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A Mito-Style Structure at Chavín De Huántar: Dating and Implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daniel A. Contreras
Daniel A. Contreras*
Affiliation:
Archaeology Center, Stanford University, P.O. Box 20446, Stanford, CA 94309 (dcontre@stanford.edu)
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Abstract

Excavations west of the monumental core at Chavín de Huántar, Peru in 2005 revealed a well-preserved plastered structure with a central circular hearth, in the style of the Mito Architectural Tradition. This find challenges standard definitions of both the Mito Tradition and Chavín itself. I discuss the material remains and associated radiocarbon dates from this feature, and use these new data to re-assess Chavín’s involvement in interregional networks and its relationship to earlier ceremonial centers in the Central Andean highlands.

Excavaciones al oeste del núcleo monumental de Chavín de Huántar, Perú en 2005 expusieron una estructura enlucida con un fogón circular central, en buen estado de preservación, del estilo arquitectónico Mito. Este hallazgo permite cuestionar los conceptos existentes sobre la Tradición Mito y Chavín en sí. En este artículo discuto los restos materiales y fechados radiocarbónicos asociados a este elemento arquitectónico, y utilizo estos nuevos datos para reevaluar la participación de Chavín en redes de interacción a nivel interregional y su relación a otros centros más tempranos de la sierra de los Andes Centrales.

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Research Article
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Latin American Antiquity , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , March 2010, pp. 3 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by the Society for American Archaeology.

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