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Although major archaeological research at Chavín began more than 70 years ago, I am continually surprised by what our project has revealed annually over the last 11 years. The Chavín Archaeology and Conservation Project, authorized by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura under the auspices of Stanford University, functions with the support of the Global Heritage Fund, Asociacion Ancash, and the Barrick Gold company.
Text:
John Rick.
Photos: Luis Yupanqui.
 In recent years, our work has tried to combine the excitement and knowledge gained from archaeological discoveries with the responsibility of conserving our finds and the rest of the site. Luckily, these two tasks can be creatively combined, and better results are achieved than when either activity is carried out in isolation. Our recent work is an illustration of this.
We have been putting particular emphasis on research and restoration of the Canal de Rocas, which was the primary, original drainage system for the temple grounds. The canal has been known for decades, but only recently have we begun to understand its complexity, size, and multiple functions. For most of its length, the canal was large enough to walk through upright, and it started in the area of the Circular Plaza, and following a winding route we believe it reached the Mosna River - a distance of between 300 and 400 metres, passing most of the important temples. Feeder canals allowed this system to drain rainfall from virtually the entire ceremonial center, which is about ˝ km square.
 The canal is lined, roofed, and floored with stones, although a variety of shapes and types of materials were adapted to specific aspects of the construction. For the most part the canal has survived surprisingly well, but in the huge mudslide that struck the site in 1945, part of the canal was unroofed and the alluvial material was injected into the channel, filling it completely. We are removing that recent sediment, and then excavating the clays and materials that built up in the canal during its use, as well as restoring collapsed sections and roofs. The work requires a tolerance for enclosed spaces, much like working in a mine, and borrows technologies from mining. We have replaced stone beams when necessary, but we try to use only the original materials used by the Chavín builders.
Along the way there have been many interesting discoveries. In the highest layers in the canal segment under the Plaza Mayor, a large mass of human bones was discovered by Instituto Nacional de Cultura researchers in 1998. Several problems kept them from being able to finish this excavation, and in 2004 we re-opened and finished documenting, removing, and registering the human bones. All are from post-Chavín times, when people had opened the canal to hastily and unceremoniously place between 20 and 30 bodies of individuals of varying ages. It seems possible that there might have been foul play, and these might be the result of mass violence of some sort.
 Later in 2004 we discovered a formal entrance from the surface down into the canal and interestingly, from that point in a downstream direction we found scattered, water-washed human bones from the Chavín era, along with some evidence of ceremonial offerings. Our current interpretation is that in Chavín times, some dead were placed in the canal, and the waters washing through carried the bodies away, in whole or in part. Such disposal of the dead is an entirely new aspect of Andean culture. This new entrance to Rocas also suggests to us that Rocas is really a conduit - that is, a passageway for water, perhaps bodies, but almost undoubtedly for live people as well. There may have been as many as 4 major entrances into Rocas along its route, and these seem to have been close to ritual contexts like plazas or ceremonial staircases.
 We now suspect that Rocas provided the priests of Chavín with a way of unexpectedly appearing in several locations, contributing to the drama of rituals carried out in the temple precinct. We know these involved the use of hallucinogenic drugs, of light reflected into dark interior spaces with small coal mirrors, and ample use of sound from rushing water and conch shell trumpets, or pututus. In a small gallery in Chavín, Caracolas, we found 20 intact trumpets in 2003, testifying to the presence of these loud, impressive instruments in Chavín times. The complex drainage system of Rocas now adds to our knowledge of the advanced engineering abilities of this early civilization. We can tell that they were able to drain the temple better than most cities are drained today, but we believe that the Chavín priests used the complex network of canals, in addition to the many larger-sized underground gallery ritual spaces, during dramatic rituals that helped convince their followers of their divine authority. Today we would hardly conceive of using a drain or sewer as part of a convincing drama, but Chavín seems to illustrate a particularly creative and capable period in the emergence of human politico-religious power.
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