sacred sites: The Americas ies had to be built beyond the consecrated space During the reign of the emperor Constantine (r 306–37 c.e.), Christians began erecting the first large sacred buildings of their own, including several on the sites of martyr cults and burials THE AMERICAS BY ALESSIA FRASSANI Sacred sites in the ancient Americas were connected with the natural world and deeply rooted in the surrounding landscape Either man-made or natural, sacred sites reflected AmerIndian cosmology that considered natural forces a manifestation of the divine The ecological and cultural diversity of the American continent created cultural and subsistence systems that were highly integrated and interdependent Sacred sites reflected this feature of AmerIndian life and usually attracted visitors from vast areas over periods of hundreds or even thousands of years Sacred sites, from the northern woodlands to the southern Peruvian desert, share similar characteristics, which include orientation to cardinal points of the compass or landscape, giant effigy constructions, nearness to water resources, and economic importance as trade centers of valued and symbolic items Religion was a pervasive aspect of AmerIndian daily life and could not be separated from economic activities Religion and ritual, including pilgrimage to distant places, was an important part of the increasing social complexity that was developing during the rise of intensive agriculture in the ancient period In North America the earliest sacred sites recovered are related to the cult of the dead The so-called Mound Builders left impressive man-made constructions throughout the eastern and midwestern woodland region of the present-day United States These mounds, large and low, sometimes conical in shape, are most commonly found along the meanders of the Ohio, Illinois, and Mississippi river drainages, from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes region These places were used and visited for generations before being eventually abandoned People made special travels to these places to bury their dead (No evidence of residential settlements has been found close to these mounds.) Once there, the pilgrims engaged in elaborate funerary rituals that probably lasted for several days The mounds’ closeness to the transportation system of the rivers and their visibility from afar, in an otherwise featureless landscape, made them significant and helped spread the cult of the ancestors over wide areas The mounds take different shapes The Hopewell of south-central Ohio (ca 200 b.c.e.–400 c.e.) created earthworks in the shape of connected rectangular and circular enclosures They served as plazas for large public gatherings that were probably ceremonial The Hopewell followed a tradition and geography of sacred places that had been previously established in the region Serpent Mound, in Ohio, was long thought to be an Adena culture (1000 b.c.e.–200 c.e.) site because of ancient burials found nearby Recent excavations, however, proved that the mound was built at least by 907 the end of the Hopewell culture The mound takes its name from the serpentine shape that mimics the flow of the nearby river Burials and other signs of occupation were found close to the mound, but not on it, indicating that Serpent Mound was visited only occasionally Among the vast quantities of exotic materials found in the burials, a testament to the wide-reaching wealth accumulated by the deceased, are effigy pipes carved in the shape of birds, fish, and mammals They were used to smoke tobacco, a ceremonial activity that linked the mundane world to the spiritual one The animals represented may be mythical founders of clans, and the pipes may have been used in rituals to the ancestors during family burial rituals In Mesoamerica the earliest sacred sites either mimic or decorate natural features of the landscape, such as mountaintops or caves, where water supply is generated Concerns for the crops and general well-being were primary motivations for the visit and care of sacred places The cave of Chalcatzingo in the modern state of Morelos in central Mexico, dates to the Middle Formative Period of Mesoamerica from between 700 and 500 b.c.e Chalacatzingo carvings are in an Olmec style, the major civilization of early ancient America settled in the Gulf Coast Whether or not the site was actually built by foreigners, Olmec-related style and symbols at Chalcatzingo reveals cultural interaction between the different areas of Mesoamerica in a period of economic and religious change The site is located on and around a mountain peak of the same name The most famous carving depicts in low relief an enthroned character wearing elaborate attire His headdress is tall, and he is holding a horizontal bar, symbol of authority, in his arms He is shown in profi le inside a cave, from which large volutes, or scroll-shaped forms, are emanating The cave itself is an animal creature, as the oval eye on top indicates, while the scrolls can be interpreted as signs of water or of speaking The enthroned character is perhaps an oracle or ruler in charge of bringing water to the region Teotihuacán, the most important urban center in Mesoamerica between 50 and 650 c.e., is dominated by the impressive Pyramid of the Sun Located along the main axis of the city, the pyramid was both a symbolic and material manifestation of the power of the city throughout Middle America The pyramid duplicates a mountain looming in back of it, called Cerro Gordo In this way the gigantic monument is connected to its natural surrounding In 1971 a man-made tunnel leading to a multichambered cave was discovered under the pyramid Although it is natural, this cave has been remodeled by humans and was visited centuries before the pyramid was built Water-related rituals took place inside this cave and contributed to making the place sacred enough that eventually the monumental pyramid was built there In South America sacred sites played a major role in the cultural, political, and religious unification of the Andean, coastal, and tropical regions The earliest sacred place of interregional importance is Chavín de Huántar in the northern Andes, Peru Set between two mountain ranges where