and energy consumption might bring an end to civilization as we know it. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about any doomsday scenario, but perhaps a fundamental change will occur in the way that we live our lives, out of necessity. I consider myself an environmentalist, and yet every day I am challenged to live my life in a way that seeks a middle ground between righteousness and not losing my mind. Maybe, despite our best intentions, this isn’t enough. And if a denuded international landscape results, where will we move to? That’s what I wonder.
Photo Credit: Levi T. Novey ©
You might be interested in “The Collapse of Civilisation”, an article in New Scientist (No 2650, 5 April 2008) – two good articles in there, with lots of resources, available online.
The basic idea is that as complexity increases, resilience decreases – thus leaving us vulnerable to many things; the main focus of the article is pandemic but I have been working on this re: environment and cities for some time.
It’s also one of my bug-bears with many environmentalists; while the environment is increadibly important, it is part of a much wider picture. We should avoid getting too caught up in and noisy about minutiae (like CO2, or landfills) or people will just stop listening.
Matt, thanks for the tip. I will look for that article.
Mr. Novey:
Interesting that you would bring up the disappearance of the Chavin culture. I recently saw an action-packed documentary which went into this in great detail. Apparently, the Chavin worshipped a group of technologically-superior aliens, who initially taught them how to farm and thrive in the area. But the aliens depended on the crystal in their skulls for their life force. Several of the aliens lost their heads and once the heads were dispersed, the aliens lost their power and the Chavin couldn’t survive without their guidance . . .
On another note, I read a book once “A Green History of the World,” which talked a lot about the decline of the Roman Empire for environmental reasons. That stuff’s fascinating. I personally think the U.S. is headed down this path at the moment, though on the upside, I’d bet that the most likely accomplishment the next U.S. President will have (regardless of party), will be this “cap & trade” system for curbing global warming emissions.
Mr Novey’s article is right on, except for the premise that ‘some’ civilizations disappear. They ALL do, some faster and more completely than others. The Nazca people (and neighbors) from drought and overpopulation, Romans by poisoning themselves, and so on. Even the Hittites lasted only a thousand years, versatile and dispersed as they were. Yet, Daniel is right, too. Our attitudes and ‘faith’ often keeps us on the road of ‘whatever works’ long after it has ceased working – life is complex and dangerous. None of us are going to get out of it alive, but that doesn’t mean we should not try our best for whatever follows us … cap and trade? Seems fitting that our last and only ‘export’ should be toxic coal, not even gas or dust, but psuedo-something or other … like sub-prime loans.