The archae­o­log­i­cal site of Chavin gave its name to the cul­ture that devel­oped between 1500 and 300 B.C. in this high val­ley of the Peru­vian Andes. This for­mer place of wor­ship is one of the ear­li­est and best-known pre-Columbian sites. Its appear­ance is strik­ing, with the com­plex of ter­races and squares, sur­round­ed by struc­tures of dressed stone, and the main­ly zoomor­phic orna­men­ta­tion.