Stone Gods and Monsters

Features January/February 2026

3,000 years ago, an intoxicating new religion beckoned pilgrims to temples high in the Andes
The ritual center of Chavín de Huántar flourished in northern Peru.
Courtesy John Rick
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A temple wall at the ritual center of Chavín de Huántar in northern Peru displays a disembodied head that seems to combine human and jaguar features.

On a morning some 2,700 years ago, a pilgrim set out on a grueling journey to the Center Place. She and her retinue came from the coast of Peru, less than 100 miles away, but it took weeks to reach the sanctuary. They walked up and over towering mountains, leaving behind the sparse coastal desert for verdant forests that thinned to grassland t

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