July 29, 2001

The hundreds of individual sculptures [at Sechin] were arranged in the platform wall to portray a single mythological or historical scene in which two columns of warriors approach each other from opposing sides amidst the carnage of their adversaries. ... One is shown with decapitated heads hanging as trophies from his waist. The defeated are portrayed as naked, in positions that graphically express their agony. Nude bodies are shown with eyes bulging and hands flailing, their torsos sliced in two by transverse cuts. Sometimes the body lacks its head or, in other cases, blood or entrails gush from the victim. Other sculptures depict severed body parts, such as arms, legs, rows of eyes, and stacks of vertebrae. Decapitated heads are particularly common, comprising about 70 percent of the stone carvings. Usually the head is shown lifeless with its eyes closed, ready to be used by the victors as a trophy, but on some pieces blood still flows from the eyes, mouth, scalp, or neck. These gruesome images were often intentionally oriented upside down or sideways, as if representing human remains scattered on the ground.

Richard L. Burger, Chavin and the Origins of Andean Civilization, p. 78

On our second day in Casma, we had an opportunity to visit most of the relevant sites in the area, especially Sechin, perhaps the most famous pre-Inca site in Northern Peru.

I was enthralled with the carvings and statues at Sechin. They are at once gruesome and beautiful, and they capture the essence of battle more acutely than almost anything I'd ever seen. Whether they depict an actual battle, an all-out war or a mythological event is unknown. The carvings cover all four outside walls of the site.

The entryway is imposing, with large obelisks on either side and directly in front of the stairway. Archaeologists are still excavating Sechin, so we were not able to enter the structure. The Sechin museum includes artifacts found during the excavations, including a mummy.

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