Chavin de Huantar probably does not fit the definition of a true city in the eyes of most scholars, but at this ancient bustling ceremonial center, many of the seeds of Andean civilization were sown. Functioning primarily as a religious center, Chavin de Huantar became an increasingly complex society, with a robust economy, social classes, job specialization, and an elite group of rulers. Between 500 and 200 B.C.E. the Chavin people made remarkable innovations in religion, the arts, engineering, architecture, and trade, and their advancements spread to other cultures throughout the Central Andes. The Chavin cult was responsible for uniting a large part of the region for the first time. The cultural influence of the Chavin helped the entire Central Andes region take a large step toward true civilization.

The Chavin people are thought to have originated in small farming communities that may have been developing as far back as 3500 B.C.E. By 800 B.C.E., many of the ceremonial centers along the Peruvian coast and in the Andean highlands had been abandoned or had suffered huge losses of population. Around that time, in a mountain pass in the northern Central Andes, the Chavin began building their ceremonial center. About five hundred Chavin people were living in the area at the time. When the center, Chavin de Huantar, was completed, people from a wide surrounding area worshiped there, while making their living by farming in the valley or herding llamas or hunting in the highland meadows.

Chavin de Huantar drew many visitors. A compelling religious cult arose there, and soon people from distant valleys were making long treks up treacherous mountain roads to visit the awe-inspiring temple, which roared with an eerie force and magically produced priests from its doorless and windowless walls. The religion practiced at Chavin de Huantar began to take hold across the Andean region. The people who came to this center from afar brought tribute to the gods. No one knows exactly how the tribute was collected or how it was used in the city's economy, but some scholars believe that the tribute goods enriched the center's economy and stimulated interest in exchanging goods with distant communities. In time, Chavin de Huantar developed extensive trade and its people prospered.

By about 400 B.C.E., the religious cult of the Chavinhad spread to remote parts of the Andean region. Chavin technology in tiles, ceramics, dyeing techniques, metalwork, stonework, and other fields found its way into distant settlements. Chavin religious imagery appears on artifacts--ceramics, textiles, and carvings--from as far south as Nazca and throughout the northern coastal and highland communities.

It is very unusual for religion to spread in this way without military conquest, but there is little evidence of war among the many groups that adopted the Chavin culture. Most scholars believe that the disappearance of pre-Ceramic (3000 B.C.E. to 1800 B.C.E) ceremonial centers created a spiritual need and that the Chavin religion was alluring to the Andean people because it filled that need. Many scholars also believe that the spread of the Chavin culture marked the first time that the ancient Andean communities were united. This union of diverse Andean communities of the Chavin culture was a pivotal event in the history of Andean civilization.

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