Chavín de Huántar

Chavín was a pre-Inca city. It was considered a holy and dangerous place by neighbors.

The Chavín were a 1st-order empire, a bureaucracy without charisma or sovereignty.

The city is filled with ornate art depicting shamanic psychedelic pilgrimages.

(Anticipating, perhaps, today's ayahuasca tourism.)

The most central artwork, at the core of the old temple, was a spear connecting the poles of the universe. The spear, however, is only partially visible through narrow slots. And each slot reveals a different aspect.

The obscurity, religiosity, and complexity of the art suggests that Chavín was organized around the priestly control of information (aka bureaucracy). Their power came from their special access to divine knowledge.