The Ancient Land of the Nephite Andes

In the area of South America that would have been the Land of Bountiful, lies the ruins of Cajamarca in the highlands along the border of Peru and Ecuador. Cajamarca has an equatorial climate and is mild, dry and sunny with very fertile soil, and has several mining sites still active today.

Cajamarca was the ancient city of Bountiful

During Inca times, this is the site of the Battle of Cajamarca where the Inca Empire, the Tawantinsuyu, came to an end with the capture, abuse and murder of Atahualpa—the last ruler of the Inca Empire—by the Spaniards in 1533.
    Cajamarca dates back to the latter half of the last millennium BC, into the Chávin period (900 to 200 BC) which is believed to have stretched as far south as Lima, Peru.
    At 10,330, Chávin sits between the eastern snowless cordillera Negra and the western snowy cordillera Blanca ranges of the Andes, near two of the few mountain passes that allow passage between the desert coast to the west and the Amazon jungle to the east. It is also located near the confluence of the Huachesca and Mosna Rivers, a natural phenomenon of two joining into one that may have been seen as a spiritually powerful phenomenon.
    A magnificent temple was built at Chávin around 1200 BC and occupied by the Chávin until around 200 BC, then occupied by other cultures after that. In fact, the visual legacy of Chavín persisted long after the site’s decline around 200 BC with the motifs and stylistic elements traveling to the southern highlands and to the coast. The location of Chavín seems to have helped make it a special place—the temple built there became an important pilgrimage site that drew people and their offerings from far and wide.
    The architectural design of Chavín de Huántar changed over time as an original temple development was added to with a new temple. Changes were more complex than in one stage of renovation than the other. In fact, the remarkable "New Temple," constructed between 500 and 200 BC, is also based on a gallery and plaza design and contained many relief sculptures.
    In fact, the visual legacy of Chavín would persist long after the site’s decline in approximately 200 BC, with motifs and stylistic elements traveling to the southern highlands and to the coast. The location of Chavín seems to have helped make it a special place—the temple built there became an important pilgrimage site that drew people and their offerings from far and wide.
    Local style in art and decoration included scrolls, simple curves, straight lines, and images of wild animals. Chavín sculpture is usually of white granite and block limestone. Carved stone mortars and pestles conch-shell trumpets, bone tubes and spatulas, and metal spatulas and spoons were found decorated in Chavín style as were various textiles including tapestries. Pottery was found in a wide variety of forms, including bottles and bowls, decorated with a wider range of distinctive elements.

Part of the remarkable above and underground drainage system of the Huántar temple

However, the site is especially known for its successful drainage system of several canals built under the temple that acted as drainage. The water rushing through these canals during the rainy season created a marvelous acoustic sound of power, as though a jaguar—their sacred animals—was roaring nearby. The same iconography and contour rivalry was used in Chavín art on the outside of the temple and in portable wares that have been found throughout Peru.
    The temple complex that stands today is comprised of two building phases: the U-shaped Old Temple, and the New Temple, which expanded the Old Temple and added a rectangular sunken court. The majority of the structures used roughly-shaped stones in many sizes to compose walls and floors. Finer smoothed stone was used for carved elements. The granite and black limestone had to be brought from some distance away, though there were numerous local rock deposits nearby
    From its first construction, the interior of the temple was riddled with a multitude of tunnels, called galleries.  While some of the maze-like galleries are connected with each other, some are separate. The galleries all existed in darkness—there are no windows in them, although there are many smaller tunnels that allow for air to pass throughout the structure. Archaeologists are still studying the meaning and use of these galleries and vents, but exciting new explorations are examining the acoustics of these structures, and how they may have projected sounds from inside the temple to pilgrims in the plazas outside.  It is possible that the whole building spoke with the voice of its god.
    The Chavin also demonstrated advanced skills and knowledge in metallurgy, which was developed in the Americas in Peru before traveling north, and objects such as those found at Chávin that combine wealth and religion are among the earliest known examples. Pieces found at Chávin was formed by hammering and cutting the gold, but Andean artists would develop other forming techniques over time. In addigtion to this, they performed soldering, and temperature control. They used early techniques to refine gold work, and domesticated camelids for pack animals, fiber and food. They also cultivated several crops, including potatoes, quinoa, and maize, along with irrigations systems to assist in the growth of these crops.
    The site was described by indigenous Peruvian archaeologist Julio C. Telllo, as “the birthplace of South American culture.” Its famous art dates to 500 to 200 B.C., and is considered the first widespread, recognizable artistic style in the Andes. The Chavin decorated the walls of their temples with carvings, sculptures and pottery, and in at least one case, the art on an obelisk is considered to depict the creation story.

The influence range of the Chávin culture. Note that it extended throughout the area of the Land Southward

The Chávin also had a wide sphere of influence throughout the surrounding civilizations, from the Ecuador border to Piura on the far north coast to Paracas on the south coast, and from to Pucara in the south highlands to the northeast area of Peru.
    Less than 10 minutes from the center of Jaén, a group of researchers unearthed two temples, which according to early indications, belong to a culture that could be as much as 4000 years old and would have been the ancestors of the Bracamoros culture (called Jaén de Bracamoros, or the land of the Brave Braccamoros).
    According to archaeologist Quirino Olivera, of the museum of Sipán and who excavated Montegrande, the Chávin temples can be associated with this early Bracamoros culture, a confederations of Amazonian tribal groups that inhabited the present-day Peru-Ecuador border, which border would be to the line separating the Land of Bountiful from the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:32).
    When archaeologists started work they found large semicircular walls, first made of mud mortar then others made of stones weighing up to 440 pounds. The team was surprised by the technique used to decorate the walls with different color mud, and because the eight phases of construction were in perfect alignment. Perhaps most astonishing is that the temples, according to Quirino, appear to have been built as much as 4000 years ago—and is believed to be the earliest civilization of Peru. Remains in the temple show that the builders and users of the temples had contact with the coast as well as the Amazon area.

The four rivers and their basins in northern Peru

The excavations were carried out under an integration program between Peru and Ecuador, which includes the basins of the Chinchipe River, which is today's border between Amazonias and Cajamarca; Utcubamba River,Marañón River and the Puyango-Tumbes River.
    The important point here is that one culture or people filled up the entire area of Peru in ancient BC times, occupying at least one major area, but found throughout the coast and inland from Pucara, near Lake Titicaca, northward to the Ecuador border. It is also of importance that this culture was involved in metallurgy as well as magnificent irrigation techniques, and remarkable building knowledge that experts today claim would have required a knowledge of engineering and other advanced techniques.