Chavín de Huántar, Peru
A Pre-Columbian World Heritage Treasure
Tourism is carefully managed at the site of Chavín.
Chavín de Huántar stands in urgent need of important conservation actions, aimed at short and long term preservation of this important monument. In the next two years, a number of critical problems that threaten the site’s immediate stability must be resolved.
Chavín retains significant archaeological materials that require considerable conservation efforts to preserve for the longterm. Features such as the monumental buildings, Circular Plaza, and the Rocas Canal have suffered greatly from neglect, water penetration, coluvial and fluvial action, while the impressive and extensive underground gallery system continues to suffer damage from inadequate management of wet season dampness. To mitigate these issues, GHF is supporting efforts to reduce water penetration, and improve ventilation and drainage to dry out the site so that preservation efforts can advance in a stable environment.
Remote sensing work needs to be conducted in order to inform appropriate conservation strategies. Chavín has, as noted, a dense network of underground spaces in the form of galleries and canals. The canals were the original and successful design for draining the site, so to put it into action again the full extent of the system must be mapped and cleared. Galleries were clearly not drains, but it has been determined that the ventilation action of galleries, combined with the frequent ducts leading to the surface, is one of the primary factors in maintaining a correct humidity level in the site’s all-important clay mortars. Thus, the remaining underground spaces with maximum priority must be located, accumulated sediments removed (which will include archaeological materials – requiring prioritized excavation) and any structural damage be resolved before they can be returned to service. The remote sensing work is cutting edge technology, including ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry, and resistivity methods, which will help collect needed data in a non-intrusive way.
Using digital instruments, the GHF project has produced highly accurate 3-D models of the site and the immediate physical setting, including an emphasis on the more than 2 linear km of underground galleries, and approximately 3 km of major drainage/ceremonial conduits. Excavations have focused on architectural details that reveal the growth of the center over its roughly 800 year duration as a temple system, on the core ritual contexts such as the elaborate but relatively intimate sunken circular plaza, and on the known galleries and drainages. Because the site has intrinsic problems with water accumulation and suffered damage from major earthquakes, investigation has proceeded hand-in-hand with conservation efforts, and these have notably improved the site’s stability and visibility for tourism.
