religion and cosmology: The Americas Late Formative monuments He can be understood as both the shamanic alter ego of Itzamna and as the false sun, the monster Vucub-Caquix, defeated by the Hero Twins Chaak, a long-nosed god, presided over rain and thunder The Mayan version of the multilevel universe also seems to have been established by the Late Formative Buried offerings of jade and pottery at Cival, Guatemala, were laid out in the shape of a cross with jade axes and a wooden post at the center, representing the four cardinal directions and central axis Pyramid temples at Uaxaktún and Calakmul, Guatemala, represent the sacred mountain, rising out of the water at creation and bridging the levels of the universe Masks on the Calakmul pyramid represent the earth and sun, while the entrance depicts a monster mouth, the cave entrance into the underworld At Teotihuacán near modern Mexico City, a number of deities were worshipped during the city’s heyday (ca b.c.e.– ca 650 c.e.) As is the case with the Olmec, our ideas about the nature and number of these gods are based only on artistic evidence and represent points of disagreement among anthropologists and art historians A male deity with gogglelike rings around his eyes, a moustache, and fangs resembles the later Aztec storm god Tlaloc and probably had the same function, presiding over rain, storms, and perhaps warfare At least one major goddess, also associated with the earth, water, and fertility, is known from mural paintings and stone sculpture Recent work suggests that this “Great Goddess” may be in fact several deities confused with each other by earlier interpreters The Feathered Serpent appears as a border in paintings of elite figures and may have been a patron of royalty here, as he was later among the Aztecs At the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, stone images of this deity alternate with heads of another reptilian creature, who may be the War Serpent, associated with war and fire, or Cipactli, the later Aztec crocodilian earth monster Water and symbols of life and preciousness emanate from the storm god and goddess’s hands and the Feathered Serpent’s mouth, but if these gods brought plenty, they demanded blood in return Over 100 victims were sacrificed and buried in the Temple of the Feathered Serpent While Teotihuacán art is not explicit in its depiction of human sacrifice, warriors or priests in frescos carry impaled human hearts, and the symbolism of a painted image of coyotes tearing a deer to shreds is obvious Rulers or priests are also shown drawing their own blood as penance with spines of the maguey cactus and inserting the spines into balls of fiber as offerings Butterfly and owl gods may be associated with conquest and sacrifice, and a fertility god who looks like the later Aztec Xipe Totec, dressed in the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim, makes his first appearance in the city’s art PERU Evidence of organized religion and large temple construction in Peru dates back to the Late Preceramic Period (ca 2700 b.c.e.) On the coast Preceramic peoples built huge 865 adobe ritual platforms arranged in U-shaped configurations, perhaps symbolizing a balance of opposing forces in the cosmos They deposited groups of unbaked clay sculptures of humans, textiles, and shell and stone jewelry in these structures, presumably as gifts to the gods At the same time, the inhabitants of the Peruvian highlands built small chambers for use as shrines, where they burned foodstuffs and textiles in sacrifice to unknown deities These respective styles of temple and cult persisted in both areas through the second millennium b.c.e Shamanism may have played an important part in these early religions At Garagay in the central highlands, modeled adobe building decorations show strange beings that combine jaguar and spider features Forms hanging from their mouths may be fangs or a mucous discharge—a known side effect of using hallucinogenic snuff At Mina Perdida on the coast a clay effigy of a creature with jaguar fangs and vulture features was buried wrapped in cloth Did it represent a shaman in transformation, a god, or an ancestral spirit? At another highland religious center there is evidence of human sacrifice in the form of reliefs of dismembered prisoners—or are these also images of experiences in trance states? The great ritual center of Chavín de Huántar flourished in the Andean highlands between 900 and 200 b.c.e The site was constructed near a confluence of rivers and may embody an idea like the later Inca tinkuy—a sacred juncture or transition point between parts of the cosmos By analogy between the finds here and those of later Peruvian cultures, Chavín may have been the home of an oracle, visited and consulted by pilgrims from distant regions Its central temple was riddled with dark galleries and unusual acoustic properties that priests could manipulate to create dramatic “supernatural” effects for the faithful Attendants left offerings of food and the remains of human sacrifices in its labyrinthine corridors The decoration of the main shrine during its first, or Old Temple, phase (ca 900–ca 500 b.c.e.) shows themes probably related to shamanism Stone heads attached to the walls of the temple seem to show humans transforming into jaguars, with mucous from snuffing hallucinogenic plants pouring from their noses Other reliefs portray jaguars with harpy eagle claws and fanged humans carrying hallucinogenic cacti Like the Olmec, the builders of Chavín viewed powerful predators as sacred animals The principal deity seems to be represented by a human figure with jaguar mouth and fangs, the so-called snarling or “smiling” god During the New Temple Period (ca 400–ca 200 b.c.e.) sculpture at the temple depicts mythic beings, combining human features with those of birds of prey and caimans bearing plants Perhaps the caiman was thought to have taught the builders about agriculture in their mythology The snarling god now carried a rod or wand in each hand, and archaeologists call this image the staff god The influence of Chavín spread from the highlands to the Pacific coast, as evidenced by the distribution of images of supernatural beings in Chavín style Based on comparison with later Peruvian oracles, the Chavín cult might have been