Monumental Architecture of the Ancient Andes: The Temple and its Galleries at Chavín de Huántar, Perú

Sponsored by the Museo de las Americas and Amigos de las Artes Americanas

Speaker: Dr. Silvia Rodriguez-Sama, Anthropologist and Scholar-in-Residence at University of Colorado, National Geographic Explorer, and Middle-Grade Author

About the lecture: Located at 10,500 ft in north-central Perú, Chavín de Huántar was an important religious site of one of the most
influential early civilizations in the ancient Andes, approximately 1200-500 cal B.C. In this talk we will investigate its unique
temple buildings and their labyrinthine internal gallery system using laser-based 3D mapping techniques and innovative dating
methods. The architecture’s growth as well as fascinating finds discovered in the galleries over the past 100 years — including
stone statues, elaborate ceramics, and incised conch-shell trumpets — help us understand how, when, and why this early society developed.