Raimondi stele

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The Raimondi stele is a cuboid monolith from the late Chavin culture (black and white phase, approx. 900–550 BC) with a mythical hybrid being on the front, probably an early Peruvian deity. It is now in the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú in Lima .

Raimon thistle (partial view)

Discovery story

The stele is named after Antonio Raimondi (1826–1890) , an Italian from Milan, who spent most of his life in Peru as a naturalist, chemistry lecturer and author of around 50 specialist publications. He participated in the creation of the first reliable map of the area, the Atlas geográfico del Perú published in 1865, and was best known for his major work El Perú (1874). During his visit to Chavín de Huántar, Raimondi had seen the stone in a private house around 1860 - a farmer had discovered it in 1840 in one of his fields near the temple - and in 1873 he published a publication that emphasized the cultural significance of this work of art. According to his recommendation, the stele was moved to the capital Lima in 1874 and is now in the courtyard of the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú .

description

Graphic reproduction of the Raimondi stele

The Raimondi stele is a cuboid monolith made of polished granite (198 cm high, below 76 and above 73 cm wide, 17 cm thick), on the front side of which a symmetrical bas-relief is engraved.

The figure on the stele is an anthropomorphic being presented frontally with predatory teeth and bird of prey claws on its hands and feet. In each hand it holds a scepter that appears to be bundled up from cats and snakes. There are also two snakes hanging on the right and left of the belt. The image is dominated by a huge headdress, which has feline grimaces piled on top of each other and radial volutes (hair or feathers) as well as snakes.

Attempts at interpretation

Similar representations of gods also exist in later Andean cultures, for example in the Huari culture (Peru), in which the creator god Viracocha was worshiped, and in the Tiahuanaco culture (Bolivia) with its Divinidad de los dos Báculos (deity with the two Sceptres), depicted on the lintel of the Sun Gate.

An interpretation of the complex stele is not easy because its exact location and context of the find has not been handed down. In addition, representations are obviously popular in Chavin, which, similar to tilting figures , convey different images to the viewer .

Julio C. Tello saw Chavin as the "mother culture" (cultura matriz) of the Peruvian civilization, which had an influence throughout the Andean region and possibly roots in the Amazon lowlands. He interpreted the stele as a representation of a jaguar god, a forerunner of the deity Viracocha , who was later worshiped throughout the Inca Empire. Max Uhle said that it was not a headdress, but a centipede , which in the Nazca culture symbolized a strong deity and is depicted several times on painted vessels.

Today it is mostly assumed that Chavin was the site of an elite cult and weather oracle. It was not a singular ceremonial center, but developed in interaction with other similar centers (cultura síntesis). In this context, Federico Kauffmann Doig interpreted the stele as an image of the flying cat (felino volador), which was also venerated elsewhere, for example in the Paracas culture and among the Incas as the deity Qun (Kon).

Luis Guillermo Lumbreras has made a significant contribution to understanding the Chavin cult through his successful excavations in the forecourt of the Old Temple . From the mythical representations of kaiman-like beings on the Tello stele and on the pottery found, he draws the conclusion that in Chavin it was not a felid deity, but primarily a "dragon being" who was worshiped, the "ruler over the rains and dry seasons" was. The Raimondi stele cannot contribute to this explanation.

literature

  • Peter Fux (ed.): Chavín - Peru's mysterious Andean temple. Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-85881-365-7 .
  • Richard L. Burger, The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello: America's First Indigenous Archaeologist , University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 2009, ISBN 978-1-58729-783-0 , pp. 209-218.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rolf Seeler: Peru and Bolivia - Indian cultures, Inca ruins and the baroque colonial splendor of the Andean states . In: DuMont art travel guide . 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-7701-4786-3 , p. 117 f .
  2. ^ Antonio Raimondi, Luis Felipe Villacorta Ostolaza (ed.), El departamento de Ancachs y sus riquezas minerales, 1873 , Universidad San Marco, Lima 2006, ISBN 9972-46-319-2 , p. 67
  3. ^ Richard L. Burger, The Life and Writings of Julio C. Tello: America's First Indigenous Archaeologist , University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 2009, ISBN 978-1-58729-783-0 , pp. 209-218
  4. ↑ Federico Kauffmann Doig, Historia y arte del Perú antiguo , Tomo 2, Ediciones PEISA, Lima 2002. ISBN 9972-40-214-2 , p. 193
  5. ↑ Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, Religious rites in Chavín and their supraregional significance in: Peter Fux (ed.): Chavín - Peru's mysterious Andean temple. Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2012, ISBN 978-3-85881-365-7 , pp. 185–196