Chavin sculptors worked both in relief and in the round. They carved religious motifs on carefully cut and dressed granite and black limestone blocks and sculpted heads to decorate the ceremonial centres. Fine stone mortars were probably portable ceremonial items.
Two exceptional sculptures are the Chavin Lanzon and the Tello obelisk, both at Chavin de Huantar, the principal Chavin religious centre. These sculptures were executed by hammering and grinding since metal tools were unknown during the early phases.
Although the art represented people and animals, their forms were stylized and their components often replaced by visual metaphors and geometric shapes. The principal figure would be simplified and its elements transformed, for example using snakes to represent hair.
Both humans and animals were frequently depicted, as well as the transformation of the shaman (witch doctor) from one into the other. Common subjects included caymans (alligators), jaguars and other beasts linked with the supernatural, as well as trophy heads, cultivated plants and seashells (Spondylus and Strombus) which were used ceremonially.
